Walk into Asian Restaurant and you’ll hear the sound of noodles frying over a range.
Suawat “Sam” Kae opened Asian Restaurant in 1976. Together with his wife, Gai Kae, he runs a small restaurant that specializes in Thai and Chinese dishes.
Sam Kae was born in Thailand. His wife, Gai Kae, was born in China. Sam Kae is an alumni of Eastern Washington University; he graduated in 1960 and started cooking shortly after.
“It took me awhile to graduate because I was in school when Spokane dealt with discrimination,” Sam Kae said.
He was told by an instructor during his time at Eastern that it wasn’t worth his time learning how to cook.
“I was told I shouldn’t cook because no one would eat what I made,” Sam Kae said.
Over 35 years later Asian Restaurant is still in business. While it is open only Tuesday through Friday, 11am to 9pm. Sam still claims they do good business.
“We sell upwards of 120 lbs of chicken every week,” Sam Kae said. “Our biggest rush is during lunchtime and then around 6:30 when dinner time comes around.”
Asian Restaurant offer dishes from several cultures, both Sam and Gai Kae work on the dish after it has been ordered.
“We buy Thai powder, chili powders, and black rice,” Gai Kae said. “We buy over two kilos of Thai powder that goes in the Thai tea.
Asian Restaurant closes down once a year for a week while Sam and Gai travel to Thailand to purchase fresh ingredients.
“Everything we make here is from scratch,” Gai Kae said. “There are no preservatives in anything we make.”
Sam Kae believes that good health comes from spicy and natural food.
Asian Restaurant has many regular customers that order special meals. Many of these have made it onto the menu such as General Sam’s chicken, formerly General Tsao’s Chicken, or the Kitchen Sink.
“I have a customer (who) always orders pork, beef, chicken and vegetables,” Sam Kae said. “Other customers started to notice, and I put the dish on the menu.
“I thought ‘well it has everything in it,’ so I called it the Kitchen Sink.”
Along with their customer named meals, Asian Restaurant makes homemade peanut sauce and fresh Thai tea