Siam House renovations will add more tables in restaurant

Although the Siam House is undergoing external renovations, residents can rest assured that Indiana's oldest Thai restaurant is keeping its traditional Thai food and atmosphere as it has been for the past 17 years.\nSiam House, 430 E. Fourth St., has been undergoing renovations that are expected to be finished by the end of the month and will allow the restaurant to fit in five or six more tables.\nSiam House is known for having some of "the best" Thai food in the country and continues to feed and educate students and Bloomington residents, said Wemonrat "Wem" Pok, a native Thai who opened and continues to run the restaurant.\n"I put what I like on the menu," Pok said. "It's hard for me to take off old items to put on new ones. Right now the menu has 85 items."\nPok, who was born and raised in Thailand, came to Bloomington from San Francisco in 1990 after she heard about the town from a friend. She had friends in the restaurant business in San Francisco, where she had immigrated to study.\n"A really close friend and I had a baby in the same week, and we would raise our babies together," Pok said. "I would see the business every day, and I love cooking, so it came out that I (should) have a restaurant."\nPok learned to cook from her aunt and other relatives in Thailand at a young age. Her mother taught her family recipes.\n"My mother made me buy spices from the market, and I couldn't write them down; I had to memorize them. Now I use (that experience) when making food today," she said.\nThere is a family-type atmosphere among the employees and managers at Siam House, which is named after what Thailand used to be called. Several of the employees have worked at the restaurant for many years, including general manager Andrew Stevens, who has worked there since 1991.\nStevens, who is a Bloomington resident, used to frequent Siam House with his mother, a Thai immigrant. He soon got a job at Pok's restaurant and has worked there off and on ever since.\n"One thing that makes us stand out is our extensive vegetarian and vegan menu," Stevens said.\nSiam House has always had a very strong student customer base and has conducted business accordingly. For example, the buffet price has only been raised by $1.50 in the last 17 years. The restaurant has also provided a workplace for students.\n"This place is like a family, like a home," said Rita Zambori, a sixth-year senior at IU and a waitress for four years at Siam House.\nShe said she has always appreciated Thai cuisine and culture and was a regular customer before applying for the job.\n"Thai cuisine stands out because of the spices and curry and numerous amounts of vegetables," Zambori said. "It's very aromatic and very flavorful. It's almost hard to explain the food to people sometimes."\nThai cuisine also stands out because of how it incorporates foods from many other regions of the world, Stevens said.\n"Thai food combines elements of Indian cuisine, Chinese cuisine, southeastern Asian cuisine and even French cuisine," Stevens said. "Thais are very good at incorporating foods from all over the world."\nAs for the future of Siam House, Pok said she doesn't want to stop serving any time soon.\n"As long as I can work, I would like to do it," Pok said. "It makes me very happy to see customers finish their bowl"