Vatcharin Bhumichitr ran the world-famous Chiang Mai restaurant in London, the first restaurant outside Asia to specialize in northern Thai cooking. He extended his range to all the regions of Thailand when he opened the Thai Bistro in Chiswick, West London, followed by the Chiang Rai in Manchester and his latest, Southeast W9, in London's Maida Vale, offering food from across the whole of Southeast Asia—another first. Vatcharin is the author of The Taste of Thailand, Thai Vegetarian Cooking, Vatch's Thai Cookbook, and Vatch's Southeast Asian Cookbook .