Decade-old Buderim diner gets modern Thai-fusion overhaul under new ownership

A former Malay chef is set to transform a 10 year-old Asian diner in Buderim into a new-age Thai-fusion restaurant with its own small bar. See the plans:

A former Malay chef is transforming a decade-old Buderim diner into a vibrant new Thai-fusion restaurant complete with a small bar, spruced up veranda and sweeping views of surrounding suburbs.

Erawan Sunshine owner Jeremy Khoo acquired the venue from its original founder Lenny Kongfricharoen in July while in Brisbane and moved up to the Sunshine Coast with the intention of making the site his own.

Mr Khoo was born in Malaysia and began his career as a chef for a luxury hotel restaurant in Kuala Lumpur before moving to Brisbane where he studied hospitality management at the University of Queensland.

During his studies, he met his partner Nontouch Santhadthan and together they co-founded hospitality marketing agency Fox Junkie in 2018 and will continue to run the business alongside his upcoming restaurant.

Mr Khoo said he used his time running Erawan Sunshine to gauge what customers enjoyed and to test some of his new ideas before closing the establishment down on Sunday for renovations.

“The first thing was to give me the opportunity to understand the local community better so rather than come in and do something new that might not work we ran [Erawan] up to now to have more time to plan and organise the refurbishments we needed for the new restaurant,” Mr Khoo said.

Buderim restaurant Erawan is doing a major revamp of the decade old venue and will under a new name Dee Den. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“From a business operation perspective there were a lot of things I saw that we could improve. We wanted to do a different cuisine rather than just Thai by itself, we wanted something more fun and different.”

Dee Den is the name of Mr Khoo’s soon-to-be restaurant which is a Thai phrase that loosely translates to “standing out” or “the odd one out.”

The venue will be doing a distinct take on Thai-fusion by incorporating elements from other Asian cuisines in their dishes such as Japanese, Korean and Malay.

“The cuisine we want to serve will be a little bit different, it won’t be boring and of course we’ve got a focus on flavour,” Mr Khoo said.

Buderim restaurant Erawan is doing a major revamp of the decade old venue and will under a new name Dee Den. Pictured, owner Jeremy Khooh (left) and his colleagues, Noony Chotchuang, Mike Meesuwan and Nontouch Santhadthan. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“It’s still Asian cuisine so it will still have familiar flavour profiles but it will make you go ‘hey that’s something different’.”

The restaurant will also have a small “intimate” bar starring a mix of classic and house-made cocktails along with wines, beers and spirits.

Dee Den is expected to open in late March.

Originally published as Decade-old Buderim diner gets modern Thai-fusion overhaul under new ownership