Chester's newest independent restaurant, Russell's Thai Tapas, recently opened its doors on Foregate Street.

Owned by a husband and wife duo, it follows the success of their other Chester location, Thai Bann, which specialises in Thai street food.

Co-owner, Chonlada Wangpradit, spoke to Chester Nub News about the story behind their recent venture.

Head chef, Nakorn, has used his ten years of kitchen experience to build a menu that covers a range of tastes and textures (Nub News)

Nicknamed 'Chili', Chonlada and her husband, Nakorn Chaopa, met in York whilst working in hospitality.

She had worked in Thailand's food industry for a number of years, improving her hospitality skills at the Four Seasons hotel in Koh Samui.

Eventually, she decided to study abroad for her masters in business management in York, where she picked up work at a local Thai restaurant and met Nakorn.

Head chef, Nakorn, has worked in kitchens for over ten years.

Starting off as a porter, he moved his way up through the kitchen team at the York restaurant, training and learning from the best.

The restaurant specialises in small plate, tapas-style dishes, so that customers can try more of the cuisine (Nub News)

Eventually rising to a managerial position, Chonlada explained the utility of spending time in the restaurant environment and how this equipped the pair to open their own restaurant.

Chonlada said: "I did everything: I learnt how to order, how to take care of customers and learn more about them and their habits, what they like, what they prefer."

When a family member proposed opening a spot in Chester, they jumped at the idea and given the public's reception to Thai Bann, they felt confident that there was room for something different.

The Foregate Street unit was formerly 'The Eatery' (Nub News)

Nakorn shrugged off fears around opening the restaurant, citing their independence and passion for good hospitality as reasons to give it a go, despite the risks involved.

Chonlada added: "When Thai Bann worked and customers liked the taste of our food, he was able to plan for this next one: Russel's Thai Tapas.

"He's the one with the strong dream, he wanted to be a chef.

"For me, I'm flexible: I'm not just good at one thing. I just thought ok, I'm the supporter, how can I help? The dream team, something like that.

"There's still a lot of Thai food that customers still haven't tried yet.

"In Thailand we don't just have curry and stir fry. We take our dishes from many parts of Thailand.

Notable favourites were the grilled marinated pork along with som tum, a spicy papaya salad (Nub News)

"We try to be as authentic as we can as some ingredients are difficult to find."

Regarding the element of tapas-style dishes, the co-owner explained that this style of eating was considered more authentic to the region.

She said: "Thai food is different. Russell Thai Tapas provides small plates, you can order two, three dishes per person.

"In Thailand, we normally eat like that: we just don't call it tapas.

"With Thai food, you usually get five dishes. The taste is complicated: it can be spicy, salty, sweet but when it goes together with the jasmine rice it is perfect.

The couple managed the interior design on their own, incorporating ideas they saw online (Nub News)

"Our family always ate light food when we were young so this is traditional Thai. I use tapas because tapas are small plates, so it is similar like that. 

"I know the customer likes to try many kinds of Thai food. If you just get one big one, you can't try as much."

The Foregate street restaurant originally turned heads after an application was submitted to convert a former tea room.

The city centre building was sold last September by the owners of The Eatery, who had run the cafe for eight years.

You can visit book your next visit at their website here.