The chef of one of Toronto's fanciest new Lebanese restaurants is not so secretly a Thai food wiz, and has used her skills to create a food delivery service during the pandemic. 

Sand Tsoi is a chef at Amal, a sleek new Lebanese restaurant with an upper level patio and a menu of kebabs and dips that opened in 2020.

On top of this, she has turned Baan, which was once her Thai cooking class company, into a food delivery service due to distancing restrictions.

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"After coming to Canada in 2016, I was searching for a career. I love entertaining friends and family and frequently cooked Thai food whenever we got together. Everyone really enjoyed the food I was making and would ask me for recipes and take home any leftovers," Tsoi told blogTO.

"Some friends recommended a career in the culinary industry and when looking into it, I discovered the George Brown culinary program. While I was studying at George Brown, I continued to host and entertain and my friends were telling me how they've never tasted Thai food like I was making before."

In her cooking classes, students of all skill levels were welcome to learn how to make dishes like pad thai and tom yum fried rice.

"I began hosting cooking classes for these friends and their friend's friends and soon it organically evolved into a cooking class business. I really enjoyed teaching these cooking classes. It allowed me to meet new people and share the recipes that I learned from my mom that have been passed down in my family for generations," says Tsoi.

"When COVID hit, I began hosting my cooking classes online through Zoom. Taking it online allowed me to reach people I couldn't before and allowed me to host larger groups. But it also came with its own set of
challenges...sourcing ingredients locally for each participant was especially challenging."

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Restrictions surrounding home-based food businesses were murky for much of 2020, but Tsoi saw an opportunity when Ontario clarified what types of food people can sell out of their homes.

"When the Ontario government began its program to ease some of the restrictions surrounding home-based food businesses during the pandemic, I realized there was an opportunity for me to continue to
share my recipes with people who did not have the time to cook themselves," says Tsoi.

"Without access to a commercial kitchen and because everything is made from scratch in my home kitchen, I have created a small set menu that I update every week and rotate the delivery areas daily. Orders are placed one day ahead, ensuring only the freshest ingredients are used and consumed each day."

Baan currently services Richmond Hill and surrounding areas. One of her signatures dishes she recommends is her Thai curry, made using "curry paste made fresh daily from scratch combined with the techniques passed down from my mom and grandma," according to Tsoi. 

Sounds like just what's needed in the middle of winter during a pandemic. Call Baan at 437.345.8003 or hit them up on Instagram to find out more about how to get it to your door.