New restaurant brings taste of Thailand to mid-Michigan community

LAPEER, MI — A new Thai Cuisine restaurant is now open in the city’s historic downtown area.

Kin Thai Cuisine, located at 450 W. Nepessing St. inside the former Chef G’s building, opened a few weeks ago.

Owned by Jay Yang and Debbie Thao, the pair are revitalizing the building with exceptional food and outstanding customer service.

As for the name of the business, “Kin” means “eat” in Thai.

“We’re very happy to deliver fresh, tasty food to the Lapeer community,” Thao said. “It’s a dream to open a restaurant in a small community where it’s tight knit.”

All the traditional Thai entrees are available like curry, noodles, fried rice, soup, salads, and appetizers, Thao told MLive-The Flint Journal.

Pad Thai is always a popular choice, but beyond that, the restaurant’s staples are gaeng keow warn, drunken noodles, pad prik, kow pad kapraw, chicken satay and chicken egg roll.

While they offer crispy chicken that might seem common, Thao said they do add their own flavor to it.

The pair believe the Lapeer community will love the choices, including a variety of curry options.

“Thai food is healthier and it’s fresh ingredients,” Thao said. “It has a different taste, especially the curry. It’s not what you expect. When people think of curry, they think of spice. Thai curry is not like that. It’s more sweetness.”

Beverages include Thai iced tea with cream, Thai iced coffee with cream and Jasmine hot tea.

Yang and Thao owned a Thai restaurant located in Farmington Hills but recently sold it.

Born in Thailand, Thao moved to the U.S. as an infant with her family.

“My parents are first generation immigrants and it’s food we still eat to this day,” she said.

James Alt, Lapeer Downtown Development Authority Director, said there was a need for Thai food in Lapeer.

“Over the past four years, we’ve been doing community surveys and one of the things we asked people are what dining options they want,” Alt said. “Year after year, the top choice is Thai food comes out on top. There is very strong demand for it.”

Moving into a close-knit community like Lapeer is important for Thao and Yang because they used to live up north so they love the country and slower paced communities.

“We also want to build relationships with our customers and want to be somewhere where we can have regular customers,” Thao said.

The owners also have their sights set on partnering with local farms to help deliver fresh ingredients.

“That’s the long term goal,” Thao said. “We use so much fresh produce, that we think we can partner with a farm to support them too. So when customers are dining with us, they’re not just supporting us, they support other local businesses.”

Business hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and closed on Sundays.

Follow Kin Thai Cuisine on Facebook.