Chai-Yo means pleasure, gladness, success, unity and happiness in Thai — a name that inspires everything at this family-owned restaurant on Queen Street in Richmond. Chai-Yo serves Thai and Chinese food in an Asian-fusion style, taking traditional flavours and adding popular twists of its own. The kitchen leans on recipes the owners learned cooking with their families in Thailand, adapted with the best local ingredients for the Kiwi palate, and caters to everyone whether you like it spicy or not so hot.
The restaurant is run by Bu-nga Krataitong and Nuttavut Rodsienglum, who began as a husband-and-wife team with one café and have grown the Simply Asia Food Group to around 70 staff and a family of sister venues including The Lemongrass in Richmond, SAMKO Café and Miracle Restaurant in Nelson, and Bamboo Garden, The Lemongrass and Chai-Yo Café in Blenheim. Family remains the guiding idea: staff are part of the wider family, and customers are meant to feel welcome and at home.
Regulars come for the Crispy Cream Cheese Rolls, the signature Crunchy Chicken with Creamy Coconut Sauce, sizzling hot-plate dishes like Sizzling Singapore Noodles and Seafood Parade, tomyum soup and flavoursome Thai curries. Chai-Yo is open seven days for lunch and dinner, seats 70, is fully licensed with BYO, and offers dine-in, takeaway and online ordering, plus catering for everything from birthdays to weddings.
Chai-Yo is a Thai word that means pleasure, gladness, success, unity and happiness. It's a lot to live up to for a single restaurant, but this family-owned spot on Queen Street in Richmond wears it well. Chai-Yo Restaurant serves Thai and Chinese food in a style the team calls Asian fusion Chai-Yo style — traditional flavours, cooked fresh, with popular twists of its own — in a relaxed and friendly room that seats 70.
Behind the restaurant is a genuine family story. Owners Bu-nga Krataitong and Nuttavut Rodsienglum started out as a husband-and-wife team with a single café. Today their Simply Asia Food Group counts around 70 staff — and two sons — among its family, along with a string of sister venues: The Lemongrass in Richmond, SAMKO Café and Miracle Restaurant in Nelson, and Bamboo Garden, The Lemongrass and Chai-Yo Café in Blenheim. Richmond is where it all comes together: a restaurant built on the principle that customers should feel welcome and at home, with staff treated as part of the same wider family.
The cooking at Chai-Yo is grounded in the owners' own food memories. Both developed their love of food through their mothers' cooking — Nuttavut's mother in particular was a fantastic cook, and she remains the inspiration for much of what comes out of the kitchen. The recipes draw on what the pair learned cooking with family in Thailand and around the world, then adapt those dishes with the best local ingredients to suit the local palate.
The result is fresh, delicious and healthy food at affordable prices, and a kitchen that caters to everyone — whether you like it spicy or not so hot. That flexibility is more than a slogan: reviewers tell of ordering a medium that turned out hotter than expected and having the kitchen cheerfully knock the heat back. Ask for your preferred spice level and the team will meet you there.
Start with the appetisers. There are wantons, spring rolls, Golden Tiger Prawns, and pork dumplings that come deep-fried or steamed. The house special is the Crispy Cream Cheese Rolls, which one happy regular describes as 'so crispy with a delicious soft gooey filling.' Fish cakes are another early favourite.
For mains, the menu reaches into both Thai and Chinese territory. Sweet n Sour Sensation and the Angry Dish are the ones the team says 'have to be tried,' alongside tomyum soup and fantastic, flavoursome Thai curries. The sizzling dishes from the hot plate are reliable crowd pleasers — Sizzling Singapore Noodles and the Sizzling Seafood Parade, which arrives at the table still hissing.
But the dish regulars know best is the signature Crunchy Chicken with Creamy Coconut Sauce — crunchy chicken under a creamy coconut curry that reviewers call a must-try. Beyond the headline acts, diners also praise the drunken noodles ('surprised at how flavourful it was'), the roti duck, and generous, fresh seafood.
Chai-Yo is open seven days: lunch runs 11:30am to 2:15pm every day, with dinner from 4:30pm — until 8:30pm on Monday, Tuesday and Sunday, and 8:45pm Wednesday to Saturday. The restaurant is fully licensed and offers BYO, so you can bring a favourite bottle along to sit alongside the curries. Ordering runs on a quick-service system, and you can dine in, take away or order online at online.chaiyo.co.nz; tables can also be booked online.
The atmosphere is relaxed and family-friendly — reviewers repeatedly mention it as a good place to bring kids, and there's a food-delivery robot that adds a bit of fun to proceedings. With 70 seats, it comfortably handles family gatherings and celebrations; one diner calls it simply 'the best place for celebrating a special event.'
Catering extends the Chai-Yo table beyond the restaurant. The team caters private parties, corporate meetings, product launches and weddings, with menu options spanning Thai, Asian fusion, healthy dishes, vegetarian meals and gluten-free selections, tailored to the occasion and budget. Share your date and time and they'll come back within 24 hours with a plan.
Whether you're dropping in for a quick lunch, gathering the family for dinner, or bringing a bottle for a leisurely curry night, Chai-Yo aims to send you out the door with what the name promises — a little pleasure, gladness and happiness, served Queen Street style.