Looking for something different to eat? Have a taste for the exotic? Well, the A&T Register has a great recommendation. Nestled in the heart of downtown Elm Street culture, Thai Pan is a rare gem in a sea of typical restaurants. Owner and manager Pat Chatley comes directly from Bangkok, Thailand, and serves all of her dishes with love and care.

“I’m came from Bangkok in 1994,” Chatley said. “We (her family) moved from Tokyo to North Carolina. People always told me, ‘you’re going to get culture shocked.’ It was so fast paced in Tokyo and it was so slow here. It was just time for relocation, and when I first got here I worked with corporate America at American Express and Pepsi Cola. It was nice, but my family told me it was time to just do something on my own. I started cooking at about seven years old. I enjoy it, it’s not that I have to do it.”

Coming from so far away, Chatley had her share of challenges, but was determined to get Thai Pan off the ground and make it one of Greensboro’s premiere locations.”I got the money from my family. It was tough and it still is. I think a lot of my success came from the community. It’s so tight knit,” Chatley said. “I used to have a boutique called ‘Thai It Up’. I just closed it about a year ago. Unless I could clone myself, it was just too much to manage both. I still do trunk showings, and we may sell out on the front of our restaurant. We have a sidewalk sale every once in a while. But it’s almost like once I established myself; a lot of my customers came right with me. I see a lot of the same faces.”Chatley brings with her some of her family’s favorite dishes, and a bit of culture that a lot of North Carolinians do not typically see. And her customer base is extremely diverse, which tells her that she is reaching a larger crowd.

“We usually get young professional people who live downtown, and of course lots of college students. It’s pretty diverse. The most popular dish is of course is our Pat Thai for noodles, and a popular stir-fry dish is our basil chicken. Seafood is really popular too. I pick them all the food from the market myself, about once a week for seafood. All of these are my families recipes.”

While Chatley sees students from local colleges and universities, she has had an influx of black students. Chatley says she’s excited to see more and more new people everyday, and she tries her best to make it affordable, especially for college students.

“For students on a tight budget, we do have daily specials Monday through Friday,” Chatley said. “They are different each day. Sometimes it comes with soup or salad. The best time for them to come is probably during lunch if price is a factor since everything is pretty much the same across the board. We have started to see more from A&T, especially in the past semester. We are considering doing a college night, where the meal might have an appetizer and two dishes, come with rice and a salad. Possibly on Monday through Wednesday.”

The Editor-in-Chief, Assistant Managing Editor, and Photographer of the Register each ordered a few dishes to see exactly what Thai Pan was like. If you are looking for a different kind of appetizer, try their steamed dumplings, which will only set you back about $5.

If you’re just getting started with Thai food, try the Phad King dish, which is stir-fried with ginger and mixed vegetables. Or the Pad Thai, stir fried rice noodles with broccoli, egg, chopped peanut, scallion and bean sprouts. Another good option is the Pad Ped Tua Kak, stir fried with green beans, carrots in spicy chili sauce. While the dishes may sound exotic and expensive, they will only cost you around $8.75.A great dessert for after dinner would be the fried bananas and vanilla ice cream, which runs about$5.99. Thai Pan is a great, although small, restaurant for a weekend date on a budget, as no dish will cost you more than $15.For the fruit lovers out there, Thai Pan has you covered. Their menu will feature lots of exotic fruits in the spring.

“We change the menu every season. Next season will be more light faired and refreshing. I will incorporate more fruit dishes with mangos, strawberries, or peach.”Chatley’s small family business is sanctuary for her, and she encourages you to come in and try something different.

• Dexter Mullins