Before there was Morks, there was another Thai restaurant in the Ratanakosol family.
Open from 1990 to 2008 at the Yarralumla shops, Sukothai was described as "Canberra's hottest and smartest new Thai" when it first opened. It was also the place where Morks owners Mork and Benn Ratanakosol grew up.
So when a spot opened up at the Yarralumla shops fit for the brothers' new project - just 40 metres from Sukothai's Bentham Street location - it felt like somewhat of a homecoming. A perfectly timed one as well, considering Morks closed its doors after 15 years in February.
"It feels nice to come full circle," Benn Ratanakosol says.
"Both Mork and I live in Yarralumla, and my parents also live just down the road as well.
"And when we stepped into this space, we just fell in love. It just felt like home and we think we can do something really special here."
Getting its name from the restaurant's small 22-seater space, Minima is a departure from the duo's Thai roots. Instead, it is what Benn and Mork Ratanakosol describe as "third culture cuisine" - which is why the restaurant's name is the Portuguese word for "minimal".
The Portuguese introduced chilli to Asia - an ingredient that has become synonymous with the region's cuisines. And that's an example of what Benn and Mork Ratanakosol mean when they say "third culture cuisine".
The term "third culture" refers to people who grow up in a different culture to that of their parents.
Mork Ratanakosol was born in Bangkok, and Benn Ratanakosol was born in Canberra just after his family immigrated to Australia. For them, life was very Thai at home but was also very Australian.
"You're never quite connected 100 per cent. You somewhat feel lost, but you sometimes feel found at the same time, like you have two homes, in a way," Benn Ratanakosol says.
That's the type of energy the duo wanted to bring to the menu.
"The driver behind the style of food that we're offering at Minima, is we want to have more of a broad criteria," Benn Ratanakosol says.
"We love the food at Morks, but Morks had to be Thai food. You couldn't be too adventurous with the dishes because you had to cook within the parameters.
"So at Minima, we want to be able to do something where we're not as restricted. We can be just as adventurous with a broader curriculum."
So what is third culture cuisine, exactly? Simply put, it's fusion without restraints, while still feeling tied to the Ratanakosol brothers' upbringing.
Think fried quail doubanjiang with blue cheese sauce - a dish that's on the Minima a la carte menu.
"Doubanjiang is like a fermented soy kind of chilli relish used a lot in Chinese cuisine, but when you taste this dish, it tastes like an elevated version of buffalo wings," Benn Ratanakosol says.
"You taste it, and you think that it is just such a familiar flavour that you'd find [it in] any greasy American bar. But you do get that fermented soy kick that you associate with a lot of Asian cuisine."
On the lunch menu, there's a Minima mie goreng - the result of Mork Ratanakosol's dislike of pad Thai, and appreciation of the Indonesian classic, mie goreng.
"I love pad Thai and Mork hates pad Thai. And Mork's wife is Indonesian, so he likes that mie goreng-style of noodles," Benn Ratanakosol says.
"So he was just playing around with this tamarind kind of sauce to go with it and it's worked out well."
But it's not just the dishes on the menu that set the new Yarralumla restaurant apart. It's also how the owners are approaching the differences between lunch and dinner offerings.
While dinner is dine-in only, lunch is takeaway only with their options available as "lunchboxes" priced between $15 and $20.
"We love street food. When we were growing up, my mum and dad would always take us back to Thailand every one to two years ... and we ate at the local street spots where one merchant would specialise in a dish and that's all they would do," Benn Ratanakosol says.
"And we wanted to replicate that, because, while it gets a lot of attention in the city, where a lot of people do takeaway lunch offerings, we want to show people what we can do in this aspect because we reckon we can do it deliciously as well."
- For more information go to eatminima.com.au.
