Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Hyland.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Susan. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I start my business in 2014. I always loved cooking and was interested in food, so I guess it was a natural progression from a hobby to a profession. My mom is a great cook and as a little girl, I would accompany her to the market to choose fresh food then help cook when we got home.
I started my restaurant with a small amount of money, to me passion was more important than money, I renovated and remodeled my restaurant at the start myself, painting, tile fitting, I would work until 3 am painting getting ready to open. In the beginning, I did everything myself, shopping, cooking, serving, today I employ around 10 people- but I’m still hands-on in the business.
Has it been a smooth road?
Opening my restaurant was straightforward in my mind- I knew what I wanted to do, and the sort of food I wanted to serve, I took over the restaurant from a previous Thai fast food restaurant, so when I opened people thought it was a similar style restaurant. What I created was something completely different.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Thai Opal story. Tell us more about the business.
At Thai Opal, we specialize in honest, fresh, and fragrant Thai food. I believe in using local ingredients- Dallas is a sunshine state, so we are blessed with great local food. One exception- rice….
My family used to own a rice farm in Thailand so I know a thing or two about rice, so many restaurants use American long grain rice, as it’s cheap and easy to obtain, I have my Thai jasmine rice imported from Thailand, believe me, I can tell the difference, and I think my customers can too.
I only use fresh ingredients at the restaurant, I shop early every day- the folks at the whole sellers ask why I’m here every day!!! I guess it’s in my blood, in Thailand in the old days no one had fridges, so people cooked fresh everyday- I adopted that ethos today, fresh, local and flavorsome.
Some of the restaurant favorites are, Panang curry, and spicy basil noodles, we don’t use frozen fish cakes at Thai Opal, we make fresh everyday, those are very popular, I have just retired from a trip in Bangkok and am working on a few new dishes.
One of the things I’m very proud of is reducing the amount of sugar I add into the food, so much Asian food is modified for the western taste by adding sugar.
What are your plans for the future? What are you looking forward to or planning for – any big changes?
So many customers tell me to open a second restaurant in Dallas- but in my view, Dallas has so many restaurants per head already- more than New York, Dallas is a hard nut to crack restaurant-wise. I’m happy at this moment in time.
Contact Info:
- Address: 6300 skill man street #156, Dallas TX 75231 USA
- Phone: 214 553 5956
Image Credit:
Susan Hyland
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