With always-popular, no-frills Street Food Thai Market and local chain Thai Spice serving as the only options for Thai cuisine in the Heights, an opening existed in the ever-growing neighborhood for another Thai experience.

Enter Kin Dee, a restaurant that promises to showcase unique, bold Thai dishes in a modernized setting. It's set to open around spring 2020 at the new Market at Houston Heights mixed-use development at 15th Street and Shepherd. 

Kin Dee is the brainchild of Lukkaew Srasrisuwan, an oil-and gas worker at Schlumberger, and Miranda Leotkhamfu, a chef and the owner of A Real Thai Massage in River Oaks. The duo met five years ago and, according to a press release, began plans to open a restaurant after Srasrisuwan ate some of Leotkhamfu's cooking. 

“Kin Dee will be about culinary discovery for guests, and we look forward to offering something unexpected from the food and décor to the overall ambience,” said Srasrisuwan. “One of the primary reasons for choosing the Heights as our first location is an audience eager for new experiences.”

You read that right—"first location." But first, the duo will have to impress Houstonians' hankering for Thai food that goes beyond the basic pad Thai and a rainbow of curry offerings. The restaurant vows to use hard-to-find ingredients to execute regional Thai recipes. Potential menu items include luk chin ping (Thai meatball with lime or tamarind sauce) and guay tiao neua toon (rice noodles with slow-cooked beef in broth). If realized, these dishes would be a nice complement to the northern Thai fare served at Street Food Thai Market, and on a broader scale, would feel similar to the cuisine offered at Uptown Park's Songkran Thai Kitchen.

Kin Dee, which will be in the same development as the newest Flower Child location, plus CycleBar, Salon Lofts, M+L Dental, and Vanguard Spine & Sport, will be open for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch.