Best Pastry Chef Award 2026, sponsored by Sosa

Dej Kewkacha

The self-taught maths graduate blending Asian flavours in impressively delicate desserts

Dej Kewkacha's journey from granita seller to multiple award-winning pastry chef is nothing short of remarkable. Since the closure of Gaggan at Louis Vuitton, he's focusing his efforts on Kao Nom Thai dessert café in Bangkok. From mango sticky rice kakigori (shaved ice) to chocolate and cashew praline mooncakes, Kewkacha continues to impress with inventive flavour combinations that blur culinary boundaries.

As the winner of the Asia's Best Pastry Chef Award, sponsored by Valrhona, as part of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2025, Kewkacha had already proven his culinary finesse as the executive pastry chef of Gaggan at Louis Vuitton. Chef Gaggan Anand approached Kewkacha, who won over both the Louis Vuitton team and Anand during a tasting at his private chef space, with a thorough understanding of Anand's culinary style and the aesthetic codes of the fashion house.

Kewkacha led a dedicated pastry team and created desserts that are memorable in design. Through seasonally flavoured tuiles displaying the house monogram, desserts were delicately arranged with vibrant colours and textures. Naturally drawn to savoury flavours, he has developed unique sweets such as tonka bean ice cream with warm apple purée air, caviar and smoked bacon oil. He also took cues from Louis Vuitton, showcasing one season's lime green in a marian plum sorbet draped in avocado foam under the veil of an avocado monogram tuile.

Given the intentionality of Kewkacha's cooking, it's easy to forget how pastry was never the plan. Kewkacha read maths in London, with initial plans to work in the tourism sector. But a fateful visit to the pastry section at Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons, where his flat mate worked, sparked an appetite for fine dining that he could not resist. Upon completing his master's degree, he returned to Bangkok and began making and selling granita with his brother in a small city outside the capital.

A later trip to Japan changed the direction of his ambition. Kewkacha immersed himself in the culture, mastered the language and homed in on Japanese-style roll cakes. Inspired by Kyoto's bamboo charcoal craze, he developed a charcoal roll cake filled with uji matcha cream, which was an instant hit and led to opening his first shop: Kyo Roll En. Thirty locations later, he sought creative territory by opening Thailand's first dessert omakase-style bar, Kyo Bar. There, pairings such as chocolate with miso, and cheese with shiro-an (white bean paste), caught the attention of dessert aficionados, including Anand.

Heritage is a through line of Kewkacha's culinary career. From honing French technique to honouring Japanese flavours, and now applying a seasonal twist to traditional Thai desserts, Kewkacha demonstrates a remarkable ability to innovate while keeping one foot firmly in tradition, creating new desserts without compromising on authenticity, craftsmanship or flavour.

This storied career makes Dej Kewkacha the well-deserving winner of the Best Pastry Chef Award, sponsored by Sosa, as part of The 50 Best Restaurants 2026.