Announcing the Winner of the Sustainable Restaurant Award at Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants

With a philosophy of ‘Grow to Give Back’, sustainability is the starting point, the end goal and the driving force behind everything the team does at Haoma. Their neo-Indian cuisine is created with Thai produce, mostly grown in their own organic city farm, their 200 metres of vertical farm and their aquaculture and hydroponics systems. The few ingredients not grown or reared onsite are sourced from small-scale Thai farmers personally selected by the Haoma team; these include their tea, coffee and chocolate, ingredients that usually have long and complex supply chains. They close the loop by composting their organic waste to nourish their soil and feed their fish.

Read on for a deeper dive into sustainability at Haoma.

Sourcing sustainably at Haoma

• They grow their own produce, as well as rearing animals in their own organic farm near the restaurant. This includes 500 chickens used for meat and eggs and goats for grazing and milk, along with vegetables, herbs and edible flowers.
• They've planted 100 mango trees, 30 coconut trees, 10 guava trees and 10 pomegranate trees that they intend to use in their restaurant in their future. 
• They look to reduce the human and environmental risk of the ingredients they do not grow by auditing the farms they source from. 
• Their food and wine menus highlight where each of their ingredients comes from. They work with small-scale farmers to source a variety of high-risk ingredients. Their chocolate is locally grown and processed by a neighbouring business; they use wild coffee from the mountains of Chiang Rai; and their rice is an indigenous species, Hom Mali, grown near their own farm. 
• Although most of their fish is farmed on their own premises within their aquaponics system, wild fish is sourced directly from fishers with whom they have a close relationship, with frequent visits and training from Chef DK. 

Social sustainability at Haoma

• Haoma has offered job opportunities to two young ex-inmates, who have now progressed within their team and hold full-time positions in the restaurant. 
• They take care of their staff, having increased the number of meal breaks from one to two per shift and offering them meals on each break. Employees are given long-term, interest-free loans to buy bikes, and enjoy a generous discount if they come to dine at Haoma. They also organise team visits to their farm, as well as team-building outings.
• Started during the pandemic, Haoma’s NoOneHungry campaign provides cooked meals to those in need and is used as a platform to increase awareness around hiring migrant workers, especially women. 
• They have also partnered with Thai Scholars of Sustenance: in collaboration with supermarkets and farmers who share their surplus food, Haoma cooks meals which are distributed in less fortunate communities by SOS. 

How Haoma takes care of the environment

• They have installed a rainwater harvesting system that collects on average 150,000L of rainwater every year. This water is then used to run their aquaponics system and in the kitchen, and served to diners. Furthermore, they have a greywater recycling system which is used to water the plants in their driveway. 
• During their renovations in 2023, they upgraded their windows to use heat-reflective glass, which has reduced their need for air conditioning. They also removed walls and their roof to install glass, allowing more natural light in and therefore reducing the use of electric lights during the day. 
• They collaborate with Trees4ALL, planting trees to enhance climate resilience in the Nan Province of Thailand. 
• Haoma has a strong ambition to be a zero-waste restaurant, keeping their waste below 3-5%. Organic waste is used to make fish food and to make compost. They also use trimmings and other by-products to create drinks through their fermented drinks programme, including their welcome drink. 
• They work with different organisations to repurpose various materials. For example, their old tablecloths and linen have been transformed to carrier bags that they've provided to suppliers as a method to deliver products to Haoma. Wine bottles are transformed into glasses, oil into soap, and plastic waste into plates. 
• To reduce the use of recyclable plastic, they have switched to compostable sous vide bags and cling film. 

How The SRA works with 50 Best 

In 2013, The World’s 50 Best introduced a new award, the Sustainable Restaurant Award, to celebrate one restaurant on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list that was going above and beyond to serve food fit for the future.   

In order to judge this award, 50 Best enlisted our help as the experts in what sustainability should look like for the hospitality industry. Based on our Food Made Good Framework, we developed a globally relevant questionnaire for restaurants to use in their application, providing us with information across three key areas: Sourcing, Society and Environment. Over the years, we have refined and updated this questionnaire to ensure it captures the issues faced by restaurants who want to operate sustainably. 

Since then, our work has expanded to cover all seven lists produced by 50 Best, assessing restaurants, bars and hotels around the world. It is our great pleasure to celebrate these chefs and businesses on a global level; the variety and creativity of sustainability initiatives across the planet is nothing short of incredible, and we’re consistently impressed with the ever-increasing standard of entries.

Learn more about our Food Made Good Framework here, or explore our work with 50 Best and our other global partnerships.