Growing up in the small village of Pursat, Cambodia during the turbulent civil war era of the 1970s, Henry Eang lived with his family in the back of a noodle house that had no electricity, and with no running water, they bathed in the river. Through the first half of first grade, he walked half an hour each way to school and back. Then, under the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-1978, he and his family were forced out of their home and made to live in a rural labor camp. When Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979, the family fled to Thailand. From there, an American group based in Rock Hill, South Carolina sponsored Henry, his parents and siblings to move to the United States, helped them find jobs, enrolled the children in school and paid their rent until they could make it on their own. No one in the family spoke English.
In the mid-1980s, Henry visited Charleston for the first time and fell in love with the city. After graduating from high school, he attended the College of Charleston for a year and a half before transferring to Winthrop, where he earned a degree in accounting.
Having worked in restaurants throughout middle school, high school and university, Henry realized early on that a career in accounting wasn’t for him. Since his interest was in the food and beverage industry, he moved to Atlanta, where he took a position in a Thai restaurant. In the meantime, his brother Chai Eang, who lived in Charleston, suggested that they should open a Thai restaurant downtown. In 2002, the brothers launched Thai Basil on King Street.
It was a success. When the space next door became available in 2005, they opened Chai’s Lounge and Tapas. In 2009, Chai expanded Thai Basil with a location in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. Later, he added others in Greenville and Columbia. In 2011, Henry opened Thai Basil in the Seaside Farms area of Mount Pleasant and in 2019 he opened the one in Park Circle.
For Henry, the most rewarding aspect of being a restaurateur is not having to answer to anyone else because he does it all –from cooking in the kitchen, to washing dishes. “While it can all be somewhat stressful, I enjoy the work, it’s therapeutic,” he said, adding that of the menu’s extensive –and authentic– selection of delicious choices, his favorite is the pad Thai. Other favorites include appetizers such as stuffed shrimp, fried wontons and dumplings; tom yum kung and tom kha gai soups; Barramundi, Masaman, green and red curries; pad woon sen and pad kee mow noodle bowls and other mouthwatering entrées such as green papaya shrimp salad.
In addition, Henry has taken a hands-on approach to Thai Basil’s interior and patio design, devoting the time to work and travel with an architect. Together, they’ve created a refined, contemporary environment softened by elegant textiles, lighting, art, accessories and layout.
When he’s not working behind the scenes or running the front of the house, Henry enjoys fishing in the Lowcountry waterways, dining out with his wife and their teenage son and daughter –and of course, cooking. His favorite dish to make at home, he said, is soup, specifically one with a pork broth base, to which he adds bitter melon, a healthy, tropical fruit that is shaped like a cucumber and that he stuffs with ground pork. Sometimes his son, who enjoys making pasta, helps in the kitchen, and his daughter is starting to take an interest in the culinary arts as well.
Every other spring, Henry, his wife and their children travel to Cambodia where they observe the Tomb Sweeping holiday with his large family of brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews at the burial sites of their ancestors. To honor the memory of loved ones and celebrate their transition to the afterlife, the descendants offer gifts such as food and drinks.
There’s always something special about coming home to Mount Pleasant, where Henry said he loves living “because of the people, as well as its proximity to the restaurant scene in Charleston. It’s the best place in the world.
To experience a taste of Thailand, book a reservation at eatatbasil.com/mt-pleasant/.
In the mid-1980s, Henry visited Charleston for the first time and fell in love with the city.