The matcha cafe that opened in September at 324 Beltrami Ave. NW traces back to a Thai kitchen that opened in 2016, one block north. The 300 and 400 blocks of Beltrami Avenue now hold Thai, sushi, ramen and pho, plus a matcha bar selling Japanese fruit sandwiches. Most of them connect to the same small group of people, because staff in one restaurant kept becoming owners of the next.
That handoff explains why the downtown Asian food scene sits on such a short stretch of street. It also gives you a good order for eating your way through it.
The kitchen where it starts
Thamron "Keng" Dechawuth, a native of Thailand, opened his first restaurant in Fargo before opening Tara Bemidji in 2016, the Bemidji Pioneer reported in 2023. Tara Thai Bemidji opened at 401 Beltrami Ave. NW. After that he opened Wasabi and Slurp Ramen downtown, then bought a farm in Puposky to grow mushrooms.
He did not keep everything he built. According to the Pioneer's account of his 2023 MPR "Appetites" appearance, he sold Wasabi and Slurp Ramen to employees, which the paper described as a common practice across some of the 15 restaurants he has opened. Tom Crann, the MPR host who interviewed him in front of about 160 people at the Hampton Inn and Suites, said this about him: "he has taken so many chances and they've worked out, it's amazing." MPR's own coverage of the event framed the talk around how he pays it forward to his workers.
Wasabi and Slurp Ramen still trade under those names. Their shared ordering site lists sushi and ramen menus at one address, 419 Beltrami Ave. NW, Suite 3. That's across the street from where the next branch would grow.
The manager who bought the market
In 2023 Dechawuth opened Kin Asian Market at 1426 Bemidji Ave. N, at the corner of 15th Street near Bemidji State University. To run it, he chose someone already in his kitchen.
Patcharin "Meow" Nuankhao and her husband, Watcharin "Tek" Jaichuen, came to Bemidji from Thailand in 2020 to cook at Tara Thai. Lakeland PBS reported in July 2026 that Meow became manager of the market three years earlier and took over as owner about a year after that. The Pioneer reported that she bought it from Dechawuth.
The pattern from Wasabi and Slurp repeated itself, and then it kept going. Meow added boba tea and a poke counter to the market. In 2024 she opened Kin Poke in Suite 7 of the same building, selling build-your-own Hawaiian-style bowls on rice, noodle or salad bases with a choice of proteins, sauces and toppings.
The name means what it says on the sign. In Thai, "kin" primarily means "to eat" or "to drink."
Why pho ended up on Beltrami Avenue
The next restaurant came out of a kitchen rule. Meow told the Bemidji Pioneer in November 2024 that market and poke customers kept asking her for pho. The Kin Poke kitchen was only allowed to serve cold dishes like sandwiches, sushi and poke bowls.
"They say if we want to eat pho we have to go to Fargo or Minneapolis," she told the paper.
Hot soup needed a different kitchen, so the next business went downtown. The new restaurant took 414 Beltrami Ave. NW, the space Table for 7 had just left. The Pioneer reported that Slurp Ramen had once operated there before moving across the street to join Wasabi. Pho Bemidji opened on Friday, March 14, 2025.
Again, the people behind the counter connect back to Tara. Tek, who cooked at Tara Thai, is head cook at Pho Bemidji. Their partner, Chayanis "Channy" Kerdsook Bilinski, manages it. The Pioneer described Channy's family as having run restaurants for 50 years in northeast Thailand, near the Laotian and Vietnamese borders. "It's good timing," Meow said before the opening. "My husband can help her with the recipe and the training."
According to the Pioneer's opening coverage, the broth is made fresh daily and the meats and sauces are made in-house. The menu also carries banh mi, noodle and rice bowls, fresh spring rolls and fried egg rolls.
Third generation, under the founder's roof
Kin Cafe Brew and Bite Bar opened the week of Sept. 5, 2026, in a street-level space of the former Elks Lodge building at 324 Beltrami Ave. NW. Meow is a partner, and her sister, Tata Nuankhao, manages it. Tata previously worked as an engineer for a Japanese company, and Meow encouraged her to move to Bemidji to run the cafe. The Pioneer reported that the cafe took more than a year to open while the owners waited for permits.
"Matcha is viral in the world right now," Meow told the Bemidji Pioneer. The cafe's matcha is a blend of saemidori and okumidori from Japan, from tea leaves shaded for 24 days before harvest. In the first week, the most popular drinks were Matcha Mango Sticky Rice, made with mango, blended milk and coconut cream, and Nutella Matcha. The fruit sandos are cold sandwiches of thick milk bread, sweet whipped cream and seasonal fruit such as strawberries, kiwi and mandarin oranges. Kin Cafe also makes them with mango and grapes.
Kin Cafe has a neighbor with a familiar name. Dechawuth's own newest restaurant, The Blue Oyster, is also in the former Elks Lodge, now the Fourth Street Lodge. It opened in early 2025. The Bemidji Area Chamber welcomed it in April of that year and named Dechawuth as owner, adding that he also operates Tara Thai. The restaurant's locations page lists 116 Fourth St. NW, open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. It describes the food as Thai-American bar fare and says many of the menu's mushrooms come from Puposky Pearl Farm.
Tara Thai's founder and the sister of a cook who started out in his kitchen in 2020 now run businesses in the same downtown building.
The tree, stop by stop
| Stop | Address | Opened | Link to the tree | What to order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tara Thai Bemidji | 401 Beltrami Ave. NW | 2016 | Dechawuth's first Bemidji restaurant; Meow and Tek's first Bemidji kitchen | Thai |
| Wasabi and Slurp Ramen | 419 Beltrami Ave. NW, Suite 3 | Opened after Tara | Started by Dechawuth, sold to employees | Sushi or ramen |
| Kin Asian Market | 1426 Bemidji Ave. N | 2023 | Opened by Dechawuth, bought by manager Meow | Imported snacks, sauces and boba |
| Kin Poke | 1426 Bemidji Ave. N, Suite 7 | 2024 | Meow's first new business | Build-your-own poke bowl |
| The Blue Oyster | 116 Fourth St. NW | Early 2025 | Dechawuth's newest, supplied by his Puposky farm | Anything with Puposky Pearl mushrooms |
| Pho Bemidji | 414 Beltrami Ave. NW | March 14, 2025 | Meow's partnership, with Tek as head cook | Pho on fresh-daily broth, or banh mi |
| Kin Cafe Brew and Bite Bar | 324 Beltrami Ave. NW | September 2026 | Run by Meow's sister, Tata | Matcha Mango Sticky Rice and a fruit sando |
All of the downtown stops sit in the 300 and 400 blocks of Beltrami Avenue NW and around the corner on Fourth Street, close enough for a single walk. Here's one route that follows the tree in roughly the order it grew:
- Start at Tara Thai at 401 Beltrami for lunch, where this story begins.
- Cross to Wasabi and Slurp Ramen at 419 Beltrami if you'd rather have sushi or a bowl of ramen.
- Move a few doors down to Pho Bemidji at 414 Beltrami on a cold evening, when hot broth is the whole reason the place exists.
- Finish at the former Elks Lodge, with a drink at Kin Cafe on the Beltrami side or dinner at The Blue Oyster on Fourth Street.
The two Bemidji Avenue stops are a short drive north near campus. Go to Kin Asian Market for pantry staples and boba, and to Kin Poke for a cold bowl on a busy weekday.
Hours other than The Blue Oyster's posted schedule can change with the season. Check a business's own page or call before a trip built around one stop.
If you live within walking distance of Beltrami Avenue and wonder how that location shows up in your home's value, The W Group can take you through it. Request your free home valuation, and Wendy will look at your home with the same street-level attention this post gives the restaurants on your block.
