We’ve got a new restaurant in Bermuda Run.   Thai Destiny features Thai, Vietnamese and Laotian food… and it’s all delicious.   What brought Souphab Daoheang – also known as Mr. Soup - to Bermuda Run?  

In 1978, a Laotian couple decided that they did not want their children to live under communism and made plans to escape Laos.  Despite the dangers, Leuth and Sing Daoheang took a small  boat, and the family made a dash for freedom.

After struggling through dense jungle for days, the family reached a United Nations refugee camp in Thailand.   They spent 10 months there before being transferred to another camp in the Philippines.  In the camp, the family was issued one chicken and three pounds of rice per month; they supplemented this meager allowance with any other food they could find.  Little did they know that their luck was about to change…

World Church Services arranged for a small church – Crews United Methodist in Winston-Salem –  to sponsor the family’s resettlement in the US. Arriving in NC in October of 1980, they were met by people from Crews driving a Lincoln.  Now the culture shock began… they had never seen a car that big or luxurious!   Souphab said he could not believe his eyes the first time he saw a man eating a steak – so much food for one person!

Souphab’s parents were hard workers; his mother had been a merchant in Laos and his father had owned an ice cream factory.  They rented a home here and within a few years they bought it.   Inheriting his parents’ work ethic, Souphab began his own business career by selling candy to his fellow students during recess.  

After graduating from R.J. Reynolds High School, Souphab attended High Point University and received a business degree in 1994.  He worked for Kinko’s as a corporate trainer and later worked in job development for the city of Winston-Salem.  Leaving  that position, he spent two years traveling.  He dreamed of owning a restaurant and in 2003 he opened Downtown Thai in Winston-Salem, followed by another restaurant – Soup’s – in 2009.

I met “Mr. Soup” for the first time when  I bought tickets to a Thai fundraising dinner at Crews United Methodist… the church that sponsored Souphab’s family’s move to America and the one they attend today.  The dinner was catered by Mr. Soup and his family.

I had never eaten Thai food but discovered that it was DELICIOUS!  The meal was great, but the most memorable part was when Souphab told his family’s story to the crowd in the church fellowship hall. Souphab said that the thing that made his father happiest was that he would be able to die in America rather than under communism.   I’ve never forgotten it.  This family had risked everything to reach freedom and made the American Dream come true…

So… after many years in downtown Winston-Salem, Souphab moved his business to Bermuda Run.  The name is now Thai Destiny- but the food is still amazing.  The menu includes a wide selection of Thai, Vietnamese and Laotian dishes; beer and wine are available.  The restaurant is in the Lowe’s Foods shopping center in Bermuda Run.  If you haven’t tried Thai Destiny, you should.   You won’t be disappointed.