Lek Thitirungrojkul started with a folding table and a batch of homemade egg rolls at the West Chester Farmers Market in 2008. Now she and her husband, Mike Roaden, run Sawasdee Thai Cuisine & Sushi at 6064 West Chester Road, where a working herb garden sits just outside the kitchen door.

The restaurant's path to West Chester took a detour. Thitirungrojkul opened the original Sawasdee in Fairfield in 2010, at 6600 Dixie Highway. The couple operated there for 11 years before closing on Christmas Eve 2021 after a dispute with their landlord over unrepaired heating and air conditioning, Local 12 reported at the time. They relocated to West Chester, the community where Thitirungrojkul's following first took root.

Thitirungrojkul, who goes by Lek, learned to cook at age 9 alongside her grandmother in Thailand. Every dish at Sawasdee is prepared from scratch, and the sauces are house-made recipes the Butler County tourism bureau calls "a closely guarded family secret." The menu spans Thai curries, Pad Thai, fried rice, sushi rolls and mango sticky rice.

The garden outside is not decorative.

Thitirungrojkul tends it daily, growing Thai chili peppers, basil and specialty herbs she picks and uses the same day. "She really is the key to this place," Roaden said in a Travel Butler County profile published Aug. 17.

Her sauces and rubs also line shelves at Jungle Jim's International Market in Fairfield, and she participated in the store's annual Weekend of Fire festival July 25-26. The business is a member of the West Chester-Liberty Chamber Alliance.

Sawasdee is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m., and Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. Delivery is available through DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber Eats. The phone number is (513) 330-5050.

The restaurant also books catering and private parties, details available by calling or visiting sawasdeethaicuisineonline.com.