Home is where the heart is. Sometimes that heart needs to wander a little bit to find where it wants to lay stake and try to make a life somewhere. Wanderlust can mix with curiosity for a surrounding environment and the people inside of the community. Vatsana Vongmany accidentally happened onto Cape Cod this way. On a trip with a different destination in mind, she staggered onto the Cape almost by accident. But let’s start at the beginning.

Everyone on Cape knows her as Vatsy. She started life in the country of Laos, but spent many of her early childhood years in Thailand There she learned a mixture of both the Laotian and Thai cultures. This would help her in the future. Later in her childhood years the family then emigrated to Australia. She spent the remaining part of her childhood and early adulthood in Sydney. Her parents imported foods from eastern countries for local Australian restaurants and ran three supermarkets in the city. Life was always surrounded by food. When she came of age to travel, wanderlust took over. There was an entire world to explore. It wasn’t until a trip in 2010 to NYC that she would happen upon Cape Cod. In 2014 she decided to stay here.

“I came to visit New York City for a few weeks back in 2010. That was too long and I decided to explore Boston. I rented a car and drove from New York to Boston. Boston is much smaller and I had 3 days to kill so I checked out Cape Cod. It was so cute. I liked it so much and I came back every year to visit. I tried to look for a job and someone who would sponsor me. Stonewood came through. And when the decision came, it was between Stonewood on Cape or London.”

In 2014, the Cape had a winter you could write about. It snowed once a week for nearly a month, and this wasn’t small snow amounts. This was serious accumulation every storm. For someone coming from Sydney, where no snow fell, it was a wonderland. And it is another reason she fell in love with the environment.

“I arrived on Cape in 2014, the year we had all that crazy snow storms. I loved it. I had so much fun. It was a great experience. I took photos and everything. In Sydney you didn’t get this unless you drove 6 hours away.”

Vatsy worked for Stonewood for a bit, and then an idea struck her. Growing up around food inspired her to come up with the idea of a personal dining experience for small private groups. Her business incorporates the ideas of smaller more intimate groups of people and to create a personal catered dining experience. She want to highlight the foods from Laos and Thailand with a modern twist. The idea was to “Mix the East with the West.”

“Private dining is what I specialize in now. Groups of 6-15 people. It could be a simple casual 3-4 course meal or I could do a 10 course meal. A dining experience of up to 3 hours. It;s mostly Thai with a modern twist. It’s Fusion between East and West. I am accustom to both the Laos and Thai culture. This is where the inspiration for my food comes from.”

As for why she loves Cape Cod? Why did her travels allow her to choose a small sandbar in the midst of the North Atlantic to create a life? Why here other than any of the other places she has traveled in her life?

“Why wouldn’t you love it? The little quaint houses, the red doors. The Cape is small. Everybody knows everybody. Everyone is going to help you out. It’s a small community and that’s what I love about the Cape.”

We wish Vatsy luck in her continuing endeavors as a personal chef, and hope her business grows.

You can visit the business Vatsy & Co at the web page or her Instagram account.