Vasita Saktanaset has always had a sweet tooth. Ever since moving to Concord almost eight years ago, she would drive to Boston when she craved her favorite Thai desserts.

Now, anyone in Concord who craves these delicate, fruity and refreshing dishes can find them at After Thai Dessert House, which Saktanaset opened two months ago.

“I hope people get a sense of new desserts and culture,” Saktanaset said. “The taste of Asian desserts is different. The cake is softer, in my experience, and it’s not too sweet. There are some ingredients you can’t find here. Some of them I have to import from Asia. It’s a little hard to find these kinds of desserts around here. It’s what we can give to Concord people.”

Tucked away on Kennedy Lane on the back side of Siam Orchid Thai Bistro, owned by her husband’s family, After Thai offers an assortment of teas, boba, cakes, sticky rice, and bingsu, a Korean milk-based dessert combining shaved ice with different toppings such as fruit. 

“These are all my favorites, that’s why I picked them,” said Saktanaset, who created her menu based on specialties from various Asian countries. She grew up in Thailand and feels a particular affinity to desserts from her home country.

She hopes the shop will also provide a boost to Siam Orchid and inject more excitement into the dining experience. When customers order dessert at the longstanding Concord Thai restaurant, the kitchen at After Thai gets to work, sending garnished sweets and drinks to tables upstairs.

Her best friend of nearly three decades, Kate Vorakamon, has played an integral role in launching the business. Drawing from her culinary school background, Vorakamon helped Saktanaset bring her dessert dreams to life by crafting recipes and staying at the shop for the first few months to get everything off the ground.

“We love Thai desserts, and we want to let people explore Thai desserts,” said Vorakamon, who has accompanied Saktanset on many dessert-driven Boston excursions. “It’s always so fun when people taste it and then ask about the ingredients in the dessert.”

Saktanaset hopes her shop will become a hub where people gather, and she even aspires to lead food-related workshops. The space strives for a cozy atmosphere, with pink walls, a small craft stall with goods for sale, a hand-painted mural of Concord, and a children’s play corner. Saktanaset, who has an almost three-year-old and an eight-month old, loves that she can sometimes bring her kids to work and hopes families will take advantage of the shop.

“It’s about fun in here,” Vorakamon added with a smile at her friend. “We like to see people sitting here. You can work in here or you can bring kids in here. We want this to be a community. Come have fun, eat some dessert, play, hang out.”

After Thai faces the challenge of enticing a Concord audience to step into a new realm of desserts, Saktanaset said, but she feels excited about the possibilities and plans to draw on her marketing background. She also hopes to increase visibility by having a stall at Market Days and participating in as many community events as possible.

“The hardest thing is the desserts we serve, since no one knows what is bingsu,” she said “What are Thai coconut milk-based hot desserts? Me and Kate came up with the idea to bake some cakes. It’s an easy thing that people might want to come try and then we can maybe convince them to also try something else.”

While she never expected to open a dessert shop, she remains delighted about where her love of food took her.

“I started with Thai hot desserts – that’s why it’s called After Thai – and then I started craving more desserts,” Saktanaset said. “For Asian people, after every meal, we’ll have dessert. We have milk tea shops everywhere. Gas stations, restaurants, everywhere. It’s part of our life.”

For more information about After Thai Dessert House, visit @AfterThaiDessertHouse on Facebook.

Rachel Wachman can be r eached at rwachm an@cmonitor.com