The Thairolean

Norbert Kostner has been working as chef at one of the best addresses in Asia, the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, since as far back as 1974. And this is despite the fact that the South Tyrolean really always wanted to go to America.

In 1970 a friend persuaded Kostner to go to Thailand for two months. At that time the country was totally untouched by tourism, but the Oriental already had a top class kitchen, in which in 1980 from one day to the next Kostner went from being an assistant to being the successor to the then head chef. Many people would have come to grief with the great responsibility, but Kostner had realized early what gastronomy boils down to: curiosity and continuous education.

The latest literature, plenty of travelling and above all cooking in good hotels are the best ways of keeping up with the world leaders. ”You have to learn from people who know more than you do yourself”, says Norbert Kostner. The South Tyrolean goes about this particularly skilfully, by regularly organising food festivals on behalf of the Oriental Hotel to which all the three-star chefs of France, Germany and other countries are invited.

Paul Bocuse, Alain Ducasse, Joel Robuchon, Georges Blanc, Anton Mossiman and Alain Senderens are just a few of the great names who have put in a guest performance at the Oriental.

The French influence also reveals itself in the fact that the best known restaurant at the Oriental Hotel is called “Le Normandie” and offers a “French” menu at a three-star level. In a tropical atmosphere it offers delicacies such as venison eye fillet served on caramelised pear, market mushrooms and redcurrant sauce, or Dover sole meunière with goose liver confit and green bean salad. But Norbert Kostner also serves dishes which draw their inspiration from the closeness of his home country to Italy, such as mushroom ravioli with coffee sauce and dried tomatoes.

At 59, when other people are starting to reminisce about the past, Kostner continues to search for the new and the special. He owes it to the many regular guests that the Oriental Hotel won the title of best hotel in the world for eleven years in a row. Kostner’s explanation for the hotel’s success is: “We have never had the finest silver, nor have we ever had the most beautiful crystal chandeliers, but we have had outstanding staff. Hardware is one thing, but what matters is the software. The Thai people are very courteous, and it is largely down to this that the hotel has been so successful”.

The Tyrolean Kostner himself is also part of the software, since some of the guests come because of him, as he goes on to remark: “The Oriental is a hotel loved by generations. The great-grandfather has been here, and the grandfather, and then the children and grandchildren. The guests want to see me. Meanwhile the children and grandchildren come and ask about me”.

As well as the “normal” guests, many prominent names have stayed at the Oriental. Norbert Kostner has cooked for all of them. The Queen of the Netherlands, George W. Bush, the Sultan of Brunei right through to Michael Jackson and Michael Schumacher have eaten his delicious creations.

Kostner is supported by his executive chef, Vichit Mukura, a real ambassador for Thai cuisine. As a representative of the cookery of his country, over the last ten years Mukura has travelled across 15 countries around the globe. In more than 40 exclusive hotels and restaurants in Europe, America and Australia, guests have had the opportunity of enjoying his culinary art with all their senses, often for several weeks at a time.

Norbert Kostner balances out the high pressures of his existence as a chef by unwinding for five weeks every year in his birthplace Gröden – without seeing the inside of a single kitchen. Here he enjoys the mountains and the quality of the air, goes looking for mushrooms and visits his friends and acquaintances. And he doesn’t rule out returning to South Tyrol when his active days at the Oriental come to an end. Then he wants to explore the world, learn languages and educate himself further. Always on the search for something new.