Dining and wellness at St Regis Bangkok
Michelin-starred IGNIV restaurant and a longevity hub are just some of the hotel’s five-star attractions
WHEN IN BANGKOK, IT’S ALMOST a given to see Thai chefs extol the virtues of home-grown ingredients and Thai cooking culture. But to have a foreign-born chef doing the same thing – it’s both eye-opening and refreshing.
No, massaman curry and larbs are not being deconstructed in European ways at IGNIV, St Regis Bangkok’s one-Michelin-starred restaurant. But head chef Arne Riehn can reel off an entire list of unheard-of Thai ingredients he uses in his kitchen – some of which confound even his own Thai kitchen team.
One of them is a Thai olive, which the Swiss national stumbled upon in Nan province while holidaying with his parents, who came to visit him, two years ago. “We were visiting the mountains, a place which produced salt, and the villagers were selling these pickled olives already vacuum-packed. I brought it back and my staff said: ‘We are Thai, but we’ve never seen this,’” says the affable, enthusiastic chef who’s been living in Bangkok since 2019 with a laugh.
Arriving just before the pandemic hit and staying throughout, Riehn spent his downtime travelling around the country, taking advantage of lower hotel rates and the absence of tourists. The quality he found astounded him, says the chef, who “never knew you could find such good coffee and chocolate in Thailand”.
And that is how the Thai olive found its way into IGNIV’s menu. Riehn says: “It’s not really an olive – there’s no English translation for it, it just has a similar taste and texture. We serve it with smoked haddock and put a salad on top with the olive, green apple, spinach and almonds.”
That also sums up Riehn’s approach to creating dishes: “We start with an ingredient, and then we work around it.” This keeps him and his all-Thai team on their toes, constantly doing R&D in the kitchen. “We don’t have any big signature dishes, so 90 per cent of the menu is always new, four times a year.”
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IGNIV – which means “nest” – is a brand created by Swiss chef Andreas Caminada, who wanted a more casual concept to complement his three-Michelin-starred restaurant that guests could dine more regularly at. It would also give his chefs – many at the stage where they could helm their own restaurants – a platform to do so without losing them.
There are four IGNIV restaurants – three in Switzerland, and IGNIV Bangkok, which is the first outside Switzerland. Opened in late 2020, it earned its first Michelin star in 2022.
As a chef of a modern European restaurant, Riehn still imports a fair amount of ingredients such as lamb from Italy, langoustine from Norway, arctic char from France and so on. But for his Thai ingredients, he works with a local organisation that sources organic produce from all around Thailand, even from the smallest farms, he says.
Dining in IGNIV is one of the highlights of a stay at St Regis Bangkok, with its innovative approach and unexpected flavours that make a meal here an eye-opening one. While it leans towards fine dining, it has a down-to-earth, quirky vibe. In fact, one of the highlights is its “candy store”, a petit fours buffet of chocolates, pate de fruits, caneles, financiers and more. You get a little takeaway box stuffed with your choice of goodies to eat at leisure, a playful end to an enjoyable meal.
While IGNIV is the star, the all-day dining at VIU is not to be sniffed at, thanks to executive sous chef Matteo Fontana’s Italian-leaning Mediterranean menu. He offers a signature set menu that includes an artfully presented vitello tonnato with veal slices shaped into a rose; delicate duck leg ravioli in a morel mushroom sauce; and a deconstructed Valrhona tiramisu that’s a stylish take on the traditional dessert.
For the wellness- and beauty-conscious, St Regis Bangkok is also home to the first Longevity Hub by Clinique La Prairie, using products by the Swiss cosmetics brand. Styled as a one-stop destination for well-being and longevity, the Longevity Hub offers holistic assessments and a wide range of therapies to help you look and feel good. Cryotherapy, oxygen therapy and IV vitamin and beauty drips are designed for anti-ageing enthusiasts, while those looking for instant beauty fixes can opt for laser, Thermage, CoolTech or EMSculpt treatments. But if you just want to be pampered, there’s the whole gamut of spa and massage sessions to enjoy.
The hotel itself may be an established name in Bangkok, but its dining and beauty options show that this St Regis offers a whole lot more than five-star luxury accommodation.
The writer was a guest of St Regis Bangkok
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