Roland Trettl meets Ian Chalermkittichai

Flying Thaimaker

Today Bangkok, tomorrow Barcelona, the day after New York, and then Salzburg in April – Ian Chalermkittichai bestows delicate Thai cuisine on the world.

It's often said that it's a small world. Anyone who has anything to do with Pontawat "Ian" Chalermkittichai is inclined to subscribe to this view. I wanted to meet Ian in New York, at his legendary restaurant "Kittichai". For some visa-related reason it wasn't convenient for him, though, so that on the spur of the moment I booked a flight to Bangkok. Makes sense, I thought to myself, especially when I want to bring Chalermkittichai to Hangar-7 as one of the highest profile proponents of Thai cuisine. Having arrived in Bangkok, I was flabbergasted. Ian's restaurant there is called "La Boquería" and the cuisine is modern European. To any foodie the name is immediately reminiscent of Barcelona.

And in fact, Ian opened "Murmuri" there last year, where – you've guessed it – as in New York the cuisine is exclusively Thai. So, strictly Thai abroad and European in Thailand, plus the man has a series of consultancy agreements and his own TV show – he doesn't need anyone to tell him about being in business. It's remarkable that this cosmopolitan figure, constantly jumping from one continent and cookery style to the next, came from a poor, lower middle class background. Hard work has been his life from the very start. The only boy, with seven sisters. Up at three in the morning, day in, day out, to go to the market with his mother to get hold of meat, fish, herbs and spices, then on his bike after school, delivering curries his mother had cooked in the meantime to her customers. Of course traditional cuisine made its mark on him, but today Ian cooks very modern Thai cuisine. Take his beef salad with an assortment of tomatoes, for example. The tomato, which is decidedly untypical of Thailand, is served with a Thai vinaigrette of coriander root, garlic, lime juice, fish sauce and chilli, which he then combines with roasted red peppers and olive oil. Suddenly you find yourself in Spain. On top comes seared wagyu beef, and suddenly you have a perfect Thai-Mediterranean-Japanese composition. I'm going to boldly coin the term "layered bipolar cooking" for this style – one layer Thailand, topped by a layer of classical cuisine, then another layer of Thailand, all of which can be repeated at will.

Just take Ian's curries, in which he completely foregoes the usual merciless stewing of the meat, instead braising lamb or spareribs very carefully at low temperatures. Or his perfectly grilled prawns with asparagus, blanched spring onions and preserved garlic. This has nothing to do with Thailand until you get to the dressing – with pepper, oyster sauce and light veal stock. One final example: Ian's duck. Which starts out one hundred percent Thai, with a vinaigrette of chilli, tamarind sauce and fish sauce, on top of which is sautéed mustard greens with chilli and garlic – still Thai. Now duck breast, marinated Thai-style in oyster sauce, then cooked "sous vide", i.e. in a vacuum, at a low temperature, and then the duck skin quickly browned. Add to this foie gras and confit of duck leg in duck fat and lemongrass, all sprinkled with deep-fried garlic.

Exactly the style that makes Ian so unique, and successful, in New York. Moreover, his humour and spontaneity have also contributed to his success. So, just for a bit of fun, he let me make a brief appearance on his cookery show. I wanted to shine with damson dumpling from South Tyrol. Easier said than done, because the plums that he pressed into my hand were easily tennis ball sized. They would have been giant dumplings. It was at this very moment that it came home to me that, even standing beside someone like Ian, the world is far from being a small place.

Recorded by Christoph Schulte • Photos: Kurt Heck / Red Bull Photofiles