We will get to know what their job is all about, the ins and outs of the department and interesting facts and anecdotes.
LET’S FOLLOW…FRANK ZIEGLER
As the man hired to revamp the overall culinary offers in lebua, Khun Frank Ziegler comes with a string of impressive experiences that will not fit a page in a normal CV. Then again, his climb in the culinary world is nothing but normal, and is high up in the stratosphere that is best described as extraordinary.
Throughout various chats with Chef Frank (as he is fondly called here) in Mozu or any of the restaurants in The Dome, – I’ve managed to compile quite a selection of anecdotes. Today, we are presenting it sotto voce, kinda in point form too for easy reading.
-Here we go –
Having cooked for a certain French president back in the nineties, Chef Frank has had his picture on the front page of not one, but two of the national newspapers of France. After a series of experiences in 3 Michelin stars restaurants in France and Europe, Chef Frank ventured across the Atlantic, spearheading hotel openings (restaurant side). Doing more, sleeping less, from Miami all the way to Chicago, before finally being handpicked by Wynn Macau. Presently, of course, he is at the lebua Hotels and Resorts in Bangkok.
He cooked before, in Sarajevo – not for weeks, but 2 years, as part of the UNPROFOR team with a Five Stars French General Force Commander running a team from 38 nations. As the Executive Chef of lebua, Chef Frank oversees all the restaurants.
If you ever get a chance to seat at his table, you will know the amount of dedication and commitment to detail in the menu revamp, kitchen renovation etc. “Be in love with food is a true commitment”.
Food tasting is not the main event of the day for Chef Frank, though he does have to attend quite a few, always in a close cooperation and working in sync with the chefs de cuisine. Considering there’s Mozu for breakfast menu and all day dining plus the string of other great restaurants within lebua, this is no surprise.
Next to the kitchen admin, or otherwise refer to as “His Headquarters”, there is a new fruit peeling and fruit juice processing room, where all equipment are top-notch and hygiene is pivotal.
Hygiene management is something that Chef Frank champions. Evidently, there is an appointed hygiene officer by rotation to ensure all is in check and in sync across the various food departments for the vital safety of the customers.
Working closely with the Mozu expat chefs, he has recently achieved a new menu for Mozu Restaurant and a brand new in-room dining menu that will include, among others, a caviar and champagne breakfast for memorable stays of the hotel guests.
Chef Frank is immensely proud of the multi-restaurant concept that has the best expat chefs around Bangkok. If not having a food tasting session, he usually orders a bowl of wholesome chicken noodles in Mozu. Of course, that is after walking around the buffet line, looking for inconsistencies and checking the quality of the food.
His chef-suit is tailor-made and shipped in from New York. So does his whole entire core crew of chefs, while the service crew don a very effective cap of sorts, designed by Chef Frank himself. “The crispness and colour-coded staff uniforms has to be appealing to the eyes of the customers”. Even the kitchen ‘scalp hat’ is designed by him. “It is important that our crew work comfortably and safely.”
During breakfast, at Mozu – the home made yoghurt and jam is tastefully made and served in a small cup, that looks solid and is a cross between a measuring cup and a science beaker, imported from France.
Mezzaluna opens at 6pm, and the bread is baked fresh at 5pm. Served with olive oil that is exclusively imported from Morocco, the taste is hard to put into words. I suggest you to come and try.
Via a close collaboration with the lebua twin chefs Thomas and Mathias Sühring, Lufthansa will now feature selected masterpieces from their Business and First class guests only. Mezzaluna was transformed from an Italian restaurant to an exclusive new concept for gourmet diner, themed as “Modern Innovative Cuisine”. An epicurean and epic journey begins here.
Chef Frank came up with the term tectonic plate. You should hear the story behind the inspiration.
Bringing on board and working closely with Chef James Ho and Sam Leong was one more fantastic story to add on into my repertoire.
“I have experienced and worked around the planet in some of the most ‘hip and chic’ fine dining places. I have rarely seen such premium food ingredients and clean presentation so beautifully elevated on their tectonic plates. It is clear that the twin Chefs have gain my highest respect. It is time now for them to be recognized and discovered by the rest of the world as simply “the best”.
Chef Frank brought in Executive Pastry Chef, Gilles Delaloy to his innovative team. Since then, cakes in lebua is so artistic to look at, it becomes a tad bit sad before one starts spoiling it by eating. But then, one fork-full later, the heavens always come down, sort of. Many like me choose to have the cake at the beginning, not at the end of a meal.
I personally choose Chef Gilles based on my feelings and saw an open mind from the “new pastry Chefs generation”; his newly extended and unlimited creations are in perfect harmony and showcase his mastery of this amazing art. The breads, like French says are singing morning and night! You may find every morning at Mozu breakfast, bake 5 times daily, the best croissants as if you where having your coffee on the street of an early Paris morning on Champs-Elysees.
A tri-dimensional chocolate box was created too, for the exquisite Tower Club at lebua. Yes, by Chef Frank of course.
With Chef Frank championing the culinary and dining efforts from the top, lebua is bound to go places, if not already. “I always see challenges from different aspects and come with a different approach. I am thankful for the trust that my boss put in me”.
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