Nilas Corneliussen, Executive Head Chef of Villa Frantzén
In this interview, Nilas Corneliussen, Executive Head Chef of Villa Frantzén, shares some key learnings from the food and beverage industry.
What do you do?
I run the kitchen of Villa Frantzén together with my team, executing chef Björn Frantzén’s Nordic vision here in Bangkok.
How did you get into the industry?
I studied in Bangkok, and my friend had several restaurants in the city. I started to hang out more with him, and then eventually, it hit me that I could take up a career in the kitchen, even though my passion has somehow always been around enjoying food.
What food memory from your childhood or travels stands out?
I actually have one food memory that I think about quite often. I don’t really like pastries or sugary foods, but this sweet food memory is really strong. I was five or six years old, travelling in Malaysia with my whole family. We were going to go somewhere down south from Kuala Lumpur, a long drive away, so we rented a transfer car. The driver arrived, and I remember vividly that he had six fingers on his left hand. Somehow, that man and I connected. Well, as much as an old man and a young boy without words can get along over what was a long overnight trip. Somewhere in the early morning, he stopped at a gas station and went out to return with freshly made banana muffins. The pack had six or eight of them; half of them were green, and the rest were red or white. After sitting in a car for hours, those fresh banana muffins he gave me in a newspaper were one of the most amazing flavours that forever stayed with me. Still today, I think about that man, thinking if he is still there. Every time I eat or smell banana muffins, I think of him.
What’s the best/ worst part of your job?
Let’s start with the best. From a personal point of view, I am able to be and work in the country that I love and still be connected to the place I live in. When I step into Villa Frantzén, I see the design, and I smell the aromas of dishes and products that take me home. One step out, and I get swept away by the humidity, the organized chaos and the smells of Thailand. It’s amazing!
The worst part would be days without bryggkaffe. In every single kitchen in the Scandinavian countries, we have filter coffee machines, and the rule is that the first person in has to turn this machine on, and then it just runs until the end of the day. In the bryggkaffe we usually brew a really strong, snut caffe or, as we call it, the “police coffee”. When you reach a cup half full, you just keep topping it off for the entire day. I drink a lot of coffee in the day. At the villa, we don’t have a bryggkaffe, and I miss having it so much.
Nilas Corneliussen’s favourite food and beverage pairing?
My strong favourite is with a Nothern Thai dish of marinated beef called Jin –tub. The meat is grilled until it gets dry, and then it is beaten. You eat it with a spicy, dry galangal dip. It looks almost like beef floss. It’s super salty, meaty, and aromatic with that spicy dip of dry-roasted, wok-fried ingredients. That dish, quaffed with a glass of Thai whiskey like “Regency” on a streetside curb, is just a match made in heaven!
What’s one of the wildest things you’ve seen behind the scenes?
Once, we were trying to make a scallop garum, just for the fun of it, from some trimmings we had left over. We did not need it for the menu but wanted to explore making a new byproduct. It was supposed to have 13% of salt, but the person who did it put only 3%. The next day, we came back to a bubbling pile of scallop trimmings that almost looked alive again. When it comes to fermentation, the percentages are very, very important. At the same time, with ferments, it is also very easy to spot if something goes wrong because it simply goes wild.
The perfect day off would be…
Roaming the streets of Bangkok for street eats. I love street food. That’s where I find authentic Thai food. When I am off, I like to search for new places or visit the ones I have been to before. I especially look for the stalls where older people cook the food. I talk to the people cooking it because I think it’s amazing that they decide to do this and then stick to it for 50 or 40 years. They do have lots of cool stories to share. Speaking Thai helps, of course.
A day in the life of Nilas Corneliussen is …
I am not going to lie; it is a lot of paperwork and people management where every day, your key task is to keep the staff happy and fulfil their needs – finding a balance between their repetitive tasks, moving them around or reorganising and guiding them. It is more of a mentoring role and much less about cooking.
What’s something you’d like guests to know about Villa Frantzén?
Even though we are part of the Frantzén Group, Villa Frantzén is a very unique outlet. We are the only restaurant of this kind within the group with this style of menu, where we serve fine dining with a sense of playfulness in a lively, casual atmosphere. We are also the most Nordic of all the Group’s projects.
How have you grown in your profession? What are your key learnings from your start in the industry until now? Any misconceptions?
I think I have grown in my management skills. Running a kitchen in Thailand compared to running a kitchen in Northern Europe is very different, even in terms of how you communicate with staff and the body language you use. The norms are different, the customs are different, and the person should be cautious about these things. In all environments, we should support and empower the people who work for us, but in different places around the world, there are different cues that they will respond to. And I am learning very much from this. It is not always the easiest, but it is a good, hard learning curve.
Nilas Corneliussen’s view on the food scene in Bangkok?
I think it is at a point that is very interesting, from top-notch restaurants to street food. The street food scene took a big hit from Covid and the government, but now it is coming back in a big way. There is a global interest in the food scene in Bangkok. A lot of big names in the food industry are making their way into this country, from Ducasse to Ramsay, or even Björn Frantzén, for that matter.
What practices do you currently implement or hope to implement to work towards social responsibility and sustainability in the future?
The most important thing in the food industry is working towards not exploiting it, making sure that there is enough staff at all times so that they can fulfil their tasks within their working hours. It is also about working daily on fighting the “macho culture” among the staff, represented in driving themselves to exhaustion in a false conviction of becoming great through working at high intensity all the time. The balance is essential, and it is also important to show that to them.
What can guests look forward to in the upcoming months?
The Villa Frantzén festive menu! We will create a special all-inclusive menu package with some all-time favourite dishes and some newcomers and thread in elements of Nordic Christmas time.
Read more interviews similar to this one with Nilas Corneliussen here, and stay updated with the latest gourmet and travel recommendations here and here.
That’s one handsome guy!