Norbert Kostner

Norbert Kostner (2011)

Norbert Kostner (born May 21, 1945 in Ortisei in Val Gardena , South Tyrol ) is an Italian chef .

Kostner began as a cook in Merano in the Adua restaurant , then in the Forst restaurant (first in the Forsterbräu in the Freiheitsstrasse in Merano and then in the brewery in Lagundo ). Kostner did not have a regular education like a hotel management school. He describes himself as an autodidact. After his military service Kostner worked nearly 5 years in several grand hotels in Switzerland and in the Grand Hotel Les Rasses , in the Montreux Palace in Montreux under Franz Wild, Hotel Villars Palace sur Olon under Antoine Dessibourg and Badrutt Palace Hotel in St. Moritz under Eugene Defrance.

His bosses, Eugene Defrance and Henri Hirardo, had worked under Auguste Escoffier .

In 1970 Kostner began his career in Bangkok under Chef Baumgartner at the Dusit Thani Hotel (then the largest hotel in Thailand) and Chef Michel Grange at the Hotel Oriental . Since 1981 Kostner has been Executive Chef with around 130 employees for the nine restaurants in the Hotel Oriental in Bangkok.

As a celebrity chef, he also prepares dishes for first and business class on Lufthansa flights in the Orient.

Kostner has been active in the Royal Project in an advisory capacity for 19 years . The Royal Project encourages agriculture in the mountains of northern Thailand to move away from growing opium . In these regions, instead of opium, fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices that are not available in Bangkok are grown.

Awards

• Grand Maitre du Goût (Grand Master of Taste) by the American Academy of Taste in August 2006
• by King Bhumibol Adulyadej after many years of collaboration on the "Royal Project" with the gold medal Royal Cypher Medal Grade "5" in May 2008

bibliography

• William Warren: The Oriental Hotel Cookbook. Recipes from Norbert Kostner. Weingarten 2001. ISBN 3-8170-0043-X