Wochirawish Lerttanapornsit (K. Ice) – Executive Chef Rosewood Luang Prabang
In this interview, Wochirawish Lerttanapornsit (K. Ice), Executive Chef Rosewood Luang Prabang, shares his growth in the industry and some advice for upcoming chefs.
What do you do?
I am the Executive Chef for Rosewood Luang Prabang. We offer wellness cuisine, using fresh produce from the farm and many local products from around the country. We highlight the fresh local ingredients around Luang Prabang and also the hotel.
How did you get into the industry?
I got into cooking because my dad was a chef. I was inspired by eating in many hotel restaurants and enjoying good food. This made me wonder how all these dishes were made, so I got into the Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School in Dusit, Thailand, and then did some training at the Dusit Thani Hotel, Swiss Hotel Ratchada. Then, I went to Dubai to start my first job as a Chef at Raddison Royal Hotel Dubai.
Share with us a story from behind the scenes.
When I first joined Rosewood Luang Prabang, it was my first role as Executive Chef, and there were a lot of challenges for me to face and adjust to. It was fun and good for me because the challenges helped me grow. I learned so much from this experience that I would not have learned otherwise if I had not had the chance to work here.
What food memory from your childhood or travels stands out?
My food memories would be of Indian, Middle Eastern, and Western cuisine, from my dad taking me to different restaurants to try the food. For India and the Middle East, it just became part of me because of living in Dubai, and the comfort food for me in Dubai was either good Biryani or Arabic Kabsa Rice; I love the fragrance of the saffron basmati rice. One more thing is seeing Thai cuisine presented from a different point of view when I dined at Chef Ton Le Du’s restaurant in Bangkok. It was really surprising to me what we could do with Thai food if we just took it a bit further and understood the food more.
What’s the best/ worst part of your job?
I love to cook, eat and try new things, which is all part of my job. Being a chef, you can never stop learning; it is a part of the job every day, and you will learn something new without noticing it. The worst part would be that sometimes you spend so much time at work that you forget about life outside. Since joining Rosewood Luang Prabang has helped me improve my work-life balance.
What’s one of your favourite food and beverage pairings?
I love to drink cocktails, and my favourite cocktail is whisky sour. I love to have it with our tilapia ceviche – this is my favourite pairing. The other pairing would be with Beer Lao and any local dish, but my personal favourite is Naem Khao.
What’s one of the wildest things you’ve seen behind the scenes?
The wildest and most outrageous event was after COVID-19 when I started my own business, a rice bowl restaurant in Bangkok during COVID-19. I never thought I would start my own business that soon, but then it helped me grow. I learned a lot from the experience about keeping the same taste and standard in all three restaurant branches I opened in Bangkok. So I studied a lot then and came up with the idea to do everything portioned from the main restaurant and season and portion the sauce to make it easy for the staff to open and then reheat and keep the same taste for the other outlets.
The perfect day off would be…
My perfect day off used to be chilling with a nice glass of whisky sour and good steak or just chilling by the river or beach – but now, I mostly enjoy spending time with my little boy and family.
A day in the life of Wochirawish Lerttanapornsit is …
Striving to keep improving my food and dishes to be the best they can be, and I always like to keep trying something new. I will always have a task for my team to try something new and challenge themselves. I constantly check the quality of the food and cleanliness of the kitchen and finish the tasks that I set for myself each day.
What does Wochirawish Lerttanapornsit do for fun?
From time to time, when it is not the busy season, I take the team out or get together to relax and brainstorm ideas to improve workflow and get feedback from the team from their point of view. I also love visiting the market and farmers we work with because whenever I go, I always get new ideas and learn something new.
What would you like guests to know about Rosewood Luang Prabang?
Rosewood Luang Prabang is set in a beautiful green landscape with a river in the middle of the resort, giving guests a beautiful sense of place and allowing them to experience local products and activities. Our food showcases all that Luang Prabang has to offer. There is a lot to discover when you’re in Luang Prabang.
How have you grown in your profession? What have you learned from your start in the industry until now? Are there any misconceptions?
I learned from previous mistakes and kept trying to learn to continue growing. Taking a risk also helped me grow a lot from managing my own restaurants, always striving to do better in whatever I do.
What would you like people to know about being an Executive Chef?
Being a chef has a lot of challenges as there are so many cuisines, and, in that cuisine, there are still many styles or ways of cooking or making that one dish. There are many ways or styles of making the same dish; none are necessarily wrong, but find the best way to develop your own style. It is time-consuming, and you need to be patient, but it is so much fun, and the best thing is when a guest gives a great comment and you love what you are doing.
Wochirawish Lerttanapornsit’s view on the hospitality industry in Luang Prabang?
Luang Prabang is different from where I have worked before. It is not about looking for imported products or getting the best beef or seafood for the place, as logistics is not easy here. However, the good thing is that there are still a lot of excellent local products to work with. I can then refine their presentation for our global guests.
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