The Bailliage of Denmark in cooperation with the Royal Thai Embassy (courtesy of H.E. Mrs Sirilak Niyom, Ambassador of Thailand to Denmark) had the pleasure of inviting members and distinguished guests to a garden party/reception at the Royal Thai Residence in Copenhagen. The event was also supported by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Thai Trade Center in Copenhagen.

The famous Michelin 2-star Thai Chef Chumpol Jungprai of Restaurant R-HAAN in Bangkok prepared a delicious menu of many small dishes where each bite tasted like a little piece of Thailand heaven. His vision was to introduce the attending guests, comprising diplomats and members of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, to the world of Thai gastronomy and to celebrate Thai cuisine.

The seven cuisines of Thailand
Besides a live dish demonstration of Thai cuisine, Chef Chumpol wanted his menu to represent Thailand and its regional cuisines. There are seven cuisines in Thailand representing different parts of the beautiful country: north, northeast, central region, south, east, street food and Royal cuisine.

“One of the ingredients that I used for my live presentation dish involved pork cracklings. It’s a known product in Denmark and the Danes seem to believe that it is a Danish tradition. But in Thailand we have used pork cracklings for 200-300 years, its mainly eaten in the northeast. So, in the end who copies who?”, asked Chef Chumpol with a broad smile.

Royal Cuisine
Thai-born Chef Chumpol grew up with Royal Cuisine. And Royal cuisine is still the foundation of his cooking to this day. The reason why is that his grandmother worked for the Royal family in Thailand for King Rama VI and was also secretary for Queen Sirikit of Thailand. His grandmother had a restaurant called “Sanguan Sri” and the restaurant was in the house where he and his family were living.

Favourite ingredient
Chef Chumpol explained, “One of the most important ingredients for my cuisine is curry paste. In Thailand we have many different pastes, in fact there are between 20-30 types of curry paste from different regions of Thailand.”

A love for Denmark
Chef Chumpol enthused, “Copenhagen is my second home. At age 18 I left Thailand to start my career working at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel. As a result, I have many friends in Denmark and every two years I travel there. Foodwise I really love an open sandwich and also honey mustard Danish style. I am not good at making Danish food, but I like to eat it. Some of my friends own restaurants in Denmark. I am very happy indeed to see that 31 years ago we worked together and now in 2024 they are still working.

The future
When Chef Chumpol meets chefs from around the world, it always amazes him that there are no borders as everyone shares the same passion for making food. His wish for the next 3-5 years is to join Bangkok and Copenhagen to work together foodwise, to collaborate. Chef Chumpol has a cooking school in Bangkok and he wants to work together with the Danish cooking schools. Already 40,000 Thais live in Denmark so working together should not be a challenge!

Based on an original article prepared by Princess Eleonore-Christine of Schaumburg-Lippe