Currently cooking at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok is the two-star Michelin chef Kevin Thornton, owner of Thornton's, the most highly celebrated restaurant in Dublin.

At the brand-new Pier 59 at the Banyan Tree Bangkok is a team of chefs from the Michelin three-star restaurant Schwarzwaldstube in the Hotel Traube-Tonbach in Baiersbronn, Germany.

Coming to Reflexions at the Plaza Athenee from Tuesday to March 25 is Gerald Passedat, owner of the Michelin two-star chef Le Petit Nice in Marseille.

And, the world's only Michelin-starred Thai-cuisine chef, David Thompson, will be returning to Metropolitan Bangkok on March 31 and April 1.

Thornton, in Bangkok to celebrate St Patrick's Day, cooks modern Irish cuisine, combining Irish simplicity with French technique. Thornton has been cooking since he was 15, in London, Switzerland, Canada and France, where he worked under three-star Michelin chef Paul Bocuse in Lyon.

Thornton will serve a six-course wine dinner tomorrow (Bt6,000), oversee a St Patrick's Day Brunch on Friday (Bt1,000) and head a cooking class from 11.30am to 3pm on Saturday (Bt2,500).

Pier 59, on the 59th floor of the Banyan Tree, opens today with resident chef Kevin Vu backed by a team of chefs from Schwarz-waldstube, consistently rated as one of the best French restaurants outside France. (Gault Millau gives it an astounding 19.5 out of 20.) Schwarz-waldstube's executive chef Jarald Wohlfahrt isn't here, but from the Black Forest is his chef de cuisine Henry Oskar Fried and a team of toques to jumpstart Pier 59's launch through March 25. For reservations, call (02) 679 1200.

Passedat, who is profiled above, loves to pick his own herbs and vegetables and even goes diving in the Mediterranean to collect the seafood he serves in his restaurant.

Ditto with Thornton. The scallops you eat at Thornton's may have been collected by the chef in Dublin Bay.

Thornton is a stickler on finding the very freshest ingredients. He concentrates on Ireland's finest meats - game from Wicklow, lobsters from Portaferry.

Signature dishes include a sole-and-crab soufflé with red chard and chives-and-cream sauce, a ravioli lobster with quinoa and lobster consommé, and sautéed prawns with prawn bisque and truffle sabayon. For bookings, call (02) 650 4593.

David Thompson and his partner Tanongsak Yordwai are internationally celebrated for their one-star Thai restaurant Nahm at the Halikin in London. Their nine-course menu in Bangkok (Bt3,500++) will include ma hor appetisers, coconut soup with grilled banana blossoms and prawns, and a jungle curry with fish dumplings.

Dishes will be paired with Moet Hennessy Wine Estates' Green Point wines, notably a Green Point NV Sparkling from Victoria and the Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2003.

For reservations, call (02) 625 3391 or (02) 625 3388.

Hal Lipper

The Nation