Austrian architect creates new dining experience for Bangkok
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A Thai-Chinese friend of Austrian architect Florian Gypser, 38, once told him to "look closely at the thingsa round you" for the best business opportunities.
Shortly after receiving this sage advice, Gypser woke up one morning in his renovated Bangkok apartment with a magnificent view ofthe Chao Phraya River, looked closely around him and had an epiphany.
"I was eating my muesli in the living room... I had the view, Ihad the space, I had my girlfriend's cooking and I said, 'Hey, we have the perfect combination. Let's have a restaurant here."
Ten days later - on New Year's Eve, 2011 - he opened Nang, Gin,Kui (Sit, Eat, Talk) in his apartment, launching Bangkok's first "private dining" experience.
Gypser, a trained architect who has lived in Bangkok for the past decade, claimed he had not previously heard of the concept of "private dining," or setting up restaurants in private residences, which started in Cuba and has become popular in European cities and Hong Kong.
The restaurant, on the 15th floor of an apartment building on the edge of Bangkok's Chinatown, was last month ranked first place on TripAdvisor, a website that offers rankings on some 7,350 restaurantsin the Thai capital.
In a city that boasts an incredible variety of restaurants, from superb street food that costs about a dollar to epicurean banquets that will set you back a few hundred at five-star hotels, the superlative reviews came as a surprise to Gypser.
"Maybe what was missing is this city was something in someone's apartment, in Chinatown, which is out of anyone's experience, and having a 4.5-kilometre river view and having apparently very good food," he said.
Most of his visitors are expatriates, many of them living in Bangkok. While dining out in Bangkok is an everyday experience, given the city's abundance of eateries and the cheap prices, dining in private homes belonging to Thais is rare.
"Thai people, no matter how close you are as friends, generally don't invite you to their homes for dinner, probably because most ofthem are living with their extended family and it would be embarrassing for them," said Ann, a teacher at an internationalschool in Bangkok.
Goy, Gypser's Thai girlfriend and a "food fanatic," provides the Thai cuisine at Nang, Gin, Kui. The fixed 10-course dinners come in four different Thai categories - classic, contemporary, vegetarian and seafood.
Prices range between Bt1,600 and Bt3,600 (US$53 to US$120) per person, with free-flowing wine and beer accompanying the meal.
"The food was good but it's the uniqueness of the experience that makes it worthwhile," said Peter Witton, a longtime Bangkok resident.
Part of that uniqueness is Gypser's apartment, which he has renovated to capitalize on its great view, and part is the location of the apartment, off a small lane in Chinatown, which provides guests with a glimpse into how many urban Thais live.
Another part is sitting on the cushioned floor of Gypser's apartment watching Goy and her niece cooking up a storm.
With many of these dinners going late into the night, and becomingboisterous with the free-flowing wine and beer, one wonders what the neighbours think.
"People in the building say, 'Wow, you have a lot of friends, and all the time,'" Gypser said. If he gets closed down, he gets closed down, he added.
"I was eating my muesli in the living room... I had the view, Ihad the space, I had my girlfriend's cooking and I said, 'Hey, we have the perfect combination. Let's have a restaurant here."
Ten days later - on New Year's Eve, 2011 - he opened Nang, Gin,Kui (Sit, Eat, Talk) in his apartment, launching Bangkok's first "private dining" experience.
Gypser, a trained architect who has lived in Bangkok for the past decade, claimed he had not previously heard of the concept of "private dining," or setting up restaurants in private residences, which started in Cuba and has become popular in European cities and Hong Kong.
The restaurant, on the 15th floor of an apartment building on the edge of Bangkok's Chinatown, was last month ranked first place on TripAdvisor, a website that offers rankings on some 7,350 restaurantsin the Thai capital.
In a city that boasts an incredible variety of restaurants, from superb street food that costs about a dollar to epicurean banquets that will set you back a few hundred at five-star hotels, the superlative reviews came as a surprise to Gypser.
"Maybe what was missing is this city was something in someone's apartment, in Chinatown, which is out of anyone's experience, and having a 4.5-kilometre river view and having apparently very good food," he said.
Most of his visitors are expatriates, many of them living in Bangkok. While dining out in Bangkok is an everyday experience, given the city's abundance of eateries and the cheap prices, dining in private homes belonging to Thais is rare.
"Thai people, no matter how close you are as friends, generally don't invite you to their homes for dinner, probably because most ofthem are living with their extended family and it would be embarrassing for them," said Ann, a teacher at an internationalschool in Bangkok.
Goy, Gypser's Thai girlfriend and a "food fanatic," provides the Thai cuisine at Nang, Gin, Kui. The fixed 10-course dinners come in four different Thai categories - classic, contemporary, vegetarian and seafood.
Prices range between Bt1,600 and Bt3,600 (US$53 to US$120) per person, with free-flowing wine and beer accompanying the meal.
"The food was good but it's the uniqueness of the experience that makes it worthwhile," said Peter Witton, a longtime Bangkok resident.
Part of that uniqueness is Gypser's apartment, which he has renovated to capitalize on its great view, and part is the location of the apartment, off a small lane in Chinatown, which provides guests with a glimpse into how many urban Thais live.
Another part is sitting on the cushioned floor of Gypser's apartment watching Goy and her niece cooking up a storm.
With many of these dinners going late into the night, and becomingboisterous with the free-flowing wine and beer, one wonders what the neighbours think.
"People in the building say, 'Wow, you have a lot of friends, and all the time,'" Gypser said. If he gets closed down, he gets closed down, he added.
"For me, to do the thing is more important than how long it lasts."
