IGNIV Bangkok names Dominik Falk as its new head chef
The 30-year-old Swiss cook leaves the sous-chef post at Andreas Caminada's three-star Schloss Schauenstein for his first head-chef job, at a one-star restaurant opened in 2020.
IGNIV Bangkok, Andreas Caminada's one-Michelin-star restaurant at The St. Regis Bangkok, has a new head chef: Dominik Falk, a 30-year-old Swiss cook who has run the kitchen since September after three years at Caminada's Schloss Schauenstein.
It is Falk's first job as head chef. He joined Schloss Schauenstein, the three-star flagship in Fürstenau, in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, in 2023 and was promoted to sous chef within a year. Before that he cooked in St. Moritz and Ascona.
The restaurant is a fine-dining outlier in a city better known for what our guide to what to eat in Bangkok covers: noodles, rice and market stalls. Its premise is different too. Dishes arrive at the table together and are shared, a format that GaultMillau says suits the Thai habit of eating from common plates.
A first head-chef job, a star to defend and a founder who flew in for the handover.
What Dominik Falk brings to IGNIV Bangkok
Falk already knows the format. According to the restaurant, he learned the IGNIV sharing concept at Badrutt's Palace in St. Moritz, alongside Marcel Skibba, before moving to Schloss Schauenstein. IGNIV means "nest" in Romansh, Caminada's mother tongue, and the menus are built from small plates meant to be passed around, with the "Ei surprise", a surprise egg, among the fixtures.
"He's on fire! Dominik is the right man for our Igniv in Bangkok," Caminada told the Swiss magazine GaultMillau, switching from English to German for the second sentence.
The founder flew in for the handover. From 18 to 20 September the restaurant ran a programme billed as the return of Andreas Caminada, with four-hands dinners cooked by Caminada and Falk on 18 and 19 September, according to the Bangkok Post. The same event introduced Christian Hotzas as restaurant manager and sommelier, so the kitchen and the dining room both have new leads.
A Michelin star held since 2022
IGNIV Bangkok opened on 9 October 2020 at The St. Regis Bangkok, 159 Rajadamri Road, as the first IGNIV outside Switzerland. It won its first Michelin star in the Michelin Guide Thailand 2022 and has kept it in every edition since, including 2026.
Falk takes over from Arne Riehn, who arrived for the opening in 2020 as sous chef and pastry chef and became head chef in 2024. Riehn's next step has not been made public.
For the new head chef, the first formal test comes with the next Michelin Guide Thailand, where the star is reviewed every year. The menus he writes before then will be the first signed by him anywhere.
