Villa Frantzen Restaurant & Bar

A Swedish Dane, geeky about Thai cooking and fluent in Thai, Nilas Corneliussen seamlessly bridges Frantzén Nordics & Asian influences. But Nilas never imagined a career in cooking. The tangled path that landed him the Executive Head Chef role in Bangkok started with Thai boxing in high school and training camps in Thailand. After a bad injury, he gave up the sport, and a day after graduation he was on a one-way ticket to study economics in Thailand.

Halfway into his master, he found his calling in the kitchen. He then returned to Europe and worked his way up from Stockholm’s trattoria to Michelin-starred Esperanto, Noma, amidst winning silver on the Swedish team in the Bocuse d’Or finals. Before Villa Frantzén, Nilas headed Stockholm Surfers–an authentic, somewhat nerdy Szechuan restaurant.

A dining experience flavored by the Nordics

On the 4th of June 2022 Villa Frantzén Restaurant & Cocktail Bar opened its doors to the public in the heart of Bangkok at Yen Akat 3. The choice of Bangkok as a destination for the Frantzén Group outpost was appealing because of the city’s rich cultural and gastronomic heritage.

The 60-seat restaurant introduces guests to modern, casual Nordic cooking mixed with Asian influences over its 6-course tasting restaurant menu. The craft cocktails served at the Villa Frantzén Cocktail Bar share the same concept.

All the dishes carry a similar profile, characteristic of the Frantzén Groups’ DNA, but Björn Frantzén, together with his R&D team from Stockholm helmed by Daniel Everts has developed a special menu for Villa Frantzén, which Executive Head Chef Nilas Corneliussen together with Executive Sous Chef Luke Cawsey further developed locally.

The tailored menu with several options to choose from per serving is a new formula introduced by the Group. Wanting to create a wide range of experiences with the success of less formal Brasserie Astoria behind, the focus is on returning guests and becoming more inclusive than at the two well-known 3-Michelin-starred restaurants Frantzén in Stockholm and Zén in Singapore.

Open Tuesday to Sunday from 5:30 PM and for Saturday and Sunday lunch service from noon–1:30 PM the restaurant requires prior booking, while the Villa Frantzén Cocktail Bar welcomes walk-in visitors from 5 PM till midnight. Both bar and restaurant are closed on all Mondays.

In the bar, guests can try an a la carte menu. They can choose from the signature Villa Frantzén supplement dishes such as the signature French toast with Kalix vendace roe, Oyster >>63.4C<< and the 30g caviar serving or 5 selected dishes from the Villa Frantzén tasting menu.

Setting

The space a guest will dine in will alter the experience for them each time. Whether it is at the main restaurant by the bustling open kitchen, in one of the three cosy private dining rooms upstairs, in the discreet glasshouse overlooking the lush green outdoor patio or at the neighbouring Cocktail Bar, relaxed in the low lounge setting.

Villa Frantzén offers a modern Nordic 6-course menu with Asian influences based on 6 individually chosen dishes. Each course has a selection of 2 dishes to choose from. Included in the tasting menu are snacks, like the Swedish white beer and dark rye kavring bread with Bordier butter and rapeseed oil and a roasted pumpkin velouté with Västerbotten cheese, black trumpets and truffle. Menu supplement servings include signatures like the Villa Frantzén caviar “Prestige Selection” spread with jackfruit and coconut waffles and brown butter, the French toast with Kalix vendace roe or the poached Oyster “63.4C” with smoked cream, spicy pumpkin condiment and sea buckthorn oil.

The beverage program includes selected wines by the glass, an extensive wine list and non-alcoholic and wine pairings, each based on 6 glasses carefully paired with the tasting menu dishes. The non-alcoholic pairing is prepared in-house by the kitchen team and the sommelier blending infusions, fermentations and fresh juices of Nordic and local ingredients into refreshing, often surprising alcohol-free concoctions. The wine list and wine pairing is managed by Villa Frantzen’s in-house Thai-German sommelier Jochen Sandkuhl. The list focuses on quality producers of both old and new world wines. The idea behind the list is to have there something for everyone. Inside the Cocktail Bar, it has a walk-in wine cellar exhibiting all our wines including some rare bottles for the curious wine-hunters.

The Villa Frantzen Cocktail Bar

Villa Frantzén Cocktail Bar is the latest addition to the Frantzén Group gastronomy collection. The group’s first standalone bar project. Located in a separate building, it shares both the location and concept with Villa Frantzén but is truly a destination on its own – a modern Nordic cocktail bar with Asian influences, with a vibrant and relaxing soul.

The bar accepts walk-in guests as well as reservations via Villa Frantzén email and offers a place to wind down with a cocktail; a more casual bar dining with selected dishes from the Villa and available signature supplement servings. The bar also features snacks and dishes unavailable at the restaurant such as pickles or the brioche spread with Kalix vendace roe, onions and crème fraîche.

What’s being poured?

Gabriel Valdés, the bar manager who created the menu, loves to cook and has travelled the world. This translates into his vast awareness of ingredients, preservation techniques and the use of uncommon, savoury ingredients in cocktail making, like fermented blueberries, pickled rhubarb, beetroots, cream cheese or whey. He also refrains from using citruses for acidity and instead, most of the drinks feature the use of vinegars for the tartness.

His signature mixtures reflect the Scandinavian landscape in bold flavours, sterile purity, smooth and sharp notes and textures. But since we are in Bangkok, the cocktail menu also offers an inspiring fusion of local influences and ingredients where the Nordics meet Asia such as in the example of our Milk, Tea & Coco.

Many of the cocktails take several days to make. This is because many of the ingredients used require earlier preparations and preservations that are all made in-house by the bar team.

From steak to stars

He is both the innovator and the critic. Constantly questions himself, constantly aiming for perfection. Born in 1977, Björn represents the young generation of successful chefs who are completely dedicated to their calling. Björn remembers how he at age 12 once was served the perfect steak, with French fries and béarnaise sauce – one of his very first strong culinary memories that came to inspire him in his career. He eventually started his journey towards stardom as an intern with Chef Christer Lingström at Edsbacka Krog before going on to work at other restaurants in Paris and London, such as Chez Nico’s, Dining Lettonie, Pied a Terre, and L’Arpege.

He opened his own restaurant – Frantzén (previously named Frantzén/Lindeberg) – in 2008. In 2013, Frantzén was appointed “The chef of all chefs”, by Sweden’s top gastronomic critics.

Björn is also a dedicated spokesperson for Swedish Child Diabetes Foundation. He’s married and has two daughters.

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