Meliá Chiang Mai has welcomed an executive chef and director of F&B who bring more than four decades of combined experience to the urban hotel slated to open in December this year.
Thai national Suksant Chutinthratip and Filipino national Jay Tadifa Abiang have been named executive chef and director of F&B respectively.
Equipped with 27 years of hospitality experience, Suksant comes to the hotel’s pre-opening team after working as the executive chef at Hotel Nikko Bangkok, Rayong Marriott Resort & Spa, and Courtyard by Marriott Bangkok. He was also an executive sous chef for SkyCity Auckland Entertainment, managing VIP and gaming restaurants, as well as Renaissance Ratchaprasong Bangkok Hotel.
Beginning his hospitality career in 1994 as a cook helper at The Ambassador Hotel and Convention Centre Bangkok’s Le Bistro, Suksant climbed the career ladder at various properties including Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, a Luxury Collection Hotel Bangkok, The Peninsula Bangkok, Lotus One in Dubai, Raffles Singapore, The Athenee Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel Bangkok, and Le Meridien Bangkok.
Meanwhile, nine of Abiang’s 16 years in the hospitality industry have been in hotel management with Meliá Hotels International. Prior to his appointment at Meliá Chiang Mai, he was executive assistant manager at The Reed Hotel Managed by Meliá, and the F&B manager at Meliá Ba Vi Mountain Retreat in Vietnam. He also worked at Meliá Hanoi as an assistant F&B manager, as well as a banquet manager and bar manager.
Abiang started his career as a bartender at Hanoi’s Press Club. He has also been a restaurant supervisor and manager at My Way Café and Lounge in Hanoi and an operations manager in Au Lac Do Brazil Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City.
Comprising a 22-floor tower fronted by an adjoining seven-floor podium building, Meliá Chiang Mai will have two restaurants, two bars, two lounges, a YHI Spa with seven treatment rooms, a fully-equipped fitness centre, swimming pool, ballroom and four other meeting spaces.
Signature restaurant Mai Restaurant & Bar on the 21st floor will specialise in contemporary Northern Thai dishes with Mediterranean influences, while all-day-dining restaurant Laan Na Kitchen will offer Mediterranean cuisine in a marketplace setting.
