Our Chef Thomas Kahl

Thomas Kahl was born on 17 December 1975 in the Austrian town of Gmünd, and he grew up on a farm surrounded by woodland and meadows. At the age of 14, he discovered his passion for cooking. Thomas Kahl completed his training in his dream profession very close to his home town at the Gasthof Kaufmann restaurant in Kirchberg am Wald between 1991 and 1994.

One of the first important milestones in his career as a professional chef was Munich, where, at the tender age of 22, he joined Hans Haas at the restaurant Tantris - which has two Michelin stars and 19 Gault Millau points - as chef de partie. Three years later, he travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to work at New York's famous Danube restaurant as sous chef for two years. Then Kahl returned to Europe. He moved to Paris to apply for a job with one of the most famous chefs in France, Pierre Gagnaire, at his restaurant on Rue Balzac. He worked for Gagnaire for almost two years as premier commis de cuisine, before taking a career break to obtain his master chef qualification at the Heidelberg University of Applied Science.

Thomas Kahl's international experience and his new master chef qualification gave him access to Germany's most famous chef, Johann Lafers, and his cookery school, Table d'Or. He spent one year there as cookery school director, before a stint as head chef at Le Val d'Or in Stromburg Castle between January 2005 and December 2008. At the beginning of 2009 Thomas Kahl moved to The St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort, there he is head of the restaurants Es Fum and AQUA.