After three years at the helm of W Bangkok’s fine-dining flagship, The Dining Room at The House on Sathorn, head chef Fatih Tutak will leave the restaurant in Jan 2019, the hotel has revealed.

Fatih’s move creates an unknown for the three-year-old restaurant, whose identity and food was built largely around Fatih’s personality. The chef, who prior to Bangkok worked in Rene Redzepi’s Noma and the three Michelin-star Nihonryori Ryugin in Tokyo, had over the past year been pushing the restaurant in a progressively Turkish direction, in line with his own cultural heritage.

While success came to The Dining Room in the form of two consecutive wins at Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants (2017-18), it failed to pick up a coveted Michelin star when the guide launched its first Bangkok edition at the end of 2017. The Dining Room once more failed to collect a star in the 2019 Michelin guide, launched in Bangkok last month.  

W Bangkok is remaining tight-lipped about its long-term plans for the striking space in a 19th-century mansion. Starting in Feb 2019, they plan to serve an expanded menu from their Courtyard, which currently offers Thai staples and comfort dishes, before greater plans are announced in the second quarter of 2019.

That means you have until the end of Jan 2019 to sample Fatih’s cuisine, which BK described as “inventive, produce-driven, down-to-earth and show-stoppingly satisfying.” Offering two tasting menus, dinner at The Dining Room costs from B3,100 (11 courses) to B3,900 (14 courses).

Fatih will next be opening his own restaurant in his hometown of Istanbul, Turkey, according to W Bangkok.