Chef from Hell. Helsinki Finland Janne Ollikainen

John LINDGREN

Chef Janne - A Finn in the Central World Convention Kitchen

Janne Ollikainen hails from North Karelia, eastern Finland, the vast, lake-dotted, dens forest hinterland bordering to Russia where maestro Jean Sibelius composed his orchestral masterpieces the Karelia Suite and Finlandia in 1899 - long before NOKIA polyphonic, camera-video-mobile phones and Finlandia vodka.

Chef Ollikainen moved to the Kingdom of Thailand 2007 to settle down. Khun Janne is the first Finnish and second Nordic chef in Bangkok among all the imported cooks; chefs, sous-chefs and patisserie & boulangerie chefs from Central Europe; Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. Including Australia, China, India, Singapore Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan.

The Daily Express meets the 35 years old slim and fit looking Finn dressed sans his toque blance (the tall, round, pleated, starched white hat worn by chefs in his white chef uniform at the spick and span high-tech Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld. Located at right opposite the Erawan shrine and Police hospital.

Ollikainen is married to a Thai International (TG) flight attendant and the Finn-Thai couple recently bought a townhouse near the Onnut sky-train, BTS-terminus. “I used to commute Helsinki-Bangkok-Helsinki (HEL-BKK-HEL) for nine years. I became a very frequent flyer or the “Flying –Finn from Hell”!

Now, I am a Bangkok resident with a BTS-card says Janne Ollikainen.

His cooking career started beside the family gas stove. He says he always liked to be in the kitchen. “There is a photograph of me when I am five years old in a white, tall, polyester chef’s hat. That must have been a sign” he clips. “I started green and yellow opinions during my summer holidays when I was fifteen”. Later Ollikainen enrolled at the Hotel & Restaurant School at Kuopio, university in eastern Finland and after 3 ½ years he received his diploma.

When Janne Ollikainen was still peeling onions and potatoes the reputation of Finnish cuisine was bleak. Unglamorous eats loaded with cholesterol, clarified butter (ghee), salty, heavy, artery blocking, and heart attack inducing fare. Breakfast: sandwiches thickly buttered (extra salted) and slabs of cheese, red sausage, fat milk, gallons of coffee and tons of sugar.

Luncheons consisting of large fried meat balls, mashed potatoes with heavy salty brown sauce, blood sausage. Desert: ultra sweet fruit soups with milk, cream and more fat milk – to quench the thirst.

The sub artic circle winter darkness required de-stress, de-compression soirees at a smoke filled pubs with a minimum of two packs of full flavored high tar cigarettes, many stiff, sugary Vodka cocktails and cases of ‘strong’ beer to go with the salty potato chips and oily peanuts. All this, not surprisingly resulted in one of the highest heart attacks mortality rates in the world. WHO cardiac arrest top ranking!

And additional insult to injury with Monsieur President Le Jacques Chirac who after visiting Helsinki, the capital said “Followed by Finland, Britain is the country with the worst food”.

The French Presidents statement was important in changing the restaurant scene of Finland. And there has been a remarkable decline in mortality from coronary heart disease and lung cancer, as well.

Enter year 2007. The Finns are healthier than ever and the country is now boasting several expensive Michelin star restaurants winning more coveted stars every year. And the menus offering season’s best and freshest fare. The cooks are called “chefs” and have TV-celebrity status and are invited to the Independence Day reception at the Presidential Palace. “The Independence Party” the one an only for the Finns ranking number two after the Hollywood Oscars Gala.


The hundreds of young chefs like Janne Ollikainen with extensive culinary training covering all cooking, food hygiene and nutrition aspects reaching a molecular level are now taking la cuisine Finlandaise to the next level.

“After my graduation I worked in Klaus Kurki restaurant a prestigious Helsinki boutique hotel, Saariselka Lapland ski-resort hotel and the Alvar Aalto designed Helsinki National Opera House Restaurant” says Janne Ollikainen.

“Thereafter I joined the merchant navy. Six years back-to-back cruise line experience most recently on the red Viking-Line luxury 12 deck floating hotels cum car ferries plying between Helsinki and Stockholm equipped with five star dining rooms, cavernous temperature controlled duty-free wine cellars, VIP Saunas, spa & fitness lounges. Plus the biggest and best equipped hot and cold kitchens in Europe. And the cleanest”.

Janne Ollikainen was the chef-de-partie “the boss of the party”, also known as a "station chef" or "line cook" in restaurant parlance. In large kitchens, like cruise ships each station chef might have several cooks working under him. But I prefer chef-de-partie. To me it sounds better that “station chef” or “line cook” adds Janne. Whose favorite movie is of course “Ratatouille”.


With twenty years experience in cooking operations, kitchen, food cost control, staff training Chef Janne Ollikainen will be in charge the new Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld monster convention centre boasting 6.000 seats theatre-style, and 3.000 sit down diners and 7.000 cocktails guests capacity.

The Convention Centre opened in July 2007. The first event was booked by Hallo Kitty. The pink “naa-rakk” Japanese “King of Cute” merchandise giant.

And when does Ollikainen have time to relax?

Relax? “Not much time to relax, really. But I do play golf: 11 ½ handicap Yes, 11 ½ Soon eleven. Later seven! The Ramintra Army Club is one of my favorite courses”, adds Ollikainen.

And what is chef’s favorite tipple? “Red wine. The Burgundy Pinot Noir and Macallan Speyside single malt whisky. And a fat, long hecho a mano Cuban Cohiba if the right occasion arises”.


What is your preferred food? “Fish, simple seafood, but also the Halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), and the North Atlantic crustacean, Maine lobster says Ollikainen. Chef Janne likes the Morchella deliciosa, commonly known simply “morel” a highly porous cup fungi is priced by gourmet cooks, particularly the French cuisine. The Finns are known mushroom aficionados. Every autumn is mushroom picking season, de rigueur. The amount of edible fungus growing in Finnish woodlands can reach around a million metric tons – every year. Free food for all in the forest” says, Janne.

And Thai food? “ I have a fondness for Lab Muu (sour salads containing meat, onions, red and green chillies, roasted rice powder and garnished with mint) and Gaeng Som (chili vegetable soup). And sweet and sour yellow curry. I have always been fond of the Thai cuisine” adds Ollikainen.

“In my cooking I like to blend Oriental, Japanese harmony with elements of classic French cooking. Crayfish and salmon from Finland and poached seafood. Raw materials are important so is kitchen equipment and the software; the human resources. Here have the best 25 young chefs, Thai, Chinese, and Japanese. A ambitious team. We have a great team – the kitchen dream team.”

After Kristoffer Luzcak, the first Swedish Executive Chef in Thailand at Peninsula Bangkok now in Macau came Janne Ollikainen. A chef from Suomi- Finland. And I can assure you he is using a Nokia phone.


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