Veggie Week

Patara restaurants owe their success and their reputation to an outstanding woman, Patara Sila-On. Patara, or “gracious girl”, is the name the Thais give to a young lady who attentively cares for family and friends.

Descending from the best Thai society, Patara Sila-On has a pronounced sense of hospitality and welcome. A quality that was to come into its own when this enterprising woman, educated in Switzerland, Great Britain and the US, launched into catering in 1973. Today, Patara Sila-On has become the leading reference in her country in matters of gastronomy. The group she founded, S&P, is the world number one in Thai cuisine with over 300 restaurants in Thailand, nine abroad, and more than 4,000 employees. Nevertheless, only a few jewels in the group’s crown carry her name, including the Patara Geneva opened in 1999.

The site occupied by the Patara at Beau-Rivage is steeped in history connected with the Thai Royal Family and the Imperial Austrian Household. It was, in fact, on the Quai du Mont-Blanc that Sissi Empress of Austria was tragically stabbed by an anarchist on 10 September 1898. She was brought back to her suite at Beau-Rivage and expired there shortly afterwards. A year previously, in 1897, the King of Siam, Rama V, was received by the Emperor Franz-Josef in Schönbrunn castle for an official banquet during his State Visit, the first to be made by an Asian monarch in Europe. H.R.H. also attended a performance of the Fledermaus operetta directed by Johann Strauss in person during a gala dinner given in his honour at the Imperial Villa in Ischl. The Maestro was on this occasion invested with the Order of the White Elephant. The visit was commemorated a century later by the Thai Royal Family. In 2010, a new Patara was opened in the historic centre of Vienna.