i. Biography
From Germany to resort destinations across Austria and Switzerland, Kai Horitzky’s path has moved through mountain hotels, regional kitchens, and the current work of Hum Garden in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The chef’s arc now reaches into Vietnamese-inspired vegetarian cooking, while his Austrian kitchens keep him close to Tyrolean produce, Vorarlberg seasonality, and the precision of classic technique.
Early Years
Born in Germany, Horitzky honed his culinary talents primarily within resort destinations, mainly across Austria and Switzerland. That geography matters to the food: his cooking has repeatedly been tied to places where landscape, season, and regional appetite are not background details but the point of the meal. At Romantik Hotel Verwall in Montafon, Austria, he creates fresh compositions from regional, seasonal Vorarlberg products and experimental dishes at toque level. The idea behind that work is direct: to realize regional enjoyment of nature in all its variety with a touch of imagination.
Making a Name
Kitzbühel, Austria, became one of the clearest stages for that regional approach. At Römerhof Stüberl, where he is chef-owner, his cooking is an expression of terroir, rooted in Tyrolean recipes and shaped with a contemporary hand. The specialties there include reinvented Tyrolean classics such as raclette and Wiener Schnitzel. Rather than treating those dishes as fixed museum pieces, the kitchen presents them as living recipes, still recognizable, but handled through his contemporary Tyrolean lens. In the same Austrian town, Horitzky is chef de cuisine at Hotel Tennerhof and chef at Relais & Châteaux Hotel Tennerhof. At Tennerhof Gourmet in Kitzbühel, the craft note is sharply defined: Tyrolean produce cooked with French precision. One dish has become especially associated with that room. The lobster starter is described as the dish regulars come back for, a concise marker of how his cooking can move between alpine regionality and a more classical register without losing its focus.
The Present
At Hum Garden, Horitzky is working in Ho Chi Minh City with a different set of ingredients and references. The cooking there is Vietnamese-inspired vegetarian, built through modern interpretations and mostly organic ingredients bought direct from farms. The signature work is specific enough to follow him across a dining room: deep-fried mushroom rolls. Michelin inspectors specifically called them out as a reason to return, placing a single vegetarian dish at the center of the restaurant’s appeal. Seen against the Austrian chapters, the Vietnam role reads less like a break than a turn in the same movement. Regional products remain central; the form changes, from Tyrolean classics and Vorarlberg seasonality to Vietnamese-inspired vegetarian cooking shaped by farm-direct sourcing.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Kai
What is Kai Horitzky doing now?
Kai Horitzky is chef of Hum Garden in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and also holds chef roles at Hotel Tennerhof, Relais & Châteaux Hotel Tennerhof, and Römerhof Stüberl in Kitzbühel, Austria.
Where else has Kai Horitzky worked?
His named kitchens include Römerhof Stüberl, Hotel Tennerhof, Relais & Châteaux Hotel Tennerhof Gourmet, and Romantik Hotel Verwall in Montafon, Austria.
Where did Kai Horitzky begin their career?
His early culinary development was shaped primarily in resort destinations, mainly across Austria and Switzerland, after being born in Germany.
