The rose from the land of smiles

Here to stay

Sureena Pfeffer from Thailand didn’t just bring her zest for life with her – she also brought the diverse food too.

In winter, a sea of flowers grows in her home country while here in the Alps, the cold paints ice flowers on the window. The minus temperatures  in this part of the world were a great “challenge“ for her at the beginning, the restaurateur explains. She greets a guest with “Griaß di“ in the restaurant “Imm-D“ in Lofer which she runs. Here she brings everything fresh to the table, spring rolls, grilled duck breast, Thai-curry or chicken kebabs.

All her positive energy spills over to the guests. “They can feel this“, emphasizes the Buddist, who places great importance on mindfulness. She insists on the latter, it is even written on a notice: “We do not have Wi-Fi, talk to each other“. Sureena Pfeffer grew up in the city of the nimble monkeys, Lopburi. Her father, Pradem, was a soldier on a military base. It wasn’t just mother Pranee who cooked for him – little Sureena did too: after a day at kindergarten she sat in front of a mountain of eggs and fried them in a pan. No, she never felt taken advantage of. Everyone in the family helped, explains the two times university graduate. After her two bachelor degrees in Art History and Economics, she opened an eatery named “U-Turn“.  This was in the tourist city of Chiangmai, known as “The Rose of the North“, on a very lively street.   In 2006, the traveller Gottfried Pfeffer happened to drop by. The pair fell in love, married in 2007 and started a family in Pinzgau. The four little ones learn high German, the Pinzgauer dialect as well as Thai and are growing up in a big family: children, parents, grandparents live together in one house, eat together and bring up the children. Every summer, Grandma from Chiangmai comes over for a couple of months to spend as much time as possible with her grandchildren. During her studies, she got to know the European baroque and gothic styles from faraway. Now she can experience these up close: she stands astonished before the “Pinzgauer Cathedral“ in Maria Kirchental. She loves to wear a dirndl at regional events such as the “May Pole Climbing“. Something the 42-year old misses from her own country? “The many, small, colourful markets“.