Family food & travel

Mangoes & Palm Trees

This photograph is from Hinkali House in Hua Hin. Natalia grew up folding pelmeni in Krasnoyarsk; the kitchen here serves khinkali. Oliver, Natalia, and Victor cook and travel as a family—the recipes, roads, and what actually happened sit behind this page.

Explore recipes Travel guides
The Mayerhoffer family at Hinkali House in Hua Hin — the first photograph on Mangoes and Palm Trees
Kitchen Global recipes Dishes we cook at home—metric weights, swaps, and the stories from our kitchen and our road. Road Travel guides Where we stayed, what we ate, and what actually worked with a child in tow. Ingredients Chili & pantry Heat, flavour, and swaps for peppers we actually cook with—not numbers copied from a chart.

Editorial standards: editorial policy · Affiliate disclosure: affiliate disclosure · Updated 24 September 2026.

Start here

What is Mangoes & Palm Trees?

Mangoes & Palm Trees is a family food and travel publication written by Oliver, Natalia, and Victor Mayerhoffer. Recipes are cooked at home before they are published, and travel pages record trips the family took, including Southeast Asia. Heritage kitchen notes include Siberian pelmeni, and chili guides document peppers used in that kitchen.

Start with global recipes, travel guides, all destinations, ultimate guides, or Europe travel guides.

Latest from the kitchen and the road

Recent pages, in the order they went up. Start anywhere, or walk through travel guides, Siberian pelmeni, and Hinkali House.

Three doors

Kitchen, road, and the peppers we cook with

Recipes from our kitchen, travel notes from trips we took, and ingredient guides built from peppers we actually use.

Kitchen

Global Heritage Recipes

From Siberian pelmeni to Thai plates at home—recipes we cook before we publish, with metric weights and honest swaps.

Enter the kitchen
Road

Family Travel Guides

Where we stayed, what Victor ate, and the logistics that matter after you land—written for families, not tour buses.

Explore destinations
Ingredients

Chili Pepper Library

Heat, flavour, sourcing, and the methods that actually work—the reference Oliver wanted when the other guides were wrong.

Open the library
Pelmeni folded by hand — Natalia's Siberian kitchen tradition

Siberia · Natalia’s kitchen

Three generations of pelmeni

I married Natalia in Krasnoyarsk in 2015. That winter taught me preservation cooking, slow broths, and pelmeni made in batches of hundreds. Her grandmother showed her the pinch-fold before she could read.

Victor helps fold them now. He’s faster than I am. Every recipe on this site passes through our kitchen first.

Read the pelmeni recipe →

Chili · ingredient library

Every pepper we cook with, written up properly

I started writing chili guides because the ones I found were wrong—Scoville numbers copied off Wikipedia, swaps from people who never cooked with the pepper they were recommending.

The ultimate chili guide is the anchor. From there, each variety gets its own page—guajillo, jalapeño, Thai bird’s eye—with flavor, heat, and swaps we tested in our kitchen. Victor’s verdict on most of them: “too spicy.”

Open the chili library →
Dried guajillo chiles from our kitchen tests — ingredient photography for the Mangoes and Palm Trees chili pepper library

Southeast Asia · Koh Samui

Koh Samui — where it felt like home

Victor was born at Nathon Hospital in November 2016 during our time on the island—a chapter that felt like home, not a holiday sprint. Koh Samui stays in our story alongside Bangkok street food and Hua Hin, including Hinkali House.

Years earlier I was ordained as a monk on Koh Chang—a personal chapter unrelated to our guides, but part of why Thailand matters in our story.

We cover Bangkok street food, Koh Samui, and Hua Hin’s night markets where Victor picks what the family eats.

Thailand Food & Travel 2026 →
Natalia and Victor Mayerhoffer in Bangkok — Southeast Asia family travel

Europe · kitchen and rail

Pelmeni, and Italy by train

Siberian dumplings from Natalia’s Krasnoyarsk line. Italy by train for families cooking and traveling by rail—beside our other Europe pages.

Start with our Europe travel guides, Italy by train, and Siberian pelmeni recipe.

Europe travel guides →
European kitchen and travel pages from the Mayerhoffer family
Our lives on the page

Recipes, roads, and pantry notes

Travel guides, eat-and-stay notes, recipes, ingredients, and the family story—the way we actually live: eating with great people, hardly ever planned, always on the go, often saying yes to someone we met an hour ago.

From our kitchen

From the road

Keep reading

Pages we return to often from the kitchen and the road.

Also browse family FAQ and ultimate guides.

Oliver, Natalia, and Victor Mayerhoffer traveling as a family
Oliver, Natalia, and Victor — the family behind Mangoes & Palm Trees.
About us

Who writes Mangoes & Palm Trees?

Oliver, Natalia, and Victor Mayerhoffer cook the food and walk the roads. The full family story—including how we work—sits on the About page, not here.

Trust & planning

Who we are, and where to check travel rules

Oliver, Natalia, and Victor Mayerhoffer write this publication. For visas, heritage sites, and national travel rules on the trips we write about, use the official tourism and government sites below.

Updated 24 September 2026. Schedules and entry rules change—confirm on official portals before you travel.

Who we are

Mangoes & Palm Trees is run by Oliver, Natalia, and Victor Mayerhoffer. The full story sits on our family and author pages—we do not repeat it in every guide.

Official planning references

Use these official tourism and government sites when you need visas, entry rules, or national travel information. We check links before we publish; rules still change without notice.

Common questions about Mangoes & Palm Trees

Short factual answers first—then where to read more on the site.

What does Mangoes & Palm Trees cover?

Mangoes and Palm Trees is a family food and travel publication written by Oliver, Natalia, and Victor Mayerhoffer. Recipes are cooked at home before they are published, and travel pages record trips the family took, including Southeast Asia. Heritage kitchen notes include Siberian pelmeni, and chili guides document peppers used in that kitchen.

Browse all destinations, recipes, and travel guides.

Are recipes and travel guides family-tested?

Recipes are cooked in the Mayerhoffer kitchen with metric weights and swaps Victor will actually eat. Travel pages name the trip and the month where those dates exist. Official visa and entry rules are linked to government sources, not invented on the page.

See Siberian pelmeni, Thailand 2026, and our editorial policy.

What destinations does Mangoes & Palm Trees cover?

Pages include Siberian pelmeni from Natalia’s Krasnoyarsk line, Italy by train, Koh Samui, Hua Hin, Bangkok, Da Nang, and other places the family visited. Browse travel destinations by continent rather than treating this page as a complete map.

Browse all destinations, Europe guides, and Asia travel guides.

Are your travel guides written from first-hand experience?

Travel pages on Mangoes and Palm Trees are written from trips the family took. Dates and places named in the text are the ones they can stand behind. Official tourism and government sites remain the source for visas, health notices, and schedules.

We name the trip and the month when those dates exist. Read how we work and our editorial policy.

Where should I verify official travel rules?

National tourism boards and local government portals publish current visa rules, health notices, and transport schedules for each country. Family travel guides add logistics and meal context for parents but do not replace those official government sources.

Before you book, use the official Thailand, Vietnam, and Da Nang links in Official planning references above. We re-check before every trip; you should too.

Some pages may include affiliate links. They never change our editorial judgment. Read our affiliate disclosure.