Heroes of Swiss Haute Cuisine

ENJOY Every year, companies take their employees and customers out for a meal. It should be a culinary highlight and, if possible, first class. MK presents the heroes of Swiss cuisine. A journey through Switzerland, but starting in France - where haute cuisine began.This article was published in the August issue of the trade magazine "Meetings & Events" published.The Swiss luxury hotel industry also has a tradition of upscale restaurants. And so nowhere (per inhabitant) does the gastronomic guide Michelin award as many restaurants with stars as in Switzerland. In its 2015 edition, no fewer than 117 local restaurants were honored with at least one star; 19 of them received two stars, and two restaurateurs can count themselves among the world's best with their three stars: namely restaurateur Andreas Caminada's Schauenstein restaurant in Fürstenau and Benoît Violier's Hôtel de Ville in Crissier.French cuisineIt is interesting to note that most of these restaurants actually carry the French cuisine; based on the values of the French royal court, which cultivated the European high nobility and with its restoration in the Western world became the reference par excellence of high cuisine. It was then, by the way, that the Western menu sequence, soup, main course and dessert, was born, as well as the later increase after five, seven or even more courses.An English tavernOne of the heroes of French haute cuisine is Antoine B. Beauvilliers (1754-1817), who opened the first prominent grand restaurant in Paris in 1786 and made a name for himself as the author of the book L'Art du Cuisinier. In his "Taverne Anglaise," with fine tablecloths and chandeliers, diners dined at separate tables (instead of communal tables) and could choose different dishes from a menu. He wrote his famous reference book during his time at the tavern and published it in 1914, and the book became a true classic of French cuisine. And Beauvilliers, living up to his reputation, is allowed to rest in the Père-Lachaise celebrity cemetery in Paris. The three values of gastronomyTop chefs such as Auguste Escoffier and Henri-Paul Pellaprat came from the French guild. And at the end of the last century, people like Alain Ducasse and Paul Bocuse, who played a key role in developing "nouvelle cuisine. The first trade magazines also appeared in France, of course, in parallel with the first gastronomic reviews. In 1900, the gourmet guide Guide Michelin was created, which listed good food options for motorists on the roads of France. One star was given to "good cuisine along the way"; two stars "justified even a detour"; and three stars were given to a restaurant to which one traveled explicitly because of the good food. And these three values actually still apply today.From Paris towards Switzerland

In Basel, there is no way around the Basler Brücke, and in culinary terms, not the Cheval Blanc restaurant at Les Trois Rois.The list of local award winners includes a number of hotel restaurants that also position themselves successfully in the event and conference business. One of the best is probably Peter Knogl, since 2007 "chief conductor" at the Cheval Blanc at the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois Basel. Knogl is the most highly awarded chef in the Swiss Deluxe Hotels grouping, with 2 Guide Michelin stars and 19 Gault Millau points. In his career, the Bavarian has cooked in Munich, London, Nice and on several Spanish islands and has lived in Switzerland for 11 years. First he cooked at Le Mirador Kempinski in Mont Pélerin and since 2007 at Cheval Blanc. Incidentally, Napoleon Bonaparte dined at one of the 35 seats in 1797.The mixture of the culinary artsHaute cuisine is likely to remain closely linked to the luxury hotel industry in the future. In the age of globalization and direct influences via social media, trends and tastes will continue to evolve. Through the hotel industry, with both guests and employees from all over the world, new tones, colors and blends will be introduced into gastronomy. Parallel to the still successful basic cuisine, the trends go towards fusion, mostly Asia-oriented, natural, original and mixed with organic. In French cuisine, too, there is more playfulness, less science; for example, sweet and salty or new combinations of flavors. This also lives Laurent Eperon of the Restaurant Pavilion at Hotel Baur au Lac Zurich. Or star chef Nobu from the Matsuhisa at Badrutt's Palace in St. Moritz, where he combines Japanese and Peruvian culinary arts.Own productsOn the Tour d'Horizon across Switzerland you can find some top MICE hotels with excellent and successful restaurants: At Hotel Beau- Rivage in Geneva, for example, the well-known "Le Chat botté"with Dominique Gauthier, who has already cooked for the Thai royal family. And in the eponymous Beau-Rivage in Lausanne, chef Anne-Sophie Pic, who has three Michelin stars in France, runs the gourmet restaurant under her own name. There are also fantastic chefs in Ticino, such as Othmar Schlegel of the Castello del Sole in Ascona. There, mainly products from their own rice fields, vineyards and fruit plantations are used.Inspiration in Arosa - Festival Chefs in LucerneA strong position has also been achieved by the Hotel Arosa Kulm with its six restaurants and two bars. The highlight is certainly the Muntanella (with 14 Gault Millau points), where chef Pascal Kleber offers Southern-inspired gourmet cuisine. In addition, the highly decorated chef Pairat Sornacharoenchaisakul offers Far Eastern compositions in her Ahaan Thai restaurant. Then it's on to Lake Lucerne with short visits to Vitznau and Lucerne. The successful in the meeting and conference segment Park Hotel Vitznau even offers two top chefs, Nenad Mlinarevic and Christian Nickel. Under the brand "Where palate and eyes enjoy" the two restaurants offer Prism and focus culinary experiences and surprises. A different approach is taken by creative and innovative hotelier Clemens Hunziker of the Schweizerhof Lucerne. In its main restaurant Pavilion he often introduces guest chefs from around the world, who then create tasty festival specialties in collaboration with the kitchen team. Innovative gastronomy

In a fin-de-siècle atmosphere, dine at Jack's Brasserie at the Hotel Schweizerhof in Bern.On the way to perhaps the best, we pay a brief visit to the canton of Bern; on the one hand a symbol of good home cooking, but on the other hand also the scene of innovative gastronomy in hotels of the meeting and conference industry. Mention should be made, for example, of the two traditional Bernese Oberland restaurants Grand Hotel Regina in Grindelwald and Victoria Virgin in Interlaken, whose La Terrace has probably catered to hundreds of thousands of conference and convention attendees over the past several decades. Perhaps similar to the legendary Jack's Brasserie at Hotel Schweizerhof in Bern; just with more guests from the world of politics. In a typical fin-de-siècle ambience, Jack's offers market-fresh French brasserie cuisine.And the winner is ...

At the Dolder Grand Hotel, Neiko Nieder "conjures up" true culinary delights on the plate in his restaurant.To conclude our journey to both excellent and successful hotel restaurants in the MICE sector, we visit, nomen est omen, "The Restaurant". In the Dolder Grand Hotelhigh above Lake Zurich, is enthroned with the German Heiko Nieder, an icon of the local top gastronomy. Nieder has been the chef at the "Fine Dining" and was awarded 2 Michelin stars and 18 Gault Millau points for his restaurant. For his culinary creations, he also received last year the title of "Best German Chef Abroad" and from the Guide Bleu the award "Le Grand Chef du Guide Bleu". So we can summarize that congresses and conferences can be excellently catered and cooked for in the deluxe hotels here. An increase is almost impossible, unless an organizer would manage to bring the star chefs Anne- Sophie Pic, Peter Knogl and Heiko Nieder to the same cooking table for an event. Stella non-plus-ultra, so to speak. Author: Daniel Tschudy