Elite Traveler January-February 2016

INSPIRE SWISS FINE DINING

Left: The Restaurant at The Dolder Grand Below from top: Chef Heiko Nieder's exquisite dishes; judges at Epicure Festival

Swiss population has always traditionally visited restaurants. But what has happened over the last few years is that traditional Swiss cuisine is renewing itself, and people are interested again. A young generation of cooks is now taking over.” One such success story is the 38-year-old, Swiss-born chef Andres Caminada who, after spending time cooking abroad, returned to his home country and now has three Michelin stars at his restaurant Schloss Schauenstein in Fürstenau, named one of Elite Traveler's Top 100 Restaurants. “During my travels abroad I started appreciating all the values that Switzerland has – perfection, quality and punctuality – and I wanted to open my first restaurant here,” he says. Yet even chefs of other nationalities are being seduced by Switzerland. Benoît Violier was born in France but has cooked up three Michelin stars for Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville, also one of Elite Traveler's Top 100 Restaurants. “I’ve spent most of my professional life in Switzerland,” he says. “I first arrived here thanks to Joël Robuchon, my former chef in Paris, who encouraged me to work with Frédy Girardet. I fell in love with his approach to cooking, which was very respectful of the product and its original taste.“ Just one year later, Girardet retired. Philippe Rochat took over the restaurant and continued with this same approach to cooking. “He was an impressive teacher and soon became my mentor,” says Violier. “I can therefore say that it is both these chefs and their approach to cooking that convinced me to stay here.” However, fine restaurants cannot exist without their patrons. Andrin CWilli, editor of Marmite , one of Switzerland’s oldest food magazines, talks of the nation’s “high purchasing power… with guests that appreciate high-end or fine-dining restaurants” in the country’s biggest cities, Zurich and Geneva. According to private city

much action, so much thinking. It was a nice challenge.” In all, the event attracted 600 guests and more Michelin-honored chefs than you could imagine. But how did an event with so many luminaries of the world gastronomy scene end up being hosted in Switzerland of all places? Two chefs participating in Epicure believe money is the answer. Arjan Smit (chef and owner of De Pronckheer) and Onno Kokmeijer (of Hotel Okura Amsterdam) think the meteoric success of Switzerland’s fine-dining scene is a direct result of its demographic and wealth. “Switzerland and Germany have a market and audience for these kind of events,” Smit says. Certainly Switzerland’s high-end restaurant scene is on fire. This year 18 dining rooms were handed their first Michelin star. This brings the total to 96 establishments with one star and 21 with two or more – a 40 percent rise in the number of Michelin stars awarded to restaurants there over the past five years. Given that this is a country with a population of only eight million, that is the highest number of stars per capita. Some of these new award winners are found on Lake Geneva’s shores, also home to the Glion Institute of Higher Education, a school specializing in high-end hospitality management. It recently launched a luxury module to its training program, a shrewd move because, as Glion’s food and beverage service instructor, Carlos da Silva, puts it: “This segment is showing a steady growth”. He attributes this to a number of factors, including Switzerland’s growing tourism industry. This is certainly true when it comes to US visitors in Switzerland – in 2014 the number reached 751,514, according to recently released data from the Swiss Federal Office of Statistics. People are also increasingly appreciating Switzerland’s “quality products” and its organic food industry, da Silva points out, “which is growing exponentially”. He adds: “Of course the