Jonell Galloway
Final countdown to Valentine’s Day: take your pick!
For the last week or so, I’ve had Valentine’s on the brain. I’ve been posting restaurants offering special Valentine’s meals, chocolate shops making all sorts of beautiful Valentine’s chocolates, as well as hotels offering Valentine’s packages on the Swiss Foodies Twitter account.
Photo courtesy of Salvatore Vuono.
I’ve been trying to get you in the spirit, but now it’s time for the final countdown, because time is running short. To make things easier, I’ve gathered all the Valentine tweets here so you can start making plans for the weekend!
This list is by no means exhaustive and I may well add to it during the week, so keep in touch either here on The Rambling Epicure, or by following the Swiss Foodies tweets. Every time I stumble on something interesting, I’ll make sure and tweet it.
Valentine’s specials: something to suit everyone’s budget and schedule
- On Sunday, 14 February 2010, the CGN is sponsoring Valentine’s lunch cruises on all their major routes.
- List of restaurants all over Switzerland with Valentine’s specials; just click on your canton! Please note that I haven’t tested these restaurants, but they should include something appropriate for everyone’s taste, location and budget.
Read more…
Jonell Galloway
Fine dining, Rudolf Steiner style
The Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner was the inventor of the spiritual movement anthroposophy, a kind of intuitive ethics which has thrived in Switzerland, chiefly through the Waldorf schools and through foundations and communities inspired by his teachings. This seventeenth-century castle, Le Castel, was bought by the Lausanne branch of the Rudolf Steiner Foundation in 1989.
The current community living on the grounds of Le Castel practices biodynamic farming, quite in line with Steiner’s view of humans’ relationship to the world. These products are used in the restaurant.
Restaurant de Bois Genoud “Le Castel”: gourmet, and it’s organic!
The Restaurant de Bois Genoud is organic, but don’t think that means boring. The dishes use daring combinations of ingredients and variations on classic themes, such as duck breast with Sechuan pepper and orange sauce, or a warm goat cheese pastry served with apply chutney, pear caramelized with honey, and orange- and ginger-flavored carrot sauce. Does that not get your taste buds going?
Jonell Galloway
Geneva’s star of stars: Chateauvieux chef Philippe Chevrier
Philippe Chevrier of none other than the exclusive Domaine de Chateauvieux in Satigny has fond memories of childhood lake cruises in steamboats. It is therefore with nostalgic pleasure that he took on the task of organizing gourmet cruises on the steamboat Savoie in Geneva, commissioned in 1914 and completely renovated to its original state between 1994 and 2006.
Set price menus or daily specials
You can eat on both daytime or evening cruises, or rent the boat for a private function such as a birthday party or a business meeting.
Chevrier’s CHF65, 3-course lunch menu and CHF39 daily special are a good way to get a reasonably priced taste of his style of cooking so cherished by the Geneva crowd. The children’s menu goes for CHF22.
There are two set menus in the evening. The 4-course one at CHF98, or the 3-course one at CHF85. And there is even a hefty sized special in the evening for CHF56.
Just to get your taste buds working, the current lunch menu starts with sea bream carpaccio with Espelette hot peppers, aubergine caviar and sweet garlic toast; followed by guinea fowl ballottine (boned, stuffed, rolled and tied in the shape of a bundle, then cooked) and wild mushrooms with Sherry sauce served with fried polenta; and a grande finale consisting of a Mara des Bois strawberry and ginger dessert served with lemon and lime sorbet.
It is a perfect way to celebrate an anniversary or birthday, or just have a romantic evening out.
Location and booking
Call the CGN at 0848 811 848 to book the cruise, and then book your table by calling 022 753 93 30 (Philippe Chevrier – Le Traiteur) or e-mailing Chevrier at info@savoie-philippe-chevrier.ch.
Look at the CGN site under Croisières Gastronimiques for details regarding times and locations of these gourmet cruises. Unfortunately, the English on the site is not complete, so you’ll have to look at the French for full details.
You can board at Genève Jardin Anglais, Genève Pâquis, Hermance or Versoix.
Dates
Chevrier’s gourmet cruises are available from 26 April to 25 October 2009.