Les 5 Portes

French cuisine.

L’Alhambar

American-style Sunday brunch, with mimosas, Bloody Marys. Nice price.

Calm

Saturday and Sunday brunch from 10H00 to 18H00, including scrambled eggs, pancakes, sandwiches, muesli, bread, croissants, brioches, etc. Garden terrace in summer.

Le Cheval Blanc

All-you-can-eat buffet for CHF 22. Buffet includes bread and jam, pastries, birchermuesli, various kinds of eggs, as well as quiches, original mixed salads, cheese and sausage. Also a selection of desserts. Reservation advisable.

Le Cheval Blanc, Place de l’Octroi 15, 1227 Carouge, tel. +41 022 343 61 61 from 11H00 to 15H00 on Sundays.

This week’s foodie overview

I spend a lot of time reading, researching and tweeting about food and restaurants these days, so I thought I’d jot down my tweets from the last few days. These are from both The Rambling Epicure and Swiss Foodies and should give you an overview of what’s going on in the foodie world this week, in Switzerland and around the world.

These tweets are often focused on Switzerland, but also include a lot of links to Swiss, French, German, British, American, Canadian and other research on food.

Sometimes I couldn’t resist writing about the snow and skiing conditions, because that determines how a lot of us in Switzerland plan our weekends, and therefore what restaurants we go to or what recipes we cook up. And of course occasionally, watches and wine . . . and this week, the Vancouver Winter Olympics and those cute wooly pigs you see in the photo.

Remember, these are just tweets

Remember these are just tweets, so they are short and sweet. They are not particularly orderly; I just tweeted the information as I found it.

I suggest you skim over the headings, and if you’re interested, just click on any of the links that interest you in order to read the detailed article.

Who knows, this might even tempt you to start tweeting yourself!

The list is long, so I’ll list the main topics, which are marked by headings in bold: Restaurants, Recipes, Swiss news, International news, Food trends, Nutrition, health, healthy lifestyle, Chocolate, Wine, Miscellaneous food and related info, Skiing, snow, lifestyle, and Nice quotes.

This week’s tweet list

Restaurants

Taste the latest in the food world, the wooly pig, 23 & 24 Feb. at du Chalet-des-Enfants in Le Mont-sur-Lausanne.

Tired of roestis and pasta in Verbier? Good classic French at La Grange, no surprises.

The Rambling Epicure: check out our restaurant listings.

The Bernerhof hotel in Gstaad has a restaurant for everyone’s taste: pasta, Chinese, traditional.

Tired of roestis in Zermatt? Check out authentic Japanese cuisine and sushi at Myoko, Seiler Hotel.

The food at King’s restaurant Verbier is a delightful mix of English, French, and world influences.

The Walserhof in Klosters is a perfect place to celebrate special occasions, and the food is top notch.

Everything you need to know about eating in Zermatt.

Check out the divine rolled truffle pizza at Quirinale in Geneva.

The Cottage Café in Jardins de Brunswick in Geneva is a great place to meet for afternoon meeting.

Site that lists restaurants in Switzerland that do home delivery.

Read more…

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

1. On Sunday, 14 February 2010, the CGN is sponsoring Valentine’s lunch cruises on all their major routes.
2. 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.
3. Valentine’s package at L’Auberge in Baulmes for CHF105, including gourmet dinner, champagne, wine and room. They adhere to the Slow Food philosophy.
4. Restaurant de Bois Genoud Le Castel in Crissier. See our post of 1 February 2010. Elegant setting, organic, biodynamic food grown on the property, and real gourmet dining.
5. Valentine’s events in La Gruyère.
6. Valentine’s package at Bernard Ravet’s splendid L’Hermitage in Vufflens-le-Château, CHF500, including hotel, champagne, 9-course dinner, and breakfast. The package goes for CHF500 per person per night. Price justified by the restaurant’s 19 out of 20 rating in GaultMillau, the setting, that it belongs to Relais & Châteaux, and the presence of Nathalie Ravet, named best Swiss sommelier in 2007.
7. Commercial listing of Geneva restaurants serving special Valentine’s dinner. Please note that I haven’t tested these restaurants, but they should include something appropriate for everyone’s taste, location and budget.
8. Spa, chocolate bath, and GaultMillau 13-rated restaurant at Ferian Art in Saas-Fee in a drop-dead beautiful setting and exquisite decor.
9. Hôtel des Armures in Geneva: special Valentine’s package including room, champagne, breakfast and chocolate, for CHF860 for two nights. Located in the very heart of Geneva’s old town.
10. Ramada Park Hotel Geneva offering Valentine’s Day brunch as well as candlelit dinner. CHF75 for Sunday brunch, and CHF79 for candlelit dinner.
    
11. How to make a chocolate heart for your sweetie, but please substitute Swiss chocolate!
12. From chocolate lollipop to cup of organic dark hot chocolate, dip into hot milk and stir for few moments. For those who really don’t have much time but want to make a gesture!
    
13. Exquisite Italian food for romantic Valentine’s dinner at San Marino in Lausanne.
14. My Switzerland also lists a number of romantic Valentine’s getaways, mostly in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
15. A real deal, but in high style: The Mövenpick in Prague is offering the best Valentine’s package I’ve found. €114 for a couple for one night, with a real spread.
    
16. All local chocolate makers will be competing with all the others to create the most beautiful, original Valentine chocolates possible. See our Easter post about chocolate shops in Geneva.
17. In our initial countdown to Valentine’s, we also listed Durig in Lausanne for its organic, fair-trade chocolate hearts that you can order online.
18. For those who don’t count pennies but love fine food, the Richemond in Geneva is offering an all-out spa, champagne, gourmet Italian dinner (the chef is none other than Fulvio Pierangelini, Italy’s top chef 2009), full breakfast and room for CHF1025 for two.
19. For those who love antique cars and have the time and money to hop over to the French Riviera, this is a real find. The Hôtel Beau Rivage in Nice has a Valentine’s package that includes a jaunt in the countryside around Nice in an antique Lotus for a whole day. The package includes two nights in the hotel, the car for one day, breakfast in the room and one dinner at the restaurant of your choice (they offer two) for €530 for two people.
20. It’s Monday, so I can’t get hold of L’Esquisse in Lausanne. I don’t know whether they have a Valentine’s menu. All I know is that they have a refined menu and the setting is beautiful. I vote on it being romantic, no matter what the occasion.

Vineet Bhatia, the Bombay-born chef who first got a Michelin star at his Chelsea restaurant Rasoi, and another one a few months ago at his Geneva restaurant Rasoi By Vineet in the Mandarin Oriental, is now off to Abu Dhabi, reports Perpetual Traveller Overseas.

Bhatia changed the face of the Indian culinary scene in London, where practically every restaurant served the same old same old, by breaking out of these boring boundaries and changing it into something modern, innovative and competitive. The number of modern Indian and Indian fusion restaurants in London, from budget price to upscale, has increased significantly as a result.

The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority is sponsoring its annual 15-day culinary get-together of starred chefs from around the world, starting on February 5. The meals will take place in Abu Dhabi’s most prestigious restaurants, with the guest chefs, who have twenty-two Michelin stars in all, working with the resident chefs. It is a real meeting of East and West.

Bhatia will be working with the chefs at Yas Island Rotana, a restaurant serving both North and South Indian cuisine, from 16 to 19 February 2010.

For more information, contact Gourmet Abu Dhabi.

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?

Read more…

Le Vertig’O: free WiFi and low-calorie nice-price menus

This well located, ultra contemporary restaurant is handy for upscale lunches near Cornavain train station, particularly for those who need WiFi access, which is free in the entire hotel. It is located in the Hôtel de la Paix on the Quai du Mont Blanc, right on the lake and near the jet d’eau.

Chef Jérôme Manifacier was recently awarded his first Michelin start and a 16/20 in the GaultMillau restaurant guide for Switzerland. He turns out a light, modern cuisine, with variations on Swiss, French and Mediterranean classics.

The winter menu includes original dishes such as roasted pineapple with Sechuan pepper in puff pastry with piña colada sauce and duet of warm and cold foie gras with beetroot emulsion served with homemade gingerbread.

Set menus goes for CHF 95 and 135, but are hefty, so you’d better be hungry. There is also a special 3-course menu under 800 calories which changes with the seasons.

The lunch special goes for CHF 55 for 3 courses, which is not bad for a grand hotel. It changes every day.

There is a good selection of local and well as other wines available by the glass, and an even wider selection if you want a bottle.

Belle Epoque brasserie in Montreux gets an up-to-date look

The brasserie at the luxury resort hotel Montreux-Palace has just gotten a new chef and a facelift. This luxury “pub” is a real institution in Montreux, so there is excitement in the air.

Franck Page, the new chef, worked at Fauchon in Beijing, as well as a long list of other top names.

The Belle Epoque architecture, dating from the 1890s, has been decorated with a clean contemporary style, in dark brown, and gray tones.

An American-style breakfast buffet is served in the brasserie, as well as lunch, afternoon snacks and dinner.

The menu includes both Parisian and Swiss brasserie classics. The afternoon snacks include tea and cakes, rather in the style of an English tea.

Important link: Plaisirs Gastronomie & Voyage

Genevan Jean-François Schlemmer turns run-down, forgotten sites into chic, trendy places.

Would you prefer a table near the skeleton or the bar?

After the success of the Palais Mascotte, a tired Geneva institution and cabaret started in 1833 that he brought back to life, he has now converted an old warehouse next to MAMCO, the modern art museum, into an exciting café and restaurant, Curiositas. Curiositas is almost a museum in and of itself, with its display cases full of “curious” collections of seashells, butterflies and surprising knick-knacks.

The menu is more classic than one might expect, but also offers some original variations on classics, such as the duck parmentier with turnips and red currants, or foie gras with oxtail. French chef Sergio Schoener delights in turning out color combinations not common in the world of food. Pastry chef Lionel Gérard comes to Curiositas with the label Ducasse on his CV.

A 3-course daily lunch menu goes for CHF 48 and a daily special for CHF 23. Breakfast is served, as well as light afternoon food.

Schlemmer has resuscitated several dying venues into “must” night life stopoffs, including the Petit Casino, the Restaurant l’Horizon and Psycho. As he says in Le Temps of 14 January 2010, outsiders just think that Geneva is a sleepy town. If they only knew all the fun that goes on behind those Calvinist façades!

Curiositas, rue des Vieux Genadiers 8-10, 1205 Geneva, +41 022 321 30 37, next to MAMCO modern art museum. Map. Open from 08:30 to 22:00.

Links: Le Temps

Photo courtesy of Fiveprime

Genève Tourisme has published a list of the hotels and restaurants in Geneva that are offering special Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s meal packages. Some are at lunchtime, others in the evening.

The list includes restaurants in all price ranges, as well as details about dates, times, set menus, and locations.

It can be found in pdf format, under Christmas Dinners and New Year’s Dinners. Just click on “Download the document” on the Genève Tourisme site.