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…

Ellen Wallace’s post of 26 June 2009 talks about the restaurant smoking ban that came into effect on 1st July 2009 in Valais.

Don’t forget that smoking continues on terraces in most all cantons, even non-smoking ones, so if smoking disturbs you, you might want to request a table that is not next to a table of smokers. On hot summer days and evenings, smoke seems to linger in the air, practically like indoors.

Laila Rodriguez provides a list of non-smoking restaurants in the Geneva region in her blog New to geneva? Me too.

David Jewell, an inspired chef and restaurateur

Cookie, Gryon, Vaud, Switzerland – map / Tel: +41 24 498 2233

Australian David Jewell’s cuisine is familiar to those who frequent the Restaurant de Bretaye in the Villars-Gryon ski station in Vaud. In his 5 years there, he transformed the former school lunchroom-style cooking into something tasty and creative, with light Thai touches, and which allowed you to get back out on the slopes fast.

He has now headed down the slopes to the village of Gryon, where he and his wife Anna Jewell, along with David’s former sous-chef Ryan Isamonger who has taken over at the cooking range, transformed a hundred year plus traditional chalet into a bar-restaurant with a soothing blend of contemporary and traditional décor, offering an international, yet somewhat Australian-influenced, menu.

For those who miss brunches, this is the place to go: classic yet inventive egg and bacon combinations, eggs Benedict, buttermilk pancakes, all with David and Ryan’s own skillful “derivations.”

From the Cookie kitchen

Brisbane-trained, Ryan’s true talent lies in simple combinations of good-quality ingredients in novel ways.

Cookie's head chef Ryan Isamonger

Australian fusion, a thoroughly modern presentation

The Australian beef fillet sounds classic enough with its garlic mashed potatoes, but the bok choy and red wine sauce make for a nice mix of Asian and classic French. Meat cooking times are perfect and you’d better have an appetite, because you’re ordering one big hunk of meat.

The calamari with a crispy noodle salad and soya and sesame sauce have that Asian influence that one often finds in Australian fusion cooking, but no matter what your nationality, the hard part is to cook the squids so they are not rubbery or greasy, and Isamonger does it with the precision required.

The outstanding pasta and salads, as well as vegetarian dishes, are tasty and modern, and make for a well-balanced menu with something to suit every member of the family.

The desserts are a delight

Around 20 different homemade sorbets and ice creams are available, and the flavors change with the seasons.  Try the honeycomb ice cream, one of David’s most distinctive inventions. The warm sticky date pudding served with caramel sauce and homemade vanilla ice cream . . . well I could write a whole article about it.

Wine by the glass, great bottles, at the bar or at your table

The wine list is balanced, offering local wines as well as French, Italian, New Zealand and, of course, Australian wines. The red Founder’s Block 2005 from the Katnook Estate, a Cabernet Sauvignon “that has seen the sun,” as they say in French, offers strong hints of black currants and plum with notes of vanilla, and is reasonably priced at CHF 49.

A wide variety of wines are offered by the glass, and one can stop in after a day of skiing for a drink at the bar, which is open all day.

Villars-Gryon, a great place in winter and summer

Cookie looks totally traditional from the outside

Cookie, formerly called Chez Sylvie, opened just in time for the 2008-2009 ski season, and has been fully booked ever since, so make sure and reserve. Anna and David now run the dining room, and the service is efficient yet laid back. Needless to say, everyone speaks English.

Summer opening hours are Thursday through Monday from 11 a.m. until “latish” (Anna says this means until no one else wants to eat, but they will certainly take orders until 9:30 p.m.), with brunch from 9 to 12 on Sundays. The website is still under construction.  The terrace will open soon, and has a panoramic view of the Alpes Vaudoises.

Starter prices run from CHF7.50 to 21 for the tasting platter; main dishes from CHF19.50 to 39.50 for the beef fillet, with desserts from CHF3.50 to 9.90.

To get there, drive to Barboleusaz, take the Route de Solalex for exactly 2 kilometers, and it’s on the right. Lots of parking space.

The Villars-Gryon region offers a wealth of summer activities, including hiking, mountain biking, “mountain” golfing (the golf course is actually a ski slope in winter), mini-golf, hang-gliding, Nordic walking, excursions, a parcours, a spa, private and public swimming pools, tennis courts, etc., and is a perfect place to escape the summer heat for a weekend, since it is only a 1 hour 20 minute drive from downtown Geneva.

Related sites

VillarsGryon tourist bureau

Katnook Estate

Australian fusion cooking

Australian beef

Leshop.ch and Globus for Thai ingredients

Manor-La Placette for Australian beef and lamb