I may be in St. Moritz at Badrutt’s Palace, beloved haunt of Winston Churchill and Greta Garbo (not together one assumes), yet I’m in the kitchen, getting hot, sticky and dirty among steaming pans. And I’m revelling in sticking my fingers in dishes, cooked right in front of me, by some of the most dazzling chefs in Europe, alongside some of the most bejewelled, haute clad revellers I’ve ever partied with (who, one imagines, scarcely use their own top spec kitchens) .
This is how to do culinary festivals, I muse, as I down another cup of three star French chef Regis Marcon’s superlative wild mushroom soup. It’s all far more satisfying than ogling some barely articulate Redzepi or Chang acolyte wielding tweezers or spouting fermentation on stage whilst you salivate (or perhaps don’t), and invariably fail to try the dish before it is blogged into oblivion by a herd of long lenses.
Here it is easy – and indeed encouraged – to engage in conversation with the chefs and pick up tips, from preparing scallop ceviche (Ronny Emborg AOC Copenhagen) to the delightful Swiss Tanja Grandits’ Asian-inspired spicing of langoustines and carrot pickles. It’s amusing and democratising too for all guests to have to don their white aprons. And, just when I think I’m satiated, I’m swept through to what can only be described as the most extravagant winter wonderland of desserts ever. Even the most soigné grandes dames are shrieking like sugar-rush pre-teens at the mesmerising dessert menu supersized into exquisite yet colossal displays of milles feuilles, macarons, with all possible chocolate permutations and every imaginable ice-cream. It’s gluttony with glamour and elan and no one is in a hurry to move onto The King’s Club for the after party.
Even the most soigné grandes dames are shrieking like sugar-rush pre-teens at the mesmerising dessert menu supersized into exquisite yet colossal displays of milles feuilles, macarons, with all possible chocolate permutations and every imaginable ice-cream
Besides “The Kitchen Party”, Badrutt’s Palace is hosting the star attraction of this year’s 20th anniversary festival – the exhilaratingly creative Massimo Bottura of three Michelin star Osteria Francescana, Modena whose “tradition in evolution” dishes tell transforming stories of his life in food and art interspersed with exceptionally sourced ingredients, given an often surprising enhancing avant-garde twang. One of many likeable linchpins of what arguably was the first ever culinary festival is that each international star guest chef (who must attend for the full festival, no flying in to swiftly present a video or worse still a manifesto on the hoof) is billeted in the kitchen of a local St. Moritz hotel chef and cooks every service in their hotel as a symbiotic double act. The gourmet safaris (guests are chauffeured between five different hotels, be warned temperatures on my visit plummeted to -17 some evenings, hence much donning of, presumably real, furs), give a satisfying taste of five or more Michelin stars in one dinner without becoming a ridiculous survival course in marathon multi-course, didactic tasting menus. It’s also pleasing to reach dizzying heights literally as well as gastronomically, dining at an altitude of 1800m to 2500m for each course: Duck & Waffle – a new London favourite of mine, not least for its views – is child’s play in comparison.
Badrutt’s Palace
Dieter Koschina of Vila Joya, Albuferia Portugal’s only two Michelin star restaurant promises to have considerable culinary pulling power this year as does the maverick X-treme cuisine of Alvin Leung from Hong Kong’s Bo Innovation, and new Bo London, who will be hosting “Kitchen Whispering” at Hotel Schweizerhof St Moritz with some of his celebrity friends, not to mention Markus Glocker from the two star Gordon Ramsay at The London, New York; Alain Soliveres, of two star Taillevent, Paris and TV star chef Cornelia Poletto from Hamburg.
Between dinners, there’s a wealth of foodcentric temptations including on Corviglia, the local mountain of St. Moritz, lunch by Mathis Food Affairs (Reto Mathis he co-founded the festival) with tastings from iconic and charming cheese affineur Maitre Antony.
Unlike other food festivals where there is little to distract from the food and it’s easy to feel like a beached hippo wallowing in Michelin stars, it’s a real pleasure to work up a ravenous appetite for each dinner in St. Moritz. For a life long non-skier like myself this mostly involved picturesque walks around the lakes in deep snow. I also spent a morning with the Badrutt Palace’s esteemed ski instructors, who patiently instructed me, a snow-struck novice, in snow-walking deep in the Engadine mountains. Then there was the pool, where I swam mesmerised by glittering mountains, and an hour spent basking in the outdoor hot tub, dipping my fingers in fresh powder snow – all almost as pleasurable as, if I must, another dinner….
stmoritz-gourmetfestival.ch 28th January – 1st February 2013
badruttspalace.com