Six membres des Grandes Tables de Suisse ont apprêté 2500 bouchées pour le lancement de la Garden Party.
TRAVAIL MILLIMÉTRÉ
2500, c’est le nombre d’amuse-bouches que les chefs des Grandes Tables de Suisse ont apportés ou apprêtés à Bad Ragaz. Ces dressages millimétrés sont les premières bouchées que les heureux inscrits à la Garden Party du GaultMillau ont dégustées: «Ils doivent fondre en bouche», explique Patrick Mahler du restaurant Focus du Park Hotel Vitznau. Lui, en a préparé plus de 400. Un travail de Titan qui nécessite 20 manipulations par bouchée.
TROIS ROMANDS AU TOP
La farandole des amuse-bouches des autres chefs n’ont rien à lui envier. Parmi les représentants des Grandes Tables de Suisse présents à la Garden party 2022, trois romands: Thomas Neeser (Grand Hôtel du Lac, Vevey), Pierrot Ayer (Le Pérolles, Fribourg) et Mathieu Biolaz (Les Touristes, Martigny). Et pour leur donner la réplique côté alémanique, Bernadette Lisibach (Neue Blumenau, Lömmenschwil), Ivo Adam & Florian Bettschen (Casino Bern), sont également de la partie. Bernadette Lisibach, seule femme de l’équipe, a tout apporté de son propre jardin: les tomates ont été cueillies le matin même et le quinoa vient de Thurgovie!
UN POUR TOUS, TOUS POUR UN
Les Grandes Tables de Suisse étaient déjà présentes à la Garden Party l’année dernière. C’est le président Guy Ravet qui choisit les participants: «Après la dernière fête, certains m’ont contactés pour me dire qu’ils aimeraient aussi être de la partie». Cette année, il s’agit d’un mélange de jeunes cuisiniers et de chefs expérimentés, de Romands et d’Alémaniques. Et la devise des Grandes Tables est parfaitement résumée par Ivo Adam, directeur du Casino de Berne: «Mieux vaut travailler ensemble, que les uns contre les autres. C’est ça la clé du succès».
Franck Pelux at the head of La Table du Lausanne Palace - 18 Jun 2021
Photo : @Anthony Demierre
Talented chef Franck Pelux and his friend Sarah Benahmed, who is in charge of the dining room, are used to working hand in hand and have done so for many years. In an exclusive interview, The couple talks about the inspirations of their travels and the highlights of their journey together that led them to this new adventure: La Table du Lausanne Palace. Interview.
Grandes Tables Suisses: What is your first memory of cooking?
Franck Pelux: I spent my entire childhood in the family restaurant. I literally grew up with pots and pans and it was during these moments with the family that I took my first steps in the kitchen.
GTS: Close your eyes and think of two dishes… What is the dish of your childhood?
FP: My mother’s blanquette de veau, my Proust’s madeleine.
What is your “pêché mignon” ?
FP: Chocolate, I love it!
GTS: When did you know you wanted to become a chef?
FP: I always knew that one day I would become a chef. It was always a vocation, something innate and logical for me. I never asked myself what else I wanted to do with my life.
GTS: Becoming a chef is a long road; can you tell us about five highlights of your apprenticeship phase that preceded your arrival at the Palace?
FP: We had many highlights, but if I had to choose, I would say:
Our five seasons at the Vague d’Or in St Tropez. We arrived with Chef Arnaud Donckele in a house that was booming, that was going for 3 stars. It was an incredible experience.
The opening of a restaurant in Singapore for Chef Laurent Peugeot. With Sarah, we were very young, and it was an experience that made us grow and that allowed us to discover foreign gastronomy.
Our years in China, at Temple Restaurant Beijing. It was a terribly hard experience but also incredibly full of richness, sharing and encounters.
The takeover of Le Crocodile in Strasbourg, and all the pressure that went with this adventure.
Our arrival in Lausanne.
x
GTS: What is the best advice you have received from a chef?
FP: The best advice a chef could have given me is that you should always question yourself and keep working. It’s when you think you’re good that you go backwards. Success is a daily challenge.
GTS: Who is your master thinker in terms of gastronomy and why?
FP: The chefs I worked with, Yannick Alleno and Arnaud Donckele. They imbued me with their universe, their conception of cooking and their vision of gastronomy.
GTS: You have just started at the Palace with La Table, what did you want to bring to the place?
FP: At La Table, we wanted to bring our experience and our love for this profession, while imposing our personality by creating a warm setting.
La Table is a restaurant that resembles us; simple, breaking the image that one might have of palaces. Here, we want to welcome our customers as at home.
Franck Pelux
Photo : @Anthony Demierre
GTS: If you had to describe the cuisine you prepare here in a few sentences, what would they be?
FP: It’s a local cuisine. We try to make the most of the richness of the Swiss terroir while adding our experiences, our desires, our travels, our loves, our favorites. It’s a travelling cuisine with local products.
Photo : dr
GTS: What are your favourite dishes on the menu?
FP: I don’t really have a favourite dish but if I had to name two, it would be :
Le Tourteau, souvenir of a Hong Kong alleyway because it is a dish that represents our history; and La Belle Sole Meunière de Bretagne because it is a reassuring dish.
GTS: What cuisine inspires you?
FP: The cuisine that inspires us is Asian cuisine as a whole. More particularly Japanese and Taiwanese cuisine. These are two universes that we like very much. We fell in love with this culture, the passion for the product, the perfection that they have.
GTS: You work with your partner, what is the role of each of you?
FP: With Sarah, we are lucky enough to work hand in hand. Although we each have our own universe,we are a team and we work together. Whether it’s the choice of dishes on the menu or the creation of a setting for the dining room, we do everything together.
Photo : @Anthony Demierre
GTS: How do you get your inspiration and where do you find it?
FP: Most of our inspiration comes from home, with family and friends. Inspiration can come from anywhere – mainly from our memories, our travels, and the discovery of local products and passionate artisans in the region.
Pan-fried veal fillet with morels & melting gnocchi with parsley by Franck Giovannini (Photo: @Adrian Ehrbar)
Ideally launched in the summer, this concept that combines fitness and gastronomy is likely to make more than one follower… the sports coach and former high level athlete Jérémy Peltier created “Sport X Gastronomy by JP360°Transformation”. The goal? To call upon great chefs to develop customized recipes that are easy to reproduce at home. A balanced cuisine made with seasonal foods that always keeps a gourmet aspect. No more drastic summer diets that make you want to follow them, from now on everyone can enjoy themselves while keeping their figure, but also, the sporting efforts will be rewarded and the objectives reached thanks to a food rebalancing. In order to facilitate the realization of the recipes, the founder of the company proposes to discover them online and to place an order on Tuesday before 5:00 pm in order to receive on Friday, a parcel from Manor containing the products to realize it. An accessible and fun way to cook with pleasure and without feeling guilty. We met Franck Giovannini, three-starred chef at the Hôtel de Ville in Crissier, who agreed to play the game.
Jérémy Peltier & Franck Giovannini
Grandes Tables Suisses: Where did the idea for the collaboration come from?
Franck Giovannini: I’ve known Jérémy Peltier for several years and when he told me about the project I was immediately attracted to the idea. Indeed, we have been making it a point of honor at the Crissier City Hall to offer light, gourmet dishes for several years now, emphasizing plants and seasonality. It is really a desire of the modern epicurean who wishes to enjoy himself within our establishment without having to face dishes lacking in finesse and refinement.
GTS: In terms of cuisine, you have imagined 8 different dishes. Was it difficult to design low-calorie gourmet dishes?
FG: No, we have been designing dishes without butter for several years in the restaurant, so we stayed on the same logic! The idea was to limit the calories while keeping a certain greediness, to do this we did not compromise on the quality of local products. The goal was to make each recipe appealing, complete and generous. The feedback is very positive! The other challenge was to imagine dishes that you can make at home. Obviously, the recipes require a little work behind the stove, but are totally feasible, we obviously tested them all to make this moment fun and enjoyable for everyone. I also really like the idea that Manor delivers the products related to the recipe directly to the house because it is not always easy to find all the ingredients for a recipe.
GTS: Do you have any highlights to share with us?
FG: For example, we offer a fine tart of zucchini and candied tomatoes or vegetable ravioli of peas and fava beans but also a Royal Delicacy of green asparagus. And let’s not forget the desserts, because greediness also passes through there! We propose a shortbread with the first red fruits of the season.
Medallions of langoustine delicately steamed, coraline sauce by Franck Giovannini (photo : dr)
Chef’s tip, by Ambrogio Stefanetti - 8 Jun 2021
Ambrogio Stefanetti, chef of the Vecchia Osteria Seseglio restaurant in Chiasso, excels in the art of sublimating traditional cuisine to make it exceptional. To do this, the chef tells us his tip for making trout from our lakes to perfection.
Photo : @Adrian Ehrbar
I must admit that I love lake trout and the way I prefer to cook them is very simple: after gutting them, stuffing them with herbs and salt, I grill them. For a trout weighing about 400-500 grams, calculate about 12 minutes per side. It’s delicious! Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
Traditionally in Ticino, trout is prepared in carpione, which means that it can be kept and eaten for several days.
A very classic recipe is trout al blue, which is boiled in a vegetable stock to which wine and vinegar are added. Serve it with a lemon mayonnaise: a real treat!”
