Chef of the Year 2007 seduces Gault Millau

Keystone

Markus Neff, who works at the Fletschhorn Hotel in Saas Fee, is the best chef in Switzerland, according to influential French restaurant guide Gault Millau.

Neff was awarded 18 out of a possible 20 points for his “seductive cooking using regional products and Mediterranean flair”.

In its Swiss edition for 2007, which lists just under 800 top restaurants, Gault Millau said Neff was following in the footsteps of his tutor Irma Dütsch, who won the title in 1994 at the same restaurant.

Gault Millau’s points are awarded strictly on the quality of the food with any comments about service, price or the atmosphere of the restaurant given separately.

Neff took over the restaurant in the canton Valais mountain village from Dütsch three years ago with two partners. In addition to knocking up award-winning food he also gives cookery courses in the restaurant’s kitchens.

Experimental

Gault Millau handed out several other awards on Monday. Swiss-French Newcomer of the Year, who also achieved 18 points, goes to Denis Martin at Le Château in Vevey in canton Vaud.

Martin bases his work on the experimental “molecular gastronomy” of Spanish superstar Ferran Adrià, head chef at El Bulli in Catalonia.

Swiss-German Newcomer of the Year, with 17 points, is Andreas Carminada at Castle Schauenstein in Fürstenau in Graubünden.

“Discoveries of the Year” are Monika Gysin, at the Hotel Belvédère in Spiez canton Bern, and Guillaume Trouillon, from Esplanade in Aubonne canton Vaud – both with 15 points.

Of the eight chefs in Switzerland currently with 19 points, six are working in restaurants in the western part of the country. The other two are cooking in Zurich and Schaffhausen.

swissinfo with agencies

Top chefs

No chefs this year joined the eight Swiss chefs with 19 points (out of 20).

They are – from western Switzerland – Gérard Rabaey (Vaud), Philippe Rochat (Vaud), Bernard Ravet (Vaud), Philippe Chevrier (Geneva), Roland Pierroz (Valais) and Didier de Courten (Valais).

The other two are Horst Petermann (Zurich) and André Jaeger (Schaffhausen).