Indus, like India itself offers the visitor a rich and colorful abode full of spice and surprises. Built into a 1960’s art deco house the restaurant’s design theme echoes the northern Indian cultural heritage of the Indus Valley Civilization, dating back over 2,000 years.

Herbs and spices blend with a visual feast of oil paintings depicting historical scenes from Indian folklore. Jagged sandstone walls, antique doors, wall tapestries and giant pots with serpent nozzles create an authentic feel of the era.

Behind the restaurant is the Indus Bar and a Moghul inspired lounge boasting plush leather sofas, natural dyed colored cushions and rustic brick pillars. The predominant color is red which contrasts well with the illuminated garden pulsating under tropical vines. Here guests can relax on large cushion chairs, smoke hookah pipes and listen to crickets compete with the restaurant’s ambient sounds.

Wine from just about every corner of the globe is available, even – would you believe it – from India. A bottle of red from the Maharashtra state, not far from Mumbai, goes well with the obligatory chutney, onions and poppadoms. The wine is surprisingly good but the chutney just isn’t spicy enough. “Never mind” says my host “we have spicy chutney we save for our Indian guests”.

That an Englishman won’t like spicy food is a false assumption. The Indian meal has replaced fish and chips as our favorite dish, many a farang longs for the hot spices typically found in London and Delhi.

Sorted with some decent chutney I drop some ice into my wine and fling down a gulp to cool the buds and ready myself for the next course. Mulaiyan Shiekh Kebab – tender minced mutton barbequed on skewers and infused with garlic, onion, ginger, coriander and spices. Absolutely delicious, the mutton, all too often written off as the dead meat of sheep becomes transformed when marinated in such a way.

It’s so good I’m tempted to go another round but the choices before me are huge so I choose a dish from an untamed corner of the Himalayas. Badami Gosht: Kashmir tender lamb in almond coco milk and yoghurt spice. Not being the most commonly found meat in Thailand lamb always comes as a treat. No less so on this occasion. The yoghurt and spice add a fresh zest to the tender flesh and before I look up it’s gone.

Outside the moon is up and the garden is swelling with revelers. Besides being a popular venue for small groups and couples Indus is also popular as an events destination. Private and corporate parties are regularly held here. The second floor VIP rooms can accommodate groups of sixty with wireless internet, volume and temperature controls and spacious balconies overlooking the garden. Tonight the Indus Bar has been booked for a birthday party and many of the revelers have spilt into the garden and are disappearing behind smoke from the hookah pipes.

Back inside I cork another Indian red and work into my final course. Tandoori Tiger Prawns: nothing complicated, just perfect. Fresh barbequed tiger prawns marinated in butter, garlic and herbs. The juices get soaked up with what’s left of the Kashmir naan.

Having polished my plate the outdoor bar conjures up a myriad of cocktails too numerous to mention while a few rounds of apple tobacco from a five foot high hookah seals the night with authentic flavors.

Indus offers a broad range of fine Indian cuisine at very reasonable prices. A good choice for all you lovers of authentic Indian food – but if you do like it hot, remember to order the Indian chutney.

Published by Traversing The Orient Magazine. You want to make an online travel business? Please go to www.web.com.

Some Like It Hot!

Creating menus that evoke a “sense of place” as he puts it, is not an altogether
alien concept for the Columbian culinary artist. Born in Bogota, Chef Pardo de
Ayala started his culinary experiments at a young age in his mother’s kitchen. “My mom once asked me to help her in the kitchen, she paid me afterwards and since that moment I’ve never looked back. I fell in love with cooking and pursued the art from there on”, he says.

Inside the kitchen, Chef Pardo is in his element. “I rose fast in my career. At 24 years old, I became one of the best known chef ’s in my own country. I quickly became executive chef, which meant a lot of paper work and took me away from the kitchen. I did not like this at all. I have to be in the kitchen to explore more and learn more, thus assuring my continued evolution as a culinary artist,” he continues.

Chef Pardo de Ayala brings more than 15 years of diverse culinary experience to the resort. In 1993, when he was only 20, he became the youngest winner ever of his country’s national culinary contest, the Nestle “Toca de Oro,” and represented Columbia in gastronomic competitions at an international level.

After a few years as chef de partie in five star hotels and as Executive Chef of independent operations, Chef Pardo de Ayala traveled to New York and worked in Lespinasse, Le Bernardin, and at Restaurant Bouley, a four star Michelin restaurant famous for its delicious French style food.

In the Philippines since 1997, he opened Soleil Res­taurant in Makati and worked as head Chef of Aqua Restaurant at the Enterprise Center and at the Soleil Moderne Cafe at Greenbelt 2.

An avid and passionate teacher to his colleagues in the kitchen, Chef Pardo de Ayala strongly believes in sharing his craft and mentoring culinarians. Recently, he was awarded the Maitre Rotisseur by the Chaine des Rotisseurs. He is also an active member of Les Toques Blanches. As Corporate Chef of the Discovery Group, he is directly in charge of all the restaurants of the Discovery properties.

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David Pardo de Ayala: A Passionate Chef and Teacher

Executive Chef Armin Brandtner sees to it that Dusit Thani Ma­nila’s kitchen is anything but boring. Keeping staff on their toes with ideas on how to keep the cuisine interesting means there’s never a dull moment either in the kitchen or on the table tops.

Chef Brandtner is no stranger to the art of avante garde cui­sine. Trained as an executive chef he has toiled for 30 years in the international 5 Star Hotel Industry. His apprenticeship began in a Michelin Star restaurant. He then went to several international deluxe hotels to fully master his trade. Later
on, he changed direction by working his way through the kitchens of notable banqueting and catering operators.

Never one to shirk a challenge Chef Armin went on to work for one of the world’s greatest fine dining caterers, Gerd Kaefer. The distinguished maestro took over the Kurhaus in Wiesbaden, Germany with a Michelin Star res­taurant. After earning a certification of master of cuisine in March 1992 in Wiesbaden, Armin became an Executive Sous Chef in the Intercontinental Hotel, Berlin, cooking for up to 4000 people at a time.

With 32 years of Sourdough culinary expertise, Armin became the youngest Executive Chef of the prestigious Hotel Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof in Frankfurt, Germany. The world class hotel boasted the Michelin Star restau­rant, Francais, which was under Armin’s supervision for four years.

Besides all this Chef Armin has also independently managed two of the top restaurants in Germany for six years. Prior to his stint in the Philippines he worked in the Middle East for 5 Star hotels in both Dubai and Doha.
When asked of his guiding principle in the kitchen, Chef Brandtner is em­phatic in saying,

“I have always believed in sharing the tricks of the trade with my team. With high beliefs that at the end of the day, we share the same philosophy, and that is to greatly please the discerning palates that we serve. I also open my kitchen doors to crazy queer ideas that make all the difference in this com­petitive world. Staying ahead is the key to haute cuisine.”

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Chef Armin Brandtner’s Avant Garde Cuisine

Kai is a Japanese restaurant located at the posh Greenbelt 5 Mall and having a meal there is guaranteed to be a memo­rable culinary experience. The brains behind the restaurant’s exciting menu is Chef Gilbert Pangilinan – a hard work­ing, experienced chef and co-owner of Kai restaurant.

Before he could convince his mother to allow him to study at the Culinary Institute of America, he first had to graduate from his Entrepreneurial Management Degree. Then he had to prove to her that he was serious in pursuing a culinary career by being an apprentice at Edsa Shangri-La Hotel and at Tagaytay Highlands, (a golf resort) which was run by Chef Gene Gonzales’ group. Highlands had 22 kitchens and Gilbert worked there without pay, just to learn the ropes. After a year, his mother was convinced of his culinary ambition and packed him off to the Culinary Institute of America where he earned an associate’s degree.

When asked what was his most difficult job, he recounts his experience when he worked at the Savoy in London. “We had a restaurant and a banquet serving a thousand guests. There were 50 of us in the kitchen under a German sous chef and we worked at both the banquet and restaurant simultane­ously. When there was a function in the banquet, we’d go up to cook for the thousand guests, then come down to the restaurant again. We were in an oven room with burners in it, plat­ing the food, and a hundred waiters would come in to get them and serve them to the guests. Then there was a refrigerator room for the desserts. We were going from hot to cold (hence the toque and gloves), from the ban­quet to the restaurant in one night.”

“So I realized what our chef used to tell us was true: What you can do with one plate you can do with 2000 plates. That’s what I do now for catering, no matter how difficult, it’s feasible. It can be done.”

In New York, he worked for the prestigious and popular Nobu restaurant. Working in Nobu made him dream of opening his own restaurant, which had been at the back of his mind even while he was still studying. He came home to the Philippines and opened Sticks Japanese Bistro, a casual dining restaurant that gives classic Japanese dishes an unexpected twist. Sticks was first opened in Robinson’s Star Mall in Pampanga, then he moved it to Rob­inson’s Galleria in Ortigas. The food in Sticks Japanese Bistro was very good and very reasonably priced.

But soon after Sticks, he was approached by some restaurant entrepreneur friends and together they opened Kai at Greenbelt 2, then moved to Green belt 5, a newer more plush mall.

Gilbert claims that as much as he loves to experiment, there are some dishes you just can’t touch. Like Peking duck, “you don’t touch the sauce profiles. Even in Japanese cooking, you don’t change the teriyaki sauce. I’ve been wanting to use truffle oil for one Chinese soup, but I know it would ruin the taste, so I gave up the idea.”

Part of Chef Gilbert’s success lies in his attention to detail. During one cater­ing experience for a high end group, he and his staff called up the guests one by one and asked them to choose from the main courses. Weeks before the party, they asked the host to give them a copy of the seating arrangement. So at the party, the waiters knew exactly what to give to the guests without having to ask them. It was such a gratifying moment for him when he was introduced after the dinner and all the guests clapped and congratulated him for his menu and the excellence of his service.

Gilbert got the idea when he attended a wedding in the USA. The hotel called him and asked him to choose from the set menu. It was such a good idea, he thought, no intrusive waiters interrupting the guests who are in the midst of a conversation to ask about their choice for a main course.

Chef Gilbert is in his restaurant daily to personally cook the specialties that Kai offers daily. He comes up with new menus every so often and usually gets his ideas after a long walk which he says clears his head.

The best gauge of a good Japanese Restaurant is when you hear the Japanese themselves giving it a good rating and this is true for Chef Gilbert’s restau­rant. And the man most deserving of the restaurant’s excellent rating is Chef Gilbert Pangilinan himself.

KAI NEO RESTAURANT
Green Belt 5, Makati City, Philippines
For reservations, call: 632-7575209
fax is 632-7575210

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Master of Details

Norbert Kostner, the Head Chef at The Oriental, has learned that anything can happen when serving Thai Royalty. Take the opening party for the Sirikit Oil Fields in Tak over twenty years ago. They were preparing a buf­fet for 800, a second buffet for 200 people and a set lunch for the members of the Royal family, all of which had to be brought in on trucks.  Due to a miscommunica­tion, the trucks were two hours late.

“The flower girl was crying,” he says, shaking his head and laughing at the memory. “The Thai chef was crying. I was still smoking then, and I was smoking two cigarettes at a time. The helicopter of the Queen Mother was already coming and we were not ready at all, but we still managed.”

The trucks finally arrived, and with them a delicate swan made out of egg whites for the Queen. Chef Norbert was aghast when he caught a man nibbling on the swan. His eyes are full of mirth as he explains: “I went to him and said, ‘What are you doing? This is for her Majesty the Queen! ‘Yes, I know,’ he said, very calmly, ‘but I am the Queen’s food tester.’ Can you imagine?”  Chef Norbert asks.

No, it’s hard to imagine cooking for the world’s most elite clientele and then discussing it with such grace and humour, but then Chef Norbert has picked up a few tricks over the years.

On a busy day, Chef Norbert is responsible for feeding over two thousand people in the nine restaurants of The Oriental. In his 34-year tenure at Bangkok’s legendary hotel, which is steeped in glamour and history, he has served royalty and rock stars, presidents, literary geniuses and Hollywood glitterati. Once, armed guards insisted on escorting him to his own cooler, to fetch the appetizers for former US president Ronald Reagan’s wife, Nancy. It’s all merely a day’s work for Chef Norbert, who shrugs it all off with a self-effacing grin.

“We’ve had some important people come here,” he says, in an understatement typical of his down-to-earth demeanour. We are in the Author’s Wing, which is all that remains of the original hotel that opened in 1887. The walls are covered with black and white pho­tographs of King Chulalongkorn and early guests to The Oriental, such as Crown Prince Nicolas of Russia, who visited in 1891.

“What I tell my cooks is, do not be scared to cook for this and this person,” he continues. “At the end of the day, he’s just like us.”

Chef Norbert is full of surprises: an Italian chef with a German name and a passion for cooking Thai food. The son of a shoe-maker and a wood-carver, he now works in five-star international opulence.

He is from the Dolomites Mountains, a region that was part of Austria until the end of the First World War, when it was annexed to Italy. He refers to it as, “the Italian hill-tribes” and his bright eyes are teasing, full of laughter. Born in 1945, he grew up speaking Romansch, a language also spoken in parts of Switzerland, rather than Italian. This sense of cul­tural dislocation was one the factors leading Chef Norbert to become a cook.

“I come from a little village in the valley and me having a German name, I just wanted to see the world,” he explains. “At this time it was known that if you became a cook you could see the world, because you could work on a ship, and in different countries.”

There was also the intriguing hotel next to his school, where Chef Norbert and his friends would spy on the cooks. “Once in a while we could see a cake,” he says. His eyes gleam and you get a sense of what cake meant to those children.

A yearning to travel and the sweet promise symbolized in a cake, led Chef Norbert to drop-out of school when he was fifteen to become a chef ’s apprentice, training for three years in Italian and Austrian cuisine. He worked Switzerland for several years, including three winter seasons in St Moritz. His dream was to move to California, but in 1970 an offer to work in the newly opened Dusit Thani Hotel changed his life.

“It was a mystic place,” he says, explaining his limited im­pressions of Thailand at the time. “We didn’t know much more than rice, Queen Sirikit and King Bhumiphol, and that it was close to Vietnam.” After two months in Bangkok, his company wanted to transfer him to California, but it was too late; Chef Norbert had already been seduced by Thailand. As he puts it: “The colours, the food, the way they eat, the way they cook. I loved the pace of life. It was fun. Eve­rything was fun.” After four years at the Dusit Thani, Chef Norbert came to work at The Oriental, becoming Head Chef twenty-eight years ago.

Almost four decades, a Thai wife and two children later, Chef Norbert’s initial passion for Thailand cuisine has yet to dim. His great respect for Thai cooking comes not only from the unique combination of flavours, which he describes as having “the sweet, the sour, the salty and the spiciness, but it is all in harmony.” But also from the Thai tradition of eating together and sharing food, because “in this time of emails no one talks to each other, so it’s even more important that you at least have a conversation at the table. The table is the heart of the home.”

Chef ’s Norbert’s heart is certainly in his adopted home. Of all the famous people he’s served over the years, he unhesi­tatingly confesses that his greatest honour was preparing a banquet to celebrate King Bumiphol’s 60th anniversary on the throne. With the King and 39 Royals at the table, Chef Norbert and his team worked around the clock for the two days leading up to the event, refusing to leave anything to chance. The Oriental had just completed a state-of-the-art kitchen, but even after checking and e-checking all the equipment, Chef Norbert insisted on bringing in all his old equipment in case of an unforeseen technical difficulty.

“This is the excitement. There is a time limit and you have to do it,” he says. “If I’m sweating and dirty and tired but I see my clients are happy, I’m the happiest person in the world.”

Published by Traversing The Orient Magazine. You want to make an online travel business? Please go to www.web.com.

A Chef For All Occasions

In the 1970’s the smash hit TV show Let’s Cook with Nora opened the eyes of Filipinos to the world of food. Millions would tune in every Sunday morning, putting the Queen of Cuisine’s tips into practice and discovering a world of possibilities where once there had been mushy vegetables and crackled pork.

One  amongst  the millions  who’d stare wide eyed at the  show  would be  a  young boy
named  JA  Venturara. “She was an  icon; she uplifed food  in  the  Philippines  to  international standards with her show back  in  the 70’s.”  JA  smiles as he sips  Champaign  from  his  office above  the kitchen where his students are swifly mustering up the night’s menu.

With a fascination for cooking instilled at such a young age it’d follow that cooking school wouldn’t be  so  far  of.  “I wanted  to  study cooking  afer  I  lef  school but  in those days  there was no  cooking school in the Philippines, so I enrolled on  a  course  in hotel management.”

In the evening, while many of his friends were sat in front of the TV  or  propped  up at  a  bar  the young  JA would  be  volunteering his services as a chef’s  assistant, learning  from  seasoned  professionals, snatching  details  and noting  down their tricks and methods.

Amongst the chefs who infuenced him most were Jef Catral, Bang Ignacama and Fernando Aracama. “Tese were  the guys who  taught me  the  importance of understanding food, where it comes from and how it’s grown.” Combining his cooking skills with his qualifcations  in hotel management opened the door to a varied career.

Afer  qualifying  in  Hotel  Management he went into consultancy work before fying of to Canada in 2002 to
work in a town called Banf, Alberta, high  up  in  the  Rocky  Mountains. “Working  in  the  Rocky  Mountains was  a  great  experience. Tere was  a wide international mix in the restaurant where I was stationed so I learnt more about diferent cultures.” When I  ask  him  how  working  in  Canada differed  from working  in  the Philippines, he explains. “People were blunt, more direct. In Canada it’s OK to get mad  and  shout  at  someone  in  the kitchen  if  they  are  too  slow.  I  think it’s the same in the UK. I’ve seen your Michelin  star  chef  Gordon  Ramsey bursting  blood  vessels  and  spitting venom  in  the kitchens.  I don’t  think
he’d  be  accepted  here.”  JA  laughs, throws back another  swig of Champaign and continues.

“One  of  the  things  I  teach my  students  is  to  learn about diferent cultures  because  cuisine  is  very  much a part of  culture.  If  the  students  are interested  in studying Italian cuisine they  should  learn  about  Italian  culture. Not only where  the  food and wine comes  from but  the country’s religion, music and festivals, all these things are integral to creating the right food and the right environment.”

Banf is a beautifully located tourist town in the state of Alberta, famous for grizzly bears who linger in the woods but are rarely seen. “Unfortunately, I was too busy to spot a grizzly and afer a year I got an important phone call from the Philippines.”

The  call  was  from  San Miguel’s  head  office. During  the  few  years  since  leaving  college and fying of to Canada the young chef must have impressed a few people not only with his cooking skills but also his people skills. “I was a  little bit  shocked. Te position  they offered was  as  International Corporate Chef  for  San Miguel.”

The work  entailed  traveling  the  length of  the Philippines, developing menus  for  the diferrent branches of San Miguel. Te work was hard but what  interested  the young  chef most was traveling  around  the  country,  observing  how cultural nuances  afect  the way we  eat.  “Chinese, Malay and Spanish culture has greatly infuenced Philippine food. As you travel around the country you can taste all the diferences.”

It wasn’t long afer leaving San Miguel that the wandering chef was back on the road. With a new  project  to  open  a  Spanish  restaurant  he traveled  to Barcelona and Madrid. Again,  the importance of understanding  the culture and experiencing it frst hand took precedence over the easier option of learning from books, “Ac
tually, being in Spain meant I was able to really appreciate and understand Spanish cuisine.”

Another road trip would shortly follow, this time from Euston to Dallas absorbing the sights and favors of Alabama, Philadelphia, Maryland, Washington DC and New York. “Cajun, Hawaiian, South American – the changes in style as you travel through these places is like entering a kaleidoscope of taste and color.”

As someone who’s worked the hotels and restaurants from the far side of the US to the kitchens of  the Philippines JA  is now passing on  these experiences  to  those who will become  the country’s next generation of leading chefs. Wisdom and foundation are what JA considers fundamental toward becoming a great chef. “Wisdom comes from hands on experience, the work you do in hotels, restaurants and food companies. We’re here to take care of the foundation.”

At the Academy for International Culinary Arts students are very much thrown in at the deep end. 90% of the training is hands on in the kitchens which are bedecked with state of the art equipment.

The amicable and easy going  JA fnishes his Champaign with a broad grin. “It’s great workiing here, we have a  lot of  fun.  I  try  to  stimulate a creative atmosphere. One day each week the students will write  their name on  the board along with a  list of personal characteristics.

They’ll then create a meal that suites these characteristics. For example, if Sue is exciting and unpredictable she could create spicy fsh with a surprising twang. However, we also stimulate the pressure cooker atmosphere typically found in the kitchen environment, the type of atmosphere where people like Gordon Ramsey come into their own.”

Tonight I’m lucky enough to be dining on the students creations. A nine course meal delivered in small portions that pretty much traverse the favors of the world.

“Our aim is to provide the fnest quality of culinary training in the Philippines.” When I ask him if he believes they’re achieving that aim he replies.

“Well, you’re eating my student’s meal; you be the judge.” All I can say is; if any other school in the Philippines is producing food this good then there be my next port of call.

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Cooking With JA

As night falls, lanterns set aglow the white washed exterior of Lyon, creating a homely glow for dinners in search of tradi­tional French cuisine. The cobbled paving and lattice awn­ings surrounding this two story house adds to the impres­sion of French authenticity, but what transcends the diner is the food itself.

Upon entering, one is magnetically drawn (or at least I was) towards a walk in wine cellar to the right and a stylish bar to the left. One can enjoy an aperitif, a Martini perhaps, or a tipple of their 1982 Chateaux Margaux, at 95,000 baht an ideal choice for those who have just won the lottery; but don’t be put off, a good French or South American red starts at a reasonable 1,100 baht.

Since opening, around 12 years ago Lyon has won numerous awards for its French cuisine and has maintained a regular clientele, both Thai and none Thai who have been seduced by their cuisine par excellence. A recent renovation has revitalized the atmosphere and attracted a new clientele. The décor is conservative and unimposing. A polished mahogany brown floor blends nicely with the coffee brown tones while knowledgeable waiters dressed in bow ties and dinner suits remind the cli­ent they’re on a  special night out.

For starters, I enjoy smoked duck breast with salad while my partner tucks into the pork head pate. C’est magnifique, she attests. Having once spent a gap year as a waitress in Paris’ esteemed Le Grand Vefour, her judgment bodes well for what is to come.

Before choosing our main course the waiter fills our glasses with a fine house red and explains how and why the restaurant has aspired to create and main­tain such high standards. “The staff, they have been cooking French cuisine for the past 40 years.”

All the Thai chef ’s at Lyon began an apprenticeship at the first French res­taurant to open in Bangkok, some 40 years ago. The restaurant, located on Silom Road, was called Chez Suzanne and the proprietor was a lady called Madam Suzanne, a French diplomat who trained the teenage staff in the finer arts of French cuisine. Ever since then the chefs have focused their skills on French cuisine, working at hotels and restaurants in various parts of Thailand before settling at Lyon 12 years ago.

When the music changes from piped muzac to Edith Piaf songs my mood lifts and I opt for something quintessentially French; frogs legs sautéed with garlic and dry sherry. I have to admit, the last time I sampled frogs legs I left the restaurant dissatisfied and searching for a kebab. But everything deserves a second chance and this time round I wasn’t disappointed; the legs were rounded, tender and oozing with flavor.

Meanwhile, my partner was working her way through a creature from the deep, a grilled rock lobster skewered and glowing red. When I made an attempt at conversation she was lost in a sea of Parisian dreams.
For dessert she comes afloat with a crepe suzette, gently heated pancake with syrup. When I order an Irish coffee the waiter wheels in a trolley laden with all the ingredients and accessories needed to create the perfect tipple. A spit­toon held high, from which he leaks the whisky into the glass, setting fire to it and looping the flame with an accomplished flick of the wrist. It’s an impressive display; so impressive that I decide to order another one.

When the meal is over the waiter brings us each a complementary glass of calvados, clearing the vapors and lulling our senses before we step out into the stormy night, swaggering to the defiant tones of Edith Piaf ’s J’ne Regrette Rien.

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Chef’s Table: Lyon J’ne Regrette Rien

“I am from the Swiss canton of Berne. I had been working aboard QEII, finished my duty and headed back to Europe. I found I couldn’t settle, needed some adventure and came to Thailand in 1993 to work at the Montien Hotel. From there I moved to the New World Hotel Kowloon in Hong Kong, then came back to Thailand as Executive Chef at The Rembrandt Hotel. I found a property on Sukhumvit Soi 20 where I opened ‘Chesa’ with my business partner and renowned Swiss Chef Rene in July 2000. Chesa offers the finest Swiss cuisine and the most comfortable dining experience in Bangkok.

Chef Thomas Novak’s Signature Dishe Capuns- Swiss chard dumplings with bacon, onions and
cheese in a creamy sauce, a very traditional farmhouse dish from the Grison area of Switzerland, where almost every house will have its own version. The filling is made of flour eggs and milk , made into a gnocchi style dough. Small cubes of bread, onion, bacon and herbs are sautéed and added to the dough. It’s then cut into bullet sized pieces that are then wrapped in Swiss chard leaves. The sauce is made with a beef or chicken stock with fresh cream and just a touch of but­ter. To finish the dumplings are sprinkled with grated Sprinz, a Swiss parmesan style cheese sliced veal’s liver served with a raspberry-port wine sauce and fried onions and Roesti Potatoes.

Similar veal dishes can be found all over Switzerland but this style, cooked with sliced liver, is more typical of the Ger­man region of the country. The slices of fresh local liver are pan fried with shallots raspberry vinegars and port wine. I use rasp­berry vinegar to cut the sweetness from the port. Served with Roesti potoes.

Raspberries marinated in Framboise liquer served with Mövenpick vanilla dream ice cream
Imported fresh raspberries are marinated in Framboise a raspberry based liquer. The coulis puree is half raspberry and half strawberry. Now that Mövenpick gourmet ice cream, from Switzerland, is available in Thailand I serve a ‘vanilla dream’ with the raspberries.

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Try Something Different! Chesa: Swiss Cuisine