Anne-Sophie Pic: between lake and haute cuisine
There are addresses that command respect from the very first step. The Beau-Rivage Palace is one of them. Laid back in Ouchy like an immobile ocean liner, it looks out over Lake Geneva with the quiet assurance of a great house. Vertiginous chandeliers, hushed corridors, rooms filled with stories, a terrace suspended between water and mountains – here, everything seems to belong to another tempo. What a majestic place.
Swiss chapter
And then, at its heart, a great lady. Anne-Sophie Pic set down her knives in Lausanne several seasons ago. A rare elegance, an almost shy gentleness, and yet an indisputable gastronomic authority. The world’s most starred chef has nothing left to prove – not in France, not anywhere else. And it’s here, in one of the jewels of the Swiss hotel industry, that she has chosen to write a Swiss chapter.
Recently renovated, her eponymous restaurant is strikingly beautiful. The lines, the materials, the lighting – every detail seems to extend the sensibility of this extraordinary chef. The decor, by Tristan Auer, is designed like a jewel box: delicate, contemporary and never ostentatious. In short, just like the chef herself. At the helm, a solidly established team. Dominique Peretti orchestrates the sommellerie with precision and kindness. In the kitchen, Jordan Theurillat extends the culinary score with remarkable fidelity.
Lunch menu
We made the detour for lunch at the end of February. One of those winter days that already feel like spring. The sun was beating down on the lake, the mountains still had their snowy peaks, and the still-closed terrace seemed to be in dialogue with the landscape. The scene was almost unreal in its beauty – a perfect mirror of what was to follow on the plate.
The lunch menu, priced at 120 francs, is confoundingly accurate. You know me: I’d rather talk emotions than numbers. Yet here, the value of experience commands respect. Each dish tells the story of a controlled tension between aromatic power and delicacy. A cuisine of exactitude, almost surgical, but always guided by an obvious sensitivity.
Squid and pigeon
The ball opens with a Duttweiler Gruyère caramel bricelet, delicately seasoned with truffle. In the center, a croustade topped with cep duxelles scented with geranium rosa – the chef’s favorite plant – punctuated with roasted hazelnuts from Vaud. Under our noses, fir buds and white sesame. Next to it, a butter infused with tonka bean and wild Madagascar pepper.
Then comes the squid, which takes us to Sables-d’Olonne. Tagliatelle worked with rare delicacy to preserve its tender texture, combined with kombu seaweed that brings a subtly Asian, iodized tension. Underneath, a declension of squash at its wintry peak, a few puffed seeds for relief, and above all this vegetable juice constructed like a meat juice. The whole plays a remarkably elegant land-sea score.
Next, the Bresse pigeon is impregnated with wine lees and red vine leaf. It rests alongside endives and treviso, a slightly bitter Italian chicory, on an endive chutney seasoned with balsamic vinegar and a hint of Port. The full-bodied juice is subtly seasoned with hibiscus. Bitterness, acidity, depth: it’s all a question of balance.
Signature Pic
As we close with a dessert featuring kiwi fruit, some might say that the chef isn’t present enough behind her Lausanne stoves. Really? Her spirit inhabits every sauce, every harmony, every balance. The signature is there, and we can’t help but admire the impressive work of Jordan Theurillat, who seems to be in tune with the Valence chef’s culinary philosophy. Some places impress. Others move. Here, the two meet.
