“Gault-Millau 2024”: These are the best restaurants in Switzerland

The Gault-Millau restaurant guide has chosen Silvio Germann as Chef of the Year 2024. The 33-year-old Lucerne succeeds Benoît Carcenat. With a very young team and a gentle hand, he created a kitchen to fall in love with in the Mammertsberg country castle on Lake Constance, “flavor bombs in the smallest space,” says the restaurant guide, which is still run by experienced gastronomes. critic Urs Heller.

Heller and his team are serving generously this year: 880 restaurants, 100 gourmet hotels and 150 Swiss winemakers are listed in the Gourmet Bible for 2024. Never before so much.

Gault-Millau awarded Silvio Germann 18 points, just like last year. The Heller team explains in the press release that they want to discover and promote talent in a timely manner, but not overwhelm them. There are only six bosses in the “19” club in Switzerland: Tanja Grandits (Basel), Peter Knogl (Basel), Franck Giovannini (Krissier), Philippe Chevrier (Satigny GE), Heiko Nieder (Zurich) and Andreas Caminada (Fürstenau GR). Silvio Germann can count the latter among his students. 20 points, the maximum number of points, have never been achieved.

These are the best restaurants with 17 or more GaultMillau points:

More exciting than the elite, however, are the chefs who are the future, those who will one day be Grandits, Caminada and Co. Young artists like Germann who have the potential to become very big.

According to Gault-Millau, you should keep an eye on Pascal Steffen from “Roots” in Basel. With his vegetable-friendly cuisine he rose from 17 to 18 points. Other “Rising Stars of the Year 2024”: Markus Stöckle from “Rosi” in Zurich (17 points), Illario Colombo Zefinetti from “Du Théâtre” in Monthey VS (17 points) and Federico Palladino from Osteria Cuntitt in Castel San Pietro TI ( 16 points).

The title ‘Discoveries of the year’ is also interesting. The “Gault-Millau” team, including Paul Cabayé and Stéphanie Zosso from “Glacier” in Grindelwald, convinced in this regard with 16 points – Zosso is one of the few female actors in this awards series. One of the most spectacular new additions to the 2024 guide is Atsushi Hiraoka from Mikuriya restaurant at the luxury Dolder Grand hotel in Zurich. The sushi artist also received 16 points.

Esteban Valle Trujillo from the “Domaine de Châteauvieux” in the Geneva wine-growing community of Satigny can take the crown of Host of the Year 2024, Stefano Petta from “Widder” in Zurich was voted Sommelier of the Year, and Damián Carini from the Bürgenstock Resort is Dessert King, Gault-Millau named him Pâtissier of the Year.

The yellow gourmet Bible is also becoming a bit greener. Finally, the trend towards a more sustainable cooking world has been responded to and a “Green Chef of the Year” has been awarded for the first time, which, according to “Gault-Millau”, can also make vegetarians happy “with confidence”.

The person who made the most impression at this premiere was Paolo Casanova, who is both a top chef and a gardener at the “Chesa Stüva Colani” in the mountain village of Madulain in Graubünden. Casanova effortlessly integrates wild herbs from the Engadine into his refined menus, Gault-Millau proclaims.

In the new 2024 guide, a total of 107 chefs are promoted, while 41 chefs have lost a point “and will probably have to disappear from the books”, reports Gault-Millau. More information at gaultmillau.ch. (aargauerzeitung.ch)