SWISS BLISS

Coucou brings French-Swiss joie de vivre to Craig Road

- SUFFIAN HAKIM

THE ACT OF OPENING a restaurant is sometimes an exploration of identity. Chefs and restaurateurs bring in their training, their heritage, their culture and their personality when they open restaurants. The food is flavoured by childhood memories and their travels. Food can be an emotional experience – the culinary is not always about what happens in the kitchen.

Coucou is an example of this. Helmed by South Korean-born, Swiss-raised Chef and Co-Founder Yves Schmid and Executive Chef Sebastien Donati, the newcomer to Craig Road is a welcome addition to our culinary landscape with its authentic Swiss cuisine informed by Schmid’s childhood and early adult life in Switzerland. On top of that, there aren’t many Swiss restaurants in Singapore – Marché obviously doesn’t count – so to have a bastion of Swiss cuisine in central Singapore rightly enriches our culinary landscape.

Furthermore, we were particularly excited to see what Schmid will bring. He has already made his mark on the fine dining scene here as the General Manager of Senso Ristorante for close to 12 years. Coucou is a much more personal project for him, a realisation of his vision. It is his experiences and his personality translated into a delicious epicurean experience.