Dining And Living Amid The Clouds

Andermatt in central Switzerland is more than a skiing area; it has a burgeoning homeownership community and a desire to become a cosmopolitan dining and lifestyle destination for everyone, including Asians.

- KENNETH SZ GOH

A dreamy mist of cherrywood smoke wafted over my plate of lush salmon belly rolled with pickled daikon and crowned with Osteria caviar. Biting into it, I surveyed the one-Michelin-starred modern kaiseki restaurant.

The Japanese by The Chedi Andermatt sits in a Swiss alpine village that’s a two-hour drive from Zurich. My focus swayed between the flavours bursting in my mouth and the view of the Alps, a white cake of thick snow.

Swiss-born chef Dietmar Sawyere prepares the omakase meal with the ease of a master. He has worked for a decade in the Asia-Pacific and even ran a restaurant in Singapore in the 1990s. Not surprisingly, his dishes are a fusion of East and West. His signature scallop sashimi is drenched in beurre blanc and topped with caviar and shiso tempura. The black cod’s unctuousness is tempered with a vinegar marinade, and a tempura lobster dusted with kanzuri spices enlivens the palate.

For maximum freshness, Sawyere’s dishes notably lack Japanese ingredients. While the menu is based on the kaiseki philosophy, which emphasises fresh and seasonal ingredients, the seafood is mainly imported from Europe. Some of the produce is locally farmed, and the Wagyu beef comes from Switzerland’s Urseren Valley.

VILLAGE DREAMS

Sawyere’s envisions the sleepy village of Andermatt as a vibrant dining destination. It already has two Michelin-starred restaurants: The Japanese by The Chedi Andermatt on Gutsch mountain and The Japanese Restaurant, a more upmarket kaiseki establishment in The Chedi Andermatt.