The 2016 St. Moritz Gourmet Festival “Yokoso Nippon – a cordial welcome to Japan” – from 25th to 29th January – is entirely dedicated to Japanese cuisine and its wide culinary variety. With the Japanese star chefs Hisato Nakahigashi, Masayasu Yonemura, Hiroki Yoshitake, Kei Kobayashi, Keisuke Matsushima, Tohru Nakamura, Hideki Matsuhisa and Nobu Matsuhisa as well as head sushi chef Akifumi Sakagami, a varied event programme with Far Eastern delicacies awaits gourmets for a period of one week. The kick-off event will be on nine different gourmet islands at the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains. Star chefs will serve guests the first samples of their culinary skills. The event also offers a fantastic opportunity to meet all nine guest master chefs for a personal conversation. From Tuesday onwards, one highlight will follow the next. An incomparable weekly programme comprising traditional popular and new pleasurable events with Japanese flair awaits epicures. The festival guests can look forward to a profound experience gladdening the heart and the mind at the Japanese tea ceremony on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon at the Grand Hotel Kronenhof by tea master Soyu Mukai. At the Chocolate Cult, on the afternoons in Le Grand Hall of the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel, Chef Pâtissier Stefan Gerber will create an incredible diversity of delicacies made from the finest chocolate with the most varied flavours. Furthermore, he will create pralines with a Japanese inspiration, made of the finest Sprüngli chocolate. The Gourmet Safaris guarantee Japanese delectations in an entertaining circle. The guests will go on a discovery tour to visit five guest master chefs who will spoil the participants with a several course menu at the Chef’s Table, served directly in the partner hotel kitchens. One of the midweek highlights is the traditional Kitchen Party in the canteen kitchen of the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel. To the sound of live music, and accompanied by fine champagne, wines and spirits, all the master chefs together will serve culinary delicacies as soon as they are prepared. During the Illustrious Kitchen Whispering, guest chef Akifumi Sakagami will prepare exquisite aperitif titbits with the assistance of his prominent friends, in the kitchen of the Hotel Schweizerhof. During the Japanese art of cookery and Italian art of wine event at the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz, the two-star chef
Hisato Nakahigashi from Tokyo will demonstrate the exciting relationship between his culinary ‘Tsumikusa’ (freshly picked) art and the wines of the Italian vintner Nicola Manferrari. His tiny Azienda Agricola Borgo del Tiglio in the Collio area is considered by insiders as one of the best Italian wineries. A paradise for wine lovers and epicures opens in a magical way at the hotel Waldhaus, situated above Sils-Maria: the Celestial Wines event. A very special treat is offered by the world’s best éleveur de fromages on the three evenings of the Wine & Cheese Celebration. In the vaulted wine cellar of the Hotel Steffani, the master cheese-maker Maître Antony in person will serve his ‘cérémonie de fromages’. A highly elegant evening awaits the guests at the Suvretta House for the Fascination Champagne event with Laurent- Perrier, Tours-sur-Marne (F): master chef Masayasu Yonemura from Kyoto will create a delicately coordinated menu. With High Alpine Sushi & Kaiseki Blizzards by Usagiyama, the Ryokan Hasenberg hotel guarantees high alpine Japanese pleasures at the restaurant of the pioneer of ‘Fine Mountain Dining’, Reto Mathis, on the local St. Moritz mountain Corviglia. With the chef de cuisine Akihiko Suzuki, the only Japanese master chef in Switzerland to be awarded one star by the Michelin Guide, the festival guests will be able to savour refined sushi creations from the Ryokan Hasenberg hotel, and at the same time they can enjoy the breathtaking Alpine panorama at an altitude of 2,486m. On Friday night, the Great Gourmet Finale at the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz crowns the festival week. The evening starts off with a stylish cocktail reception featuring Japanese finger food specialities. At the following gala dinner in the grand hotel’s dining room, all the guest master chefs and the local chefs de cuisine together will prepare a fantastic, multi-course menu, accompanied by fine champagne and wines. The detailed festival programme and advancde booking of event admission tickets can be found on the web site www.stmoritz-gourmetfestival.ch
(swiss-image.ch/Photo Andy Mettler)
