A dreamy mist of cherrywood smoke wafts over a plate of plush salmon belly rolled with pickled daikon and crowned with Osteria caviar. I took a delicate bite and looked around at the one-Michelin-starred modern Kaiseki restaurant, The Japanese by Chedi Andermatt, perched 2,300 metres above sea level in the Andermatt. The alpine village nestled in the Swiss Alps in central Switzerland is a two-hour drive from Zurich. It is difficult to focus on the food when the restaurant also serves mesmerising views of the Swiss Alps caked in a thick layer of pristine white snow.
The exquisite omakase meal, whipped up by Swiss-born chef Dietmar Sawyere, who ran a restaurant in Singapore in the 1990s, continues with his signature scallop sashimi drenched in beurre blanc sauce dotted with caviar topped with a shiso tempura, a voluptuous black cod marinated in red and white vinegar, and tempura lobster dusted in kanzuri spices that gently envelopes the mouth in piquant heat.
Related: Andermatt: winter wonderland and hub for classical music
Swayere is hopeful that Andermatt can become a vibrant dining destination. The sleepy village is home to two restaurants with one Michelin star each, both helmed by Sawyere, who is the executive chef of luxury hotel The Chedi Andermatt. It runs The Japanese by The Chedi Andermatt on Gutsch mountain, and The Japanese, which is a more upmarket kaiseki restaurant housed in the hotel.
Tradition isn’t what Sawyere is after — his cuisine comprises imported seafood, mainly from Europe, and locally-grown produce, such as wagyu farmed in the Urseren Valley, which makes up for the absence of Japanese ingredients. His dishes also incorporate Western touches, with dishes like wagyu tartare topped with Perigord black truffles.
One of the idiosyncratic challenges of running a restaurant at such a high altitude is figuring out the right temperature to cook rice (water boils faster in the mountains), and ferrying ingredients and cooking ware in gondolas.
The 59-year-old, who spent around a decade working in Asia-Pacific, says with a chuckle: “Moving back here has allowed me to be closer to the lifestyle that I grew up with. I can squeeze in a skiing session after lunch service and ski down to the hotel.”
Skiing is what most people would associate Andermatt with. After all, it is part of the popular Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis route that spans more than 180 km across mountains that soar up to 3,000 metres. Many have plied the route during the winter ski season, which is from October to May, with activities such as snowboarding and snowshoe trekking.
Skiing is what most people would associate Andermatt with. After all, it is part of the popular Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis ski area that spans more than 180 km across mountains, which soar up to 3,000 metres above sea level at Gemsstock.
Besides being a ski destination, Andermatt is getting a second wind as a lifestyle destination as it sheds its stodgy past as a military outpost for over a century. Up till the early 2000s, the village was largely occupied by garrisons. The village faded into oblivion after the Swiss army shut down most of its operations from the end of the Cold War. That is until Egyptian real estate tycoon Samih Sawiris, the former chairman of Orascom Development Holding, was invited in 2005 by Swiss authorities to revitalise Andermatt into a year-round tourist hotspot.
After two years of negotiations, local residents voted in favour of the construction of Andermatt Reuss, a 46,000 square-metre enclave of apartments, chalets, hotels, a concert hall and an 18-hole golf course. The development kicked off with the opening of The Chedi Andermatt in 2013. More than 1.3 billion Swiss Francs (S$1.8 billion) has been pumped into the development in a bid to make it on par with other well-known skiing hotspots such as Zermatt and St. Moritz.
Currently, the Andermatt Reuss enclave is home to 19 apartment blocks, or about 600 units, which are linked by a gargantuan underground carpark. The apartments are mainly occupied by Swiss residents, who use them as holiday homes. About 20 percent of the buyers are from Asia, with most of them from Singapore, says property developer Andermatt Swiss Alps.
The precinct is 40 percent completed, with 10 new apartment blocks in the pipeline. Nightlife spot Cotton Club, which has outposts in Ibiza and Mallorca, will launch in December and a shopping street filled with fashion shops and restaurants will open by next year.
These plans are a much-welcomed boost to dining options in Andermatt. During a recent wintry sojourn, my belly was packed warm with a diverse array of Swiss and Asian cuisines — a nod to Andermatt’s cosmopolitan aspirations. Besides Swiss cuisine, the restaurants also serve dishes from Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Thai cuisines.
The Restaurant in The Chedi Andermatt, which has four open-concept kitchen studios, is a bright spot in the village’s culinary offerings. Following the hotel’s Alpine-Asian theme, the menu is organised by key ingredients, each with Swiss/Western and Asian options. The latter include char kway teow, yam nuea (Thai beef salad) and chicken biryani.
Craving for a Swiss touch, I put away my craving for Asian food and order a Swiss entrecote steak, which arrives juicy and well-marbled. The main is accompanied by Jerusalem artichoke, watercress and carrots, and chewy sweet potato gnocchi. My dining companion orders a black pepper beef fried rice, which has a beautiful wok hei. I am envious.
A typical Swiss meal comprises cheese, and this practice is amplified with The Restaurant’s cheese room. The two-storey-tall room is extravagantly filled with over 50 cheeses from across Europe, complete with a “cheese sommelier”, who introduces the cheeses. My favourites include the thinly-shaved belper knolle alt, which has herbal and garlic-like flavours and appenzeller d’alpage extra, an aged hard cheese with fruity and tangy flavours.
Cheese is also the highlight at Restaurant Sonne, a rustic hotel-restaurant in Andermatt’s old town, which serves the winter dish of cheese fondue. My dining companions and I huddle around the pot of velvety melted Alpine cheese and dip the bread cubes into the molten creamy mixture. A sprinkle of black pepper gives the cheese-coated bread a surprisingly meaty flavour. As a finale, a waiter scraps the bottom of the almost-empty pot with a spatula. The golden-brown crust, which is affectionately called “the grandmother”, is warm, gooey and reminiscent of cheese toasties.
The skiing experience starts with a glorious gondola ride up to the mountains. On my way to Nätschen station (1,845 metres above sea level), I am enthralled by the panoramic view of the entire Andermatt village blanketed in snow against the backdrop of the undulating snow-capped mountains.
After a strenuous morning of skiing, I tuck into a hearty meal at Alp-Hittä, which serves dishes such as Gotthard macaroni tossed in melted mountain cheese and roasted onion, and served with apple sauce, and rostiflade (rosti pizza), a pizza version of fried potato cake that glistens with smoked bacon, caramelised onions and tomatoes.
For a tipple-happy end to the skiing session, I hop on the Après-Ski Train, which runs from Andermatt to Disentis and back. Aperitifs such as an Aperol Spritz, champagne and mulled wine are much-welcomed sights, coupled with a cheerful bartender. Amid the convivial chatter, I take in the magical views of frozen lakes and snow-lined valleys from the cabin’s rooftop windows as the train meanders through the snowy tracks.
Aperitifs such as an Aperol Spritz, champagne and mulled wine are a much-welcomed sight after a trying day of skiing (for beginners, especially). The cabin, which is fitted out like a bar, has a long counter against a backdrop of a shelf adorned with bottles of spirits and wine, complete with a bartender.
Amid the convivial chatter and cheerful pop music, I take in the magical views of frozen lakes and snow-lined valleys from the cabin and rooftop windows as the train meander through the snowy tracks. The Apres-Ski Train, which is the only one in Switzerland, will end its run permanently on 17 April.
Other restaurants on my gourmet trail in Andermatt include Restaurant Biselli, which serves creative Swiss-Italian dishes. Dishes include palm-sized ravioli filled with meat and springy lobster tagliolini with brisket sauce. Restaurant Spun in the Radisson Blu Andermatt offers a variety of local produce in its dishes such as a trio of pork belly, cheeks and fillet from herb-fed pigs from Eastern Switzerland, and chicken from Alpstein.
On my last day in Andermatt, I chat with a 70-year-old shop owner in the old town, who is optimistic about the village’s urbanisation plans. She says: “Tourism has long existed in Andermatt as it is a historic intersection point in our country. Though I prefer the old part of town where I have lived for 50 years, the new development has brought in many well-heeled tourists from all over the world. It is an exciting time.”
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