From June 4th to 6th 2010, students from the Culinary Arts Academy of “César Ritz” Colleges invited the local community to “Savourez le Monde” (Taste the world) with a unique restaurant event as part of their final exam, with all the proceeds going to a local charity “Terre des Hommes”.

Temporary or “pop-up” restaurants have become very fashionable across Europe and so when the opportunity arose to run an event here on the Bouveret campus the students jumped at the chance to showcase their skills!

A real team effort
Students from the second year of the Culinary Arts Academy provided the culinary direction and delivered a gourmet menu, combining cuisines from Mexico, Africa and Asia. Whilst students from the Higher Diploma and Bachelor programmes were on hand to ensure a high level of service was maintained throughout the three-day event.

Fully booked restaurant
This event was a fantastic platform for students to demonstrate their skills learned since they started their courses at the Culinary Arts Academy and the perfect occasion for the local community to experience the “César Ritz” dining room. The event was very successful, with all the tables booked out in advance for the three day of opening. In total over 180 people accepted the invitation and experienced some delicious dishes such as Springbok skewers, Mexican Cerviche and Indian Tikka Masala dishes. The blending of flavours and the touch of exoticism definitely delighted the local community.

Culinary Arts Academy Executive Chef, Alain Müller, was honored to be part of the jury of HUG’s 7th annual challenge “Tartelettes Phantasia”.

Along with other well known chefs such as Chef Oskar Marti and Chef René-François Maeder, Alain Müller travelled to Lucerne, where HUG, the famous high-quality pastry company organized the 7th edition of “Tartelettes Phantasia”. This year was Chef Müller’s sixth participation in the competition’s jury.

On his way to Lucerne, Chef Müller had the privilege to spend time with The Swiss Culinary National Team, savoring the cuisine of Friedrich Zemanek, team captain.

“Tartelettes Phantasia” is a competition aiming to bring out the chef’s creative potential. The chefs are challenged to find the best creation and the most decorative gastronomic plate presentation. The competition is looking for the magic talent to convert a dish into an innovative appetizer and a dessert plate! The competition is divided into two categories: apprentice and professional chefs.

The winners of both categories (apprentices and professionals) received the opportunity to travel to Florida for 10 days to the Notter School of Pastry Arts to experience Chef Ewald Notter’s creativity. Chef Notter is a former culinary Olympic gold medalist and world champion. He was also awarded the title of Pastry Chef of the Year in 2000.

Official HUG website >>

Foundation Degree leading to Bachelor Degree in Culinary Arts to be launched in October.

After many months of planning the Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland (CAA) will launch a Foundation degree in Culinary Arts validated by Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) in the UK. This qualification will lead directly to a Bachelor of Arts degree (Hons) in Hospitality Management with Culinary Arts. The validation committee from MMU visited the CAA, on the Bouveret campus of “César Ritz” Colleges (CRCS), in the last week of May and were very impressed with the facilities available to the students. The committee felt the programme for the students had an excellent balance between professional and academic development and were amazed at the very high level of culinary expertise displayed by the students within the programme. The committee also made a special note of the great dedication displayed by the highly qualified and experienced staff and commented very positively on the strong links with industry which the college maintains and the very strong links with the alumni through more than 30 active chapters.

The first intake for the Foundation Degree in Culinary Arts will commence in the Fall Term starting on October 4. Students who successfully complete the programme will continue to receive the Higher Diploma in Culinary Studies as well as the Foundation Degree validated by MMU.

Our second year Culinary Arts Academy students recently had the pleasure of learning with famous Swiss pastry chef and chocolatier, Denis P. Martig, just one of our renowned industry professionals who consult to “César Ritz” Colleges and the academy on a regular basis.

In-depth demonstrations and chocolatier theory were followed by the students getting some real hands-on experience of making chocolate confectionary in the form of truffles, tempering, molding Easter egg creations and chocolate house construction. They simply sound too good to eat!

During Chef Martigs career he has prepared deserts and wedding cakes for the rich and famous, if you would like to find out more about his fascinating career and celebrity clients check out his website:

www.chefdenismartig.com

Javier Muñoz Calero, graduated in 2000 from the “César Ritz” Hotel Management Programme in Le Bouveret, before following his passion for cooking with the Cordon Bleu School in Paris. Recently appearing in several Spanish magazines, Javier has become a bit of a Celebrity Chef.

After having been very successful in the Belaunde 22 tapas restaurant, he opened in February a very special restaurant, the t.a.r.t.a.n. (yes, a very Scottish interior) which quickly became one of the most fashionable places in Madrid. A journalist from the “Critica Madrid Comer” named it a “Ver y ser Visto” place where people meet to see and to be seen. Javier also features in magazines like Harpers etc. as well as on TV, where he demonstrates his favorite recipes.

“My time at “César Ritz” Colleges taught me a lot about living with people from different nationalities, learn and accept different points of views, and to become sensitive for the values of details. The awareness of details was a real eye opener, especially in our service course, where we experienced what effect a small difference can make.”
Javier Muñoz Calero

www.unrestaurantellamadotartan.es

So you are passionate about food, but do you want to photograph everything you eat? Alex Lee a former student of “César Ritz” Colleges obviously felt the need to document his diet! Find out more about this curious new phenomenon in a recent New York Times article…

More on the New York Times article >>

Recently, Chef Alain Müller, Culinary Arts Academy Executive Chef, was invited to participate in a series of events at Oklahoma State University (OSU), known as the Distinguished Chef Series Event. This event brings top Chefs to campus, allowing OSU students and faculty to work hand in hand with the Chefs who share their skills with them. Hosted by OSU’s School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration College, this popular event celebrates this year its 18th edition, inviting each year Chefs and restaurant owners that have made significant contributions to their profession. Chef Müller worked with Chef Philippe Garmy and the students to produce a gala dinner for about 240 guests for this event. The event was a great success, receiving a long standing ovation!

Tasting for the cause
While at Oklahoma State University, Chef Müller was asked to be part of the expert jury in the second edition of the prestigious “Cochon 555” event held on campus. “Cochon 555” stands for 5 Chefs, 5 pigs and 5 winemakers and is an event traveling through 11 cities in the United States, promoting heritage breed pig diversity by inviting five top Chefs to prepare their own interpretation of a heritage breed pig. Chefs also had to prepare a sweet dessert made of heritage breed pig. One inspiration even included chocolate with crisp bacon! Chef’s preparations were then noted by the panel of guests and professional judges based on criterions such as utilization, presentation and overall best flavour. In total, each judge ate about 1 kilogram of delicious meat!

Heritage breed pigs are known for their rich and hearty taste, distinct marbling, bacon flavours and creamy fat.

And the winner is…
Chef Scott Romano of Charlie Palmer at the Joule in Dallas, TX prepared a Wiener schnitzel with spätzli to win the competition and was awarded the title of “Prince of Porc”. This competition however remains friendly as it was created for a cause: Saving rare breeds. Chef Scott Romano will therefore join all the other winning Chefs from around the country to participate in the Grand Cochon final on 20 June 2010 in Aspen, Colorado.

While at Oklahoma State University, Chef Müller confirmed that a group of students from different universities including OSU will once again come to “César Ritz” Colleges in Le Bouveret in June for a European summer experience. This summer experience includes practical kitchen and wine classes, demonstrations and industry visits.

More on the Distinguished Chef Series Event >>

More on the “Cochon 555” >>

On 13 March 2010, three 2nd year Culinary Arts students together with 13 “César Ritz” Hotel Management students took a field trip into the darkness at Blindekuh in Basel, in the German part of Switzerland.

Blindekuh is a restaurant concept that launched in 1998 to promote the culture of blindness, and mutual understanding between sighted and the blind people.

The familiar becomes the unknown
There was nothing dark about the reception at Blindekuh. Led by our lovely waitress, whom we were informed is blind, we past a thick black curtain and officially entered the dining room. We were unable to see anything. Initial feelings included, claustrophobia, anxiety and fear. We were experiencing something we had never experienced before.

Once we were led to our table, we were shown with our hands where our cutlery and water glasses were so we were able to self-orientate. In order to make the experience more special and exciting, all of us decided to order the surprise menu, which included a three-course menu that was only revealed to us at the end of the meal.

Sensory evaluation
In a regular restaurant, we eat with our sight before we taste with our palates. We know when the food is arriving because we see it. In Blindekuh, we knew the food was coming because our other senses started working over time. The smell of food arriving was the start of the lengthy discussion over the two-hour dinner about what we were eating.

Finally, the menu was revealed to us. Many of us were pleased that we guessed the right ingredients and others rolling in laughter of the ridiculously off track dishes we thought it was. Was the food fantastic? It was good. How was the experience? It was priceless. Is it a place to visit again? Definitely!!

Michelle Lee (Singapore), 2nd year Culinary Arts student

Executive Chef Alain Müller of the Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland will act as guest chef at the April event of the Distinguished Chef Scholarship Benefit Series which will take place at the Oklahoma State University in the USA.

The Distinguished Chef Series Benefit is an educational component for the students of the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration at the Oklahoma State University. Chefs and restaurant owners who have made significant contributions to their profession are invited to the campus to share their skills with the students for their professional development.

On 8 April 2010 Chef Müller will manage the banquet for 250 guests and assist the Oklahoma State University culinary students in preparing the menu for this event.

The Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland together with the Institut Hôtelier “César Ritz” in Le Bouveret has a strong link with the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration at the Oklahoma State University. As part of their summer programme, students from the USA come to the Institut Hôtelier “César Ritz” in Switzerland to participate in specially designed culinary workshops and visit artisan suppliers.

Event's webpage >>

Dining at the Chefs table has become extremely fashionable, it’s a unique dining experience where VIP guests are seated at a table, located in the kitchen of a restaurant. The guests are served a themed tasting menu prepared and served by the head chef. Guests are encouraged to interact with the chef and discover the hidden secrets of the cuisine world.

The Chefs Table is an innovative addition to the syllabus for second year students at the Culinary Arts Academy, it integrates many different skills from preparing the themed tasting menus, right through to being the head chef for each event and managing a team of sous chefs. The Chefs Table forms an important part of the content for the International Cuisine, Classical to Fusion course for students on the Higher Diploma in Culinary Studies. So far this term these promising young chefs have discovered and presented cuisine from Latin America, North America , Africa and Asia.

A truly global gastronomic experience!

Every Wednesday and Thursday the Culinary Arts Students get to practice their fine dining skills on staff and students at the Le Bouveret Lake Geneva campus. It’s a fantastic opportunity for these budding chefs to gain real experience in creating exciting menus and preparing dishes under tight time constraints with hungry guests waiting!

Students are briefed to create a balanced and nutritional menu which consists of freshly baked bread, a starter, main course and dessert. And that’s not all… at the end of each dining experience the guests complete a questionnaire evaluating each dish on its taste, colour, presentation, temperature and portion size. It is this practical application of skills learnt in the demonstration and Escoffier kitchens that highlights the true benefits of the Culinary Arts Academy programmes.

Make sure your reserve a table for your next visit to Le Bouveret!

On 27th November the Culinary Arts Academy hosted a fund-raising gala dinner for the members of the Association Chablais Gourmands.

The Association promotes local products and facilitates direct sale from the producer to the consumer. The 109 guests, members of the Chablais Gourmands and guests from Port-Valais enjoyed a five-course-menu prepared by Chef Müller, his team and the Culinary Arts students.

The food and wines were carefully selected from a range of products available through the Chablais Gourmands members. A wonderful evening was had by all thanks to the skills of the Chefs and their students who clearly demonstrated excellence with passion.

As part of the Culinary Arts Academy curriculum the students visited the Igeho Fair in Basel, accompanied by their instructors. This is an important event on the hospitality sector calendar.

Platform for the Professional Caterer
Taking place every two years, Igeho is an international exhibition for hotels, catering and extra-domestic consumption and this year it was held at the Messe Basel from 21 to 25 November 2009. This event is the largest and most important exhibition for the hotel and catering industry in Switzerland and its neighbouring countries.

The fair presents the latest in restaurant and catering equipment, it also features Swiss and European food products as well as wine tasting opportunities. This year, the focus was on organic, fair trade and regional products for the catering sector.

“The fair was wonderful. I saw the next generation of environmentally friendly kitchen equipment, I also learned more about all the different kinds of knives available.”
Michaela Stocker (Switzerland), 1st term Culinary Arts student

Project Preparation
Further to this visit each of the 1st term students on the “Product Knowledge & Food Handling” course prepared a project about a food product which drew their interest at the fair, whilst the 2nd term students on the “Introduction to Kitchen Management” course, prepared projects on how to plan the layout of a kitchen.

www.igeho.ch

November was a big month for the Culinary Arts Academy, so on 20th November we decided to celebrate the new promotion right here in Bouveret.

The aim of the day was to communicate the new Culinary Arts message to both staff and students, in a fun and creative way. Both staff and students enjoyed the chance to see what the college is promoting, with the movie teaser playing in the reception and César lounge and plenty of brochures and hot chilli decorations to spice up day.

A dedicated team from housekeeping made fantastic decorations and put together a great display of culinary materials. Events like this demonstrate how we live our some of our core values of teamwork, effective communication and respect for others. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone involved for their hard work.

During our summer vacation to Wyoming and South Dakota, my wife and I made a short stop over at the Amangani Resort in Jackson Hole to visit a Culinary Arts Academy graduate, Julio Galo, from El Salvador. Julio is currently working as “Chef de partie” at this secluded, luxury resort.

Mr. Stuart Campbell, GM of the resort attended the 2008 “César Ritz” Colleges Career fair held at UCCR and I attended his presentation. The Aman resorts have about 15 exclusive properties around the world catering for the most discerning clientele.

Julio is excited about his job, acknowledges that he still has a lot to learn, but would like to pursue his career as a chef within the Aman resorts.

Unfortunately the GM, Mr. Campbell, was out of town, but I am sure we will meet again at a career fair at the University Centre “César Ritz” in the near future.

A look at the website www.amanresorts.com will make you dream of the most exclusive Boutique hotels, located in the most impressive natural settings. The dream to be of service to guests appreciating beauty and luxury.

The Amangani Resort is located near Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, a 10 hours drive from Denver!

This event celebrated the promotion and going away party of Mr. Eric Barberet-Girardin, General Manager of Aquaparc in Bouveret.

He has been appointed General Manager of two theme parks in Alsace: Le Bioscope and L’Ecomusée. In 2003, Grevin & Cie bought Aquaparc and had appointed Mr Barberet-Girardin as GM. He was previously General Manager at Chateau Valencay, a castle-themed park in France's Loire Valley region.

Participants to the event included staff members and local partners. Mr. Claude Roch, Conseiller d’Etat, Department de l’Education, la Culture et le Sport represented the State authorities. Aquaparc welcomes approximately 300’000 visitors a year since 1999.

>> More on Mr Fournier's blog

What a wonderful world where you can dip your finger into a cookies preparation and taste it. Kids from Vouvry experienced the Culinary Arts Academy for a day with two of our Chefs. Will this kids become famous Chefs around the world? Culinary Arts Academy gave them the first impulsion…

As we arrived, we were greeted by the chef, Martial Breandle, who then took us on a tour of the establishment. We began in the kitchen, where his brigade was hard at work preparing the dishes for the evening's menu. Mr Breandle explained that everything is prepared "à la minute", using the freshest produce on the market. We continued our tour by visiting one of his four wine cellars which date back to the 1400s.

To take part in this typical swiss meal, we had to walk for a while in the beautiful winter scenery of Switzerland. What satisfaction when we could finally sit down in the chalet!

We were able to discover how Chocolats Villars create their specialties. Of the cocoa bean through roasting, we followed all the steps.

We know now part of a well kept secret, the Swiss Chocolate!