SWISS takes off with top cuisine

SWISS will be treating its customers to fine delights from Canton Lucerne in Central Switzerland from tomorrow onwards. The menus have been created by Renee Rischmeyer, the renowned executive chef at the Park Hotel Weggis on Lake Lucerne, for the latest instalment in the airline’s “SWISS Taste of Switzerland” culinary concept for its First and Business Class passengers, and will be served aboard SWISS flights until the end of May.

SWISS offers its inflight guests a wide range of top culinary creations from some of its home country’s finest chefs under its “SWISS Taste of Switzerland” programme. Having recently featured the specialities of the Grisons in the south-east, the airline has turned to Canton Lucerne in Central Switzerland for its next inflight cuisine. The exclusive creations of leading chef Renee Rischmeyer will be served to First and Business Class passengers on intercontinental flights from Switzerland and on selected inbound flights from March 19 onwards. SWISS will also be offering delights concocted by this renowned gourmet chef to its Business Class customers on longer European flights.

Renee Rischmeyer, who is executive chef at the Annex Restaurant of the Park Hotel Weggis, near Lucerne, is in the premier league of international chefs: the restaurant has earned a Michelin star and no fewer than 15 Gault-Millau points. SWISS customers can look forward to light and aromatic gourmet cuisine that is strongly inspired by the French culinary tradition but deftly incorporates Mediterranean and Asian influences, too.

SWISS’s First Class customers will be offered amuse-bouches such as shrimp roll on sweet-and-sour mango chutney or roast lamb on crostini with tomato tartar with basil. The First Class hors d’oeuvres include zucchini roll with melon and fresh cheese mousse with mint, and marinated shrimps on an artichoke bed. For the main course Renee Rischmeyer recommends sautéed fillet of beef with parmesan crust on an Asian vegetable salad with black bean risotto. And a selection of Swiss cheeses – from the reputed “Selection Rolf Beeler”, among others – is followed by a timbale of elderflower mousse with raspberries.

These gourmet delights are accompanied throughout by a fine selection of Swiss and other wines including a Heida from Canton Valais and a Château d’Armailhac Bordeaux.

Renee Rischmeyer has devised some exquisite dishes for SWISS Business Class travellers, too. The delights here include a starter of sliced smoked duck with couscous and mango salad, a main course of sautéed fillet of beef with parmesan crust on Asian vegetables and wild garlic risotto and a dessert of chocolate mousse with passion fruit and banana.

The “SWISS Taste of Switzerland” culinary concept, which was introduced in 2002, offers SWISS customers an intriguing sample of Switzerland’s varied regional cuisines. The programme has already featured the cooking of various cantons including Vaud, Basel, Valais, Zurich, Ticino and Appenzell, and has earned the inflight catering industry’s Mercury Award for its innovative culinary approach.