Gault Millau “Chef of the Year 2025” works in Ascona

We could only guess the sensation: when Gault-Millau announces the location of the official awards ceremony a few weeks before the announcement of its grades, asking for the greatest discretion, those in the know know that someone will be honored there. . This time we were invited to Ascona, where the three highest paid restaurants in Ticino are located: 18 points are recorded by the best restaurants of the five-star hotels “Eden Roc”, “Giardino”, whose chef Rolf Fliegauf will soon be named returning to his native Germany after 18 years, and “Castello del Brine”.

The prayer was – Tush! – to the noble “Eden Roc”, whose “La Brezza” is managed by Marco Campanella, 32 years old, son of a German innkeeper of Italian origin, who arrived in Switzerland twelve years ago. He achieved the feat of holding two Michelin stars and 18 Gault-Millau points in two regions of the country – notably in the partner hotel “Tschuggen Grand” in Arosa, his workplace in winter.

The search for superstars

And now Campanella is not only proclaimed “Swiss Chef of the Year 2025”, as the invitation suggested, but has also been upgraded to 19 points in Ascona. This is a historic moment for Ticino, as it is the first time that a person has reached the highest honor in the country (the maximum score of 20 is considered unattainable in almost all countries).

The scandalously masculine elite of the local industry will therefore meet on Monday on the pier and in the garden of Eden Roc, on the edge of the lake, to celebrate the “Chef of the year” alongside others who, , knew nothing about the local industry. 19th point until the end should have. The somewhat dated hotel is currently undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation and therefore currently only welcomes guests to the “Marina Restaurant”, including during the awards ceremony.

Urs Heller, head of Gault-Millau Switzerland, part of the Ringier group, praises Campanella’s “incredible sauces” and his virtuosity in creating vegan alternatives, among other things. Heller says they have been searching for “the next Swiss superstar” for five years, suggesting that young stars are also being created as part of their own marketing machine.

But that shouldn’t diminish the accomplishments of Campanella and his wife Nicole Schneider, who serves as host. His “Finger Food Collection” is almost legendary – little treasures that can easily be picked without cutlery – for example, he puts eel in Coca-Cola and is a big fan of ravioli. When Gault-Millau named him “Rising Star of the Year” in Ticino last year, the evaluators praised his “limitless work” in addition to his genius. Perhaps also to remind Generation Z that success belongs to no one.

The award not only honors the friendly chef, who carries his little daughter in his arms and holds back tears as he accepts it. She also ennobles her team – and an entire canton. A place of nostalgia for many German-speaking Swiss, this place perhaps owes its charm to wonderful risottos and charming grotti which, with the exception of a few noble variations, seek neither points nor stars. As a magnet for well-heeled guests, Ticino also offers attractive high-end gastronomy; With a slightly smaller population than the city of Zurich, it still has the same number of restaurants at the 16 point level. Of course, it’s not the measure of everything, but it is some indication of the creativity and sophistication of a region’s cuisine.

The Osteria dell’ Enoteca in Losone, already praised this year in the NZZ restaurant magazine “Tisch oder Theke”, is moving to the 16 points region, where Jacopo Rovetini in the kitchen and the host couple are doing an excellent job . job. After a visit, it seems less obvious to us that the “Principe Leopoldo” in Lugano is just as well rated. We are pleased to note that Gault-Millau has now discovered the cuisine of Ticinese Joao Antunes in the “Villa Emden” in Brissago, characterized by the magnificent island garden, and even qualifies it as “Discovery of the Year” . “. Perhaps next year the testers will also discover the “Osteria Bisnona” in Contone, where Kira Ghidoni and her team impress with contemporary regional cuisine.

A star rises over Schaffhausen

As for the awards in the rest of Switzerland, it’s a bit like the recent World Cycling Championships in Zurich: there are now so many categories that you quickly lose track. The circle of the country’s highest paid chefs, who once again form a septet with Marco Campanella, is still manageable: Franck Giovannini in Crissier (VD), Tanja Grandits and Peter Knogl in Basel, Heiko Nieder in Zurich, Andreas Caminada in Fürstenau ( GR) and Philippe Chevrier in Satigny (GE). The day before the awards ceremony, they traditionally gathered around a table to be cooked by the “Chef of the Year” at his workplace. His performance was met with unanimous enthusiasm, Heller said in a personal interview. And Caminada, where Campanella worked and learned ten years ago, confirms this.

42 patterns have been downgraded by at least one point in the new edition, on sale this week, but around a hundred have also been improved. Among the 880 addresses listed, there are almost 100 new ones, such as “The Counter” at Zurich main station, attached to the “Brasserie Süd”. Mitja Birlo, who moved from Vals to Limmat last year, comes with 18 points. For Winterthur, a little darker in terms of gastronomy, Alexander Bindig finally scores 16 points in the formidable “Trübli”, and Michael Dobler scores 15 points in “Rosa Pulver”.

Two newly designed hotel restaurants in Zurich also received 15 points and caused a sensation in the city: the “Marguita”, with which the “Baur au Lac” effectively says goodbye to gastronomy, and the “Savoy Brasserie & Bar » from “Mandarin Oriental”, which did not do well in our review this spring. The gourmet restaurant of the house on Paradeplatz, the “Orsini”, with an Italian vocation, obtains only one point more.

In any case, the “Mandarin Oriental” chain seems to be one of Gault-Millau’s favorites: the “Savoy” is named “Hotel of the Year” and its Lucerne counterpart, chef Gilad Peled, received 17 points, the highest score ever awarded. to the city of lights. Dominik Hartmann deservedly wins one point higher; Its vegan “Magdalena” in Rickenbach, Switzerland, can also delight meat lovers like the author of these lines, as shown in the NZZ restaurant review from last October.

The important title of “Host of the Year” goes to Ines Triebenbacher from the “Igniv” branch in Zurich. Finally, the readership is not deprived of a star which seems to rise above the Munot: on the national border opposite Ticino, in the “Sommerlust” of Schaffhausen, the Gault-Millau finds its “Discoveries of the German-Swiss ‘year’. They are Dan Rodriguez-Zaugg and Alejandro Perez Polo, who previously worked together in Barcelona at “Disfrutar”, one of the highest paid restaurants in the world.