Chef’s table, Crans Montana (VS)

From mid-March, 2009. The high luxe LeCrans Hotel and Spa, which opened two months ago in this upmarket ski resort, is inaugurating a new feature: a chef’s table, or table d’hôtes, in Nicolas Bergeat’s kitchen. It seats up to eight people.

Guests gather first in the state-of-the-art wine cellar with view of the Alps and Rhône Valley to meet Bergeat over an apéritif and tell him their food likes/dislikes, after which it’s off to the kitchen (also with panoramic views) to watch him and his team come up with a surprise, 5-course menu.

Bergeat, a Frenchman, describes his culinary style as “une cuisine bourgeoise” - traditional but “revisited”, i.e. modernized. It’s also a marriage of local terroir and Mediterranean ingredients, with an accent on seasonal market produce and fish. Line-caught sea bass with vegetables provençal style is a typical dish,  but who’s sneezing at meat dishes that include quail salad or veal with sauteed oyster mushrooms and Maxim’s potatoes.

All things considered, the price - CHF160 without beverages - is reasonable.

www.lecrans.com