The world of Anne-Sophie Pic at Lausanne’s Hotel Beau-Rivage Palace is much more than just a restaurant. It has been a 15-year-long Swiss odyssey…fifteen years of friendships, creativity, tastes, foraging, reflection, trial and error…and success. Each step has been painstakingly mapped out in detail in her private memory-rich journals. Switzerland is one of her most beloved places, a land where she never ceases to find inspiration. Partly, this is because she is able to look back fondly at a happy childhood suffused with rich memories of family gatherings in Switzerland’s Vaud region.
Anne-Sophie Pic, recognized as the world’s most honoured female chef, is constantly in search of new awakenings, new directions. At the heart of her imagination, her memories, and her discoveries, she has fashioned a philosophy to her culinary art that is much more than a certain style of cooking. It is “totality.”
“Totality in culinary art is a modern-day phenomenon,” she explains. “It begins with aromas, senses, flavours. Then comes a succession of tiny tests, gestures, experiments. It’s a precise and fascinating alchemy as flavours subtly combine and bounce off each other, resulting in uniquely novel taste sensations.”
The setting of the new PIC Restaurant at the Beau-Rivage Palace was imagined and shaped by the chef. It epitomizes her culinary philosophy, one that underscores her delicate and bold cuisine. Her vision was transformed into reality by architect Tristan Auer: the restaurant’s design blends classic refinement with the promise of the contemporary.
Of all the gastronomic artisans in Switzerland, it is to Chef Jordan Theurrillat that Anne-Sophie Pic has entrusted her wealth of secrets. He has been at her side for more than a decade, including five years in Lausanne. Sommelier Dominique Peretti, also a veteran of Maison Pic, is in command of food pairings with the restaurant’s magnificent wine list. Finally, in the dining room, Diane Blanch, director of the Lausanne restaurant since 2021, places the Lausanne experience at the heart of Anne-Sophie Pic’s values.
On Thursday, 5th September 2024, Anne-Sophie Pic will open the doors to the latest interpretation of her presence in Lausanne, promising gastronomic experiences that complement the legendary magnificence of the Beau-Rivage Palace. It was 15 years ago that these two august institutions linked their destinies. And now they embark on a fresh new chapter combining the very best in hospitality, excellence, and savoir-faire.
