A taste of Peru in the Alps
By
Kerry Smith
After a decade of cooking up a storm at the Kulm Hotel St Moritz, Claudia
Canessa has just been awarded an exceptional 16 points by the gastronomic guide, Gault & Millau, the bible of innovative cuisine. We head into the kitchen to talk piscos, passion and points.
Many years ago — decades before Peruvian chef Claudia Canessa was born — two French journalists and gastronomes, Christian Millau and Henri Gault set up a guide to rival the red Guide Michelin. Dismissing Michelin as “a telephone directory”, they declared war on “the bon vivant, that puffy personage with his napkin tucked under his chin, his lips dripping veal stock, béchamel sauce and vol-au-vent financière”.
Instead, in their search for young talent, new trends and innovative dishes, they championed a lighter style of cooking that became known as “nouvelle cuisine” — the foundation of modern gastronomy and ushered in the era of the celebrity chef.
Today, if Millau and Gault are looking down from that great restaurant in the sky, they’ll no doubt be smiling on Chef Claudia Canessa, who has just been awarded her 16th point by Guide Gault-Millau (and although chefs are awarded marks out of 20, according to the original Millau and Gault, no restaurant was perfect, and so 20 points was impossible).
“The balance in her ceviches is admirable.”
Chef Canessa is one of three world-class talents cooking at the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz (the other two being award-winning chef Mauro Colagreco and British phenomenon Tom Booton). And, as Urs Heller from GaultMillau Switzerland declared, “The heavily-tattooed Claudia Canessa has never been as good as this year. The balance in her ceviches is admirable. The tuna chicano with lemon zest and the salmon tiradito with magnificent yuzu ponzu are particularly good.”
Praise indeed, especially for a chef hired via WhatsApp in a bold move by Kulm’s general manager, Heinz Hunkeler. At the time, Peruvian cuisine was on trend in capital cities around the world, but it was a gamble bringing it to the Alps, the home of fondue and comfort food. “The Kulm is a bastion of tradition, but it is also the home of creativity and innovation,” enthuses Hunkeler. “It is always our desire to work with cultural pioneers who can help create a sense of magical escapism for our guests.” Hunkeler offered the rising Peruvian chef a residency at the Kulm’s legendary Sunny Bar (beloved by the Cresta Runners tobogganists) and the rest — as they say — is history.
“We always add a twist, to make it fun.”
After a seven-year residency at Sunny Bar, Canessa’s own restaurant Amaru opened in late 2023, showcasing her superlative cooking. Named after a mythical Incan serpent, the folksy Swiss décor reminiscent of a beautiful jewel box was created by British artist Luke Edward Hall. The only way to start a meal here is with a Pisco Sour.
One of life’s great pleasures is to watch very good cooks cook, to see things done properly and without any apparent effort — and in the kitchen, Canessa is doing just this, bringing a taste of Peru to the heart of the Swiss Alps and offering a sense of the unexpected.
“I’m proud of my Peruvian roots, and that makes me want to create the best Peruvian food,” says Canessa. “I learned my trade in the kitchens of Lima, and lots of the dishes we cook are the street food in my country. Like ceviche. In Peruvian ceviche, the raw fish is marinated with lime, chili and onions — and that’s the base. Peruvian gastronomy fascinates me, and I think the first ceviches were made by the Incas over 600 years ago.” Even given this history, Canessa is not a purist. “In a Mexican ceviche, you’d add tomatoes and avocado. Our chef Iker’s from Mexico. He’s a Mexican cooking machine. I love him. We mix and match our Latin American foods: they go really well together. We always add a twist, to make it fun.” As Iker adds, “Claudia can mix sweet, sour and salty flavours. And not many people can do that really well.”
For her ceviche, Claudia imports the freshest, most translucent sea bass from the Milan fish market daily. This is a kitchen where the dial is unapologetically turned up to the max: maximum flavour and maximum creativity — and in a time when food is compassed with puritanical diktats, Canessa’s joyous epicureanism is more appealing than ever. “I started in the kitchen with my grandma when I was eight. For me, a kitchen is the place I feel at peace. I can share what I love with everybody. My kitchens are peace and love.”
Canessa admits that her way of working is not usual. “I often have my menus worked out for the season ahead in my mind, and I’ll write them up without testing everything. Before I start cooking, I know what flavours taste good together. From there, I’ll elaborate and introduce small changes, but the base is there.”
Back in the restaurant, it’s full of diners putting their trust in Canessa’s expert palate and surrendering to the allure of chicken pepian empanadas with chalaca sauce, botija and shiso mayo and torched salmon and red prawns with TNT sauce, gari and guacamole, so delicious they’ll be salivating at the memory for weeks to come. Innovative, luscious-looking and deliciously different. Messrs Millau and Mr Gault would be proud.
About the author
Kerry Smith is the former Editor-at-Large at British Airways’ High Life. Before that, she built her career across a flight of British magazines, including Marie Claire, Glamour, The London Evening Standard and The Independent. Today, she works as a freelance editor — when she’s not happily tucked away in a Peruvian restaurant in a Swiss Alps resort town.