Proceeding with their set of collaboration dinners “The World comes to Geneva” fast rising 1*Michelin La Bottega now invites the fifth chef.
This time the Danish but super French-cooking chef Ulrik Jepsen – a new star shining bright in Oslo with haute fine dining establishment Restaurant À L’aise.
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F L A S H B A C K
As a part of the dinner series, La Bottega this February created a highly inventive collaboration dinner featuring Russian culinary pioneer and storyteller Igor Grisheckhin of CoCoCo in Saint Petersburg.
This was the fourth collaboration dinner in a series that began when the Peruvian superstar chef Diego Muñoz travelled to Geneva to cook, followed by culinary enigma Atsushi Tanaka of A T. in Paris as well as Matt Lambert of The Musket Room in New York City.
View impressions and dishes of the recent Italian-Russian dinner at here at French-written super blog; Le Dos de la Fourchette.
Igor Grisheckhin & Fernando Forino at La Bottega.
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On Tuesday March 26th La Bottega hosts their fifth chef, this time looking North, all the way to Oslo, Norway, from where they have invited the Danish but super classic French-cooking chef Ulrik Jepsen – a new star shining bright on the Norwegian culinary scene.
With one stellar review after another this chef’s young haute cuisine establishment undeniably strengthens Oslo’s position on the world food map. It’s named À L’aise; tricky on the tongue, but très magnifique on the palate, also making La Bottega very pleased to invite this dazzling establishment to be amongst its friends of grand chefs and restaurants across the world.
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CHEF PROFILES
ULRIK JEPSEN
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À L’aise is the brainchild of Ulrik Jepsen and wife Mia. Ulrik has garnered a pretty impressive resume from several Michelin-starred restaurants across Europe, including The Waterside Inn, England and Søllerød Kro, Denmark.
It’s also the story of the bumble bee that doesn’t know it can’t fly; an upperclass haute cuisine-fine dining establishment like this ideally would be situated in New York City or London, and not in a Kingdom in the far North, with a capital housing only some 600,000 bellies.
But yet it flies on the fuel of spectacular reviews, oil money and a remarkable local desire for classic French high end cuisine.
It flies in such a way that would make Escoffier, Bocuse and Robuchon proud that the finest Gallic flavours and techniques are being so superbly executed in a region otherwise rightfully intoxicated by recent decades’ own culinary success.
Since the opening, À L’aise has been lauded for bringing a high level of classic French cuisine back to Oslo, with a numerous amount of both critics and food lovers alike praising the quality and high standards of the restaurant.
The reviews have been near perfection, with critics acknowledging the restaurant as Oslo’s best new contender for Guide Michelin, not to mention a glorious past of classic culinary Belle Époque.
On the plate? Think freshly caught langoustine, pristine caviar, lemon sole, Foie Gras, pigeons, Périgord truffles, an enormous French cheese trolley, grand soufflés. the works. And Le Canard à la Presse, a rare 19th century delicacy.
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FERNANDO TOMMASO FORINO
Fernando Tommaso Forino’s love for food started at a young age, when he would watch his mother and grandmother, in awe, while they were cooking family meals. At 13 he got his first part-time job in a pizzeria, and at 14 he already knew his passion and enrolled in culinary school.
By the time he was 15 he worked in hotels that would arrange elaborate dinner banquets, and by 17 he started working at 1*Michelin La Cantinella in Naples.
When he graduated at 18 he began nurturing his passion for food and deliberately looked to the best restaurants in the world for his training. This led him to renowned places like Copenhagen’s Noma and Chicago’s Alinea before returning back to Naples.
Here he embarked on a gastronomical adventure at Il Mosaico, located in the five-star resort Terme Manzi Hotel, working for two years as sous-chef under culinary mastermind Nino d Costanzo.
About a year ago, Fernando packed his chef’s knives and moved to Geneva to take over the kitchen of the renowned La Bottega, which has made its mark on the local culinary world by serving exquisite Italian food.
Being renowned for their Italian food, Fernando didn’t make any grand changes to the menu of La Bottega which cuisine is known as being inspired by Italian tradition, and instead of remaking classic dishes they instead reinterpret the flavors with a contemporary approach.
Fernando fully uses his international experience to fulfill this philosophy.
In the heart of Geneva, a few steps from the Grand Theatre, La Bottega fits perfectly with a warm atmosphere amongst the beautiful buildings adorned with stucco and wrought iron stores.
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THE MENU
Toast Souvenir
trout, avocado pesto, rocket, peanuts
Turbot and Chives
caviar, butter, leaves
Bottoni Pasta
filled with chicken sauce genovese, green peas, onion
Smoked Langostine
violet asparagus core, consomme, lardo
Red Mullet
with leek and pears, red cabbage and whisky sauce
Pigeon “ En Crepinette “
bianchetto truffle jus, green asparges potato
Omelette Norwegian
rhurbarb, grand marnier, vanilla
“A Wrong Pizza”
a kind of pizza revisited to be a dessert, and beer sorbet
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DETAILS IN SHORT
Who: Chef Ulrik Jepsen of À L’aise (Oslo) and Chef Fernando Tommaso Forino of La Bottega (Geneva).
When: Tuesday, March 26th.
Where: Rue de la Corraterie 21, 1204 Genève, Switzerland
Menu: 8-course tasting menu plus snacks for CHF 150.
Reservations: +41 22 736 10 00 or at www.labottegatrattoria.com
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Bon Vivant Communications is a culinary embassy representing star chefs and restaurants, chateaux and high-end wineries as well as working close together with various luxury hotels, gourmets festivals and bespoke concierges services.
The diplomacy speaks to a strong network of 600 journalists, bloggers and writers, as well as 5000+ global diners around the world.
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Hungry for more? Read The Italian Star of Geneva.
