Memories in the Mountains

By Chantal Panozzo

How a celebrated Swiss chef has turned high-end dining into a down-to-earth experience.

In July 2019, Memories opened in the Swiss spa town of Bad Ragaz and Sven Wassmer began another chapter — without the two hard-earned Michelin stars awarded to his former employer. When chefs, even well-known ones, open a new place, those stars must remain behind.

WELCOME TO MEMORIES RESTAURANT

© GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ AG

That didn’t worry Wassmer, who was awarded 18 GaultMillau points in 2018. Despite his early accolades, the young chef is humble enough to serve guests the food he cooks — and also to put his kitchen in the midst of Memories’ dining room.

THE RESTAURANT'S KITCHEN IS VISIBLE TO GUESTS

© GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ AG

What you can’t see from your unadorned table also matters, so imagine this: Wassmer, wandering the steep slopes and deep woods of Bad Ragaz. There he is, in all types of weather, foraging wild fruits, herbs, and mushrooms — the best of which end up on his diners’ plates. Saying he has an appreciation for produce is an understatement.

Bad Ragaz

Wassmer is a guy you might have a drink with — if he wasn’t so busy. He operates his kitchen with such precision it almost appears as if his crisp, white-collared team is performing surgery instead of preparing hay kombucha.

My hay kombucha’s amber liquid is served in a plain bowl. On its inner rim is a small hay bouquet. I hold the bowl up to my mouth and inhale. I’m immediately transported out of the dining room and into to the surrounding Alps while the flavour of a freshly picked apple swirls around in my mouth and a surprisingly spicy aftertaste cleanses my palate.

ALPINE MILK WITH CUCUMBER, ONION AND FIR OIL

© GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ AG

For the next course, all that matters to Wassmer is that my carrot tastes like a carrot. But a funny thing happens when a chef makes a carrot taste like itself, it’s no longer a carrot. You have a culinary piece of art.

“The longer I cook, the more I leave out,” says Wassmer. He sets the “Carrot from Pratval” in front of me.

The carrot, cooked whole, is sitting on a bed of Alpine barley, as if it hasn’t quite left its mountain garden. But if I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought I was eating sweet potato. This carrot is melodious and it melts in my mouth. We’re far from the final course, and yet this carrot could have been the 9-course meal’s sweet finale.

WHITE ALPINE SHEEP FROM THE BERNESE OBERLAND WITH MEADOW HERBS AND FÖÖLA BREAD

© GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ AG

Wassmer wants all of his diners to “taste again, as if they’ve never tasted before.” We could stop the meal now and he would have succeeded.

But luckily we didn’t. Because then I would have missed the miniature Alpine herb bouquet tied with a single chive, and the sourdough bread, made with only flour, water, and salt. I would have also missed the “white mountain sheep from the Bernese Oberland” placed on a bed of herbs from the meadow of its origin. And then I would not have been served drinks by Wassmer’s wife and Switzerland’s most famous female sommelier, Amanda Wassmer-Bulgin.

WINE CELLAR OF MEMORIES RESTAURANT

© GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ AG