Baur au Lac pairs classic elegance with modern amenities

Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 23, 1998 by James C. Doherty

ZURICH, Switzerland -- Zurich's celebrated Baur au Lac Hotel, which has been run by the same family for the past 150 years, recently took a giant step forward into the future when it completed a four-year renovation of the entire property.

The objective, according to Michel Rey, the hotel's managing director and the man who supervised the renovation, was to retain the classical and traditional elements of the luxury hotel while modernizing the 125 rooms and foodservice to meet the requirements and needs of its guests well into the next century.

The Baur au Lac -- owned by descendants of founder Johannes Baur -- is located on the shores of Lake Zurich in the heart of the business-and-shopping areas of Zurich. About 70 percent of the hotel guests are business executives who represent Swiss banks, insurance companies and trading firms. Some 50 percent of the hotel's clientele are Swiss, while the remaining half are international travelers -- 8 percent of whom are business travelers from the United States. Frequent visitors to the hotel also include government leaders, royalty and well-known musicians.

The hotel's foodservice received particular emphasis during the long renovation program. Thomas Hollenstein, the Baur au Lac's young and enthusiastic executive chef, helped supervise the redesign of the menus, kitchen and restaurant areas. Hollenstein, a native of Zurich, studied in Swiss and French culinary schools and worked in prestigious hotels throughout Europe. Before joining the Baur au Lac, he served as executive chef of a major hotel in Hong Kong.

The central kitchen was subject to a complete remodeling. Improvements included redesigned work spaces and the replacement of open gas stoves with induction ranges. Kitchen lighting also was upgraded.

Hollenstein's kitchen staff is a young group representing all regions of Switzerland. Their varied training and experiences with German, Swiss, French and Italian cuisines add to the international scope of the hotel's menu. At the same time Hollenstein's tour of duty in Asia can be found reflected in many of the new menus.

Restaurants and banquet areas also were remodeled completely to accommodate conferences and receptions -- banquets account for a major portion of the hotel's foodservice activities. Light and fresh, those rooms also offer complete audio-visual capabilities, including video conferencing via satellite. The hotel plays host to several new-product introductions and launches by Swiss companies every year.

Banquets and room service place demands on the kitchen staff to meet the wide-ranging food requirements of a well-traveled international clientele. Hollenstein works closely in consulting with banquet customers, designing special menus and recipes to meet the requirements of the event.

During the renovation Le Restaurant Francais, one of Baur au Lac's several luxury restaurants, underwent a discreet remodeling that included the addition of lighter colors that accent the room's formal decor elements. The dining room, which can seat some 130 diners, features classical haute cuisine menu and attentive service.

Le Pavillon, another of Baur au Lac's fine-dining restaurants, is located adjacent to the hotel and offers a view of the river and the private hotel park. The glass-enclosed room, with its slightly Mediterranean ambience, is especially beautiful and romantic for evening dining and draws large crowds during the summer. A new satellite kitchen was added to ensure quality food and preparation.

Hollenstein has developed a lighter menu for Le Pavillon with an emphasis on fish and seafood. Vegetables, rice and pasta are complements and are available as well as main entrees and a la carte items.

During the summer Le Terrace, which is located adjacent to Le Pavillon in the private park, offers guests beverages, sandwiches, light meals and desserts.

Hollenstein took special interest in the remodeling of the hotel restaurant formerly known as the Grill Room, a formal dining room that is now more casual in spirit as well as service. The newly renovated space now includes an American bar and a restaurant called Rive Gauche. Although the room retains its heavy, carved wooden beams as accents, the new design emphasizes light colors. Contemporary paintings, cane chairs, flowers, etched glass and colorful floor tiles at the entrance add to the room's lighter, more casual dining ambience.

Tapping into his experience in the Far East, Hollenstein has tried to incorporate new Asian influences into the hotel menus -- an effort that is most apparent on the redesigned menu of Rive Gauche. The restaurant continues to offer a few continental specialties, such as homemade venison stew and veal piccata Milanese. But Hollenstein's new "East-meets-West" direction can be found in such dishes as sushi, dim sum, lamb curry and other accented menu items.

The hotel draws its wine from Baur au Lac Wine Merchants, a wine store that is part of the hotel located in Urdorf. The hotel offers one of the most comprehensive cellars in Switzerland with more than 600,000 bottles.