Hôtel de Ville de Crissier

Restaurant interior courtesy of Hôtel de Ville de Crissier

Hôtel de Ville de Crissier review at-a-glance

+Glorious french cooking packed with full flavor.

+Attractively put together menu with some nice luxury ingredients (lobster, caviar etc.).

-The food, and dining room, might be a tad boring for some.

Awards: Three Michelin stars, 19 Gault Millau

Verdict: Sauces. That is what I remember most about Chef Franck Giovannini’s cooking at Hôtel de Ville de Crissier. Dish after dish with the most extraordinary sauce work I have encountered anywhere. Incredibly complex, deep, rich flavors. These were the types of sauces that make you want to abandon all decorum and lick your plate to make sure you do not miss a morsel. A meal at Hôtel de Ville de Crissier does not come cheap but for the price, you get what is undoubtedly one of the finest examples of classical French cooking in Europe.

Chef Giovannini took over the kitchen at Hôtel de Ville de Crissier after former head chef Benoît Violier’s tragic early death. He is doing his mentor proud by continuing the excellent standard at this historic restaurant.

Review Rating: 96/100

Price I Paid: 315 CHF / €285 for 8-course tasting menu

Value: 13/20

Hôtel de Ville de Crissier Background

Located just a few minutes from Lausanne, Hôtel de Ville de Crissier is the oldest of Switzerland’s three star restaurants with a long and storied history that includes four different head chefs in the kitchen. Despite the various chef changes, consistency has been a strength of the restaurant - you won’t find any culinary fads here, just the classic French cooking the restaurant has been churning out for over four decades.

The restaurant’s initial success came under Fredy Girardet who ran the kitchen for over 30 years (1965 - 1996) and earned every accolade possible during that time, including being named “Cook of the century” with Joel Robuchon and Paul Bocuse by Gault Millau. Girardet retired in 1996, handing the reigns over to Phillipe Rochat. As is tradition when there is a chef change, the restaurant lost its third star in 1996 but Rochat quickly earned it back in 1997. Gault Millau continued its love affair with Hôtel de Ville de Crissier under Rochat’s leadership, labeling it the “best restaurant in the world”. Rochat retired in 2012 at the age of 60 (sadly he passed away only a year later) and handed the restaurant over to Benoit Violier. The restaurant’s excellence continued under Violier whose time running the kitchen was sadly short as he passed away at the age of 44 in 2016. After his tragic death, Violier’s sous chef, Franck Giovannini, carried on the restaurant's proud tradition - producing some of the finest classical French food in the world.

Hôtel de Ville de Crissier is the most expensive three star in Switzerland and in-line with the cost of a Parisian three star. The gastronomic tasting menu runs 390 CHF / €350 and includes roughly ten courses. At least for that price it did not include any supplements and had plenty of luxury ingredients. I went with the slightly shorter discovery menu which had eight surprise courses and rang in at 315 CHF / €285.

What I ate at Hôtel de Ville de Crissier

The amuse-bouche was a shellfish marinière featuring razor and regular clams and a small dish on the side topped with caviar. You can't really beat an amuse-bouche that features raw shellfish and a nice helping of caviar. A luxurious course that really prepped you for the many excellent things to come out of Chef Franck Giovannini’s kitchen over the rest of the meal.

The first course of the tasting menu was a terrine of foie gras served with apples and Jungfrau apple vinegar chutney. Not quite as good as the foie gras ballotine at the Ritz in London (the standard I judge all cold preparations of foie gras by) but still plenty good - the apple vinegar chutney provided the requisite acid to offset the rich terrine.

I was visiting in spring so of course, the chef had to included a dish featuring asparagus, highlighting them with a creamy asparagus flavored sauce and gruyere ham. This was a very well put together dish, the sauce having a good flavor and the salty ham being a traditional pair for asparagus. I also appreciated the fried asparagus heads and thinly shaved raw asparagus, both of which added a nice textural contrast to the soup.

While the main amuse-bouche and first two courses were very good, the meal now transitioned to overdrive with the first seafood course that began to show off Chef Giovannini’s outstanding sauce work - John Dory topped with a lemon and mustard crust and served with a spicy jus and capers. The Atlantic caught John Dory had been baked in the oven, giving way to a nice flakey flesh and a crust that provided great texture. While the fish was good, the sauce was great. I really enjoy when chefs pair seafood with a meat-like jus rather than a more typical cream sauce and the one here was excellent, packing a big punch of flavor and having just the right amount of spice.

The hits continued with medallions of blue lobster with young carrots, crispy romaine lettuce, and a coralline sauce. This was another stunning dish. The chef achieved a beautiful texture in the lobster by barely cooking it and leaving it very rare on the inside. These wonderful medallions of lobster were then paired with another glorious sauce, this time made using the body of the lobster and a healthy dose of tomato. This coralline sauce was intensely flavored and elevated the taste of the "blue" meat.

Next came the meat course which turned out to be one of my favorite dishes of the year - local veal served with spring peas, jus and morel cream sauce. One of the first times I had veal was at Guy Savoy in Paris some years ago and I thought I did not care for it. It was on the dry side and lacked flavor - I assumed this could not be the fault of the kitchen and must be inherent in the meat. Turns out Guy Savoy just overcooked it. No such issues were found in the Hôtel de Ville de Crissier veal dish which was one of the best meat dishes I have ever had. The veal was tender and, like all of the dishes in the tasting menu, the sauce was world-class. Particularly good was a morel cream sauce served on the side that was absolutely bursting with the taste from the seasonal mushroom. French cooking at its best.

The cheese board was up next and was as good as you could expect for a French restaurant in Switzerland. As you can see from the picture, the selection was vast and all in excellent condition. The only real complaint was that this was a very traditional cheese board - the cheese served only with a bit of bread and no condiments.

The first of two desserts was a refreshing pistachio cocktail which was made to show off all manners of pistachios. I love pistachio so was very excited about the dessert but it missed the mark a little bit for me. There were many different textures and flavors but not all of them were good - the little coil on top looked cool but was dangerous to eat.

The second dessert was much better, showing off strawberries from Cléry with lime sorbet. If you are wondering where the lime sorbet is it was actually tucked in between the thin layers of strawberry meringue so it burst out when you cracked it with a fork. This was just a delightful dessert, the high-quality strawberries playing very well with the bracing acidity of the lime sorbet. A nice refreshing end to the tasting menu.

The fantastic meal then concluded with a handful of sweet treats which were all excellent. Overall a supreme performance from Chef Franck Giovannini and his kitchen team from start to finish.