Between tomorrow 5 September and the beginning of December, First and Business Class guests on Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) long-haul flights from Switzerland will be able to enjoy the fine and varied cuisine of Mike Wehrle, Culinary Director of the reputed Bürgenstock Hotels & Resort Lake Lucerne in Central Switzerland. The resort, which stands majestically above Lake Lucerne, was recently named 2019 Hotel of the Year by GaultMillau; and its Culinary Director delights the patrons of its eight restaurants with superb cuisine from all over the world. In doing so, Mike Wehrle puts a strong accent on authenticity, sustainability, freshness and quality. And those same high criteria are reflected in his creations for the ‘SWISS Taste of Switzerland’ programme, which has been highlighting the culinary specialities of a particular Swiss canton every three months for 16 years now, bringing Switzerland’s richly varied cuisine to SWISS’s inflight guests.

 

For the next three months, SWISS’s First Class guests can opt for a starter of marinated lobster with Pecorino cheese and cauliflower panna cotta, followed by either veal tenderloin with black truffle sauce, Jerusalem artichoke, salsify and chestnuts or black cod with white olive sauce, beetroot spaghetti and apples. And guest chef Wehrle has created a chocolate marquise with poached pears, vanilla ice cream and caramelized hazelnuts to round the meal off in style.

 

Mike Wehrle’s starter for SWISS’s Business Class guests consists of a salmon trout tataki with pumpkin, chevril root and a Pommery mustard sauce. For their main course choices he has concocted a pike perch fillet with Noilly Prat sauce, fregola sarda and fennel and a beef tenderloin with Valle Maggia pepper sauce, potato and leek purée, braised leek and carrot. And his Business Class dessert is a passion fruit cheesecake with banana and raspberry compote.

 

The cheese choice, too, puts a firm spotlight on the local Canton Nidwalden in both First and Business Class, with an exquisite range that includes Bürgenstöckler, Dallenwiler Wymutschli and the renowned Sbrinz AOP. In view of Nidwalden’s limited wine production volumes, the wines for this latest ‘SWISS Taste of Switzerland’ chapter have been selected from neighbouring Canton Lucerne for First Class and from Canton Valais for Business Class guests. The First Class selection includes a 2017 Müller-Thurgau and a 2016 Pinot Merlot Barrique from Brunner Weinmanufaktur in Hitzkirch, while the Business Class choice is sourced from Cave Saint Mathieu in Sion, and includes such elegant wines as a 2017 Terra Joya and a 2017 Syrah de Sierre.