Jetsetters have had, for a long time, a love affair with the best that life has to offer. Those who ski also love the extravagant resorts, haute après ski outing, and decant events were time away from the slopes is just as thrilling as a run down a double black diamond trail. Once a year a celebration of epicurean excellence offers a perfect storm of glitz glamour and culinary perfection and all within the backdrop of one of the poshest ski resorts that the Alps has to offer. The ski resort is none other than St. Moritz and the festival for the palate is the St. Moritz Gourmet Festival.

The St. Moritz Gourmet Festival started in 1994, and has been the pinnacle of the culinary scene in the region for more than a quarter of a century. In 2015, it started to find its feet as a cult status level festival throughout the world, when eight or more different master chefs started to make an experience each year.

The festival is held under the motto “Swiss made” bringing together famous Swiss chefs in 5-star Swiss hotels for a spectacular swiss experience. Each year the festival has a different emphasis, the next event will focus on the wealth and culinary diversity of swiss gastronomy.

With towering snow topped mountains sheltering a charming town of glamourous hotels and cosy chalets, St. Moritz looks magical, with the tranquillity of the Lake making the valley appear like something out of a fairy-tale. The Gourmet Festival is truly the perfect setting, and it spans over a nine-day period with each day packed full of culinary brilliance.

Those who wish to fully indulge in the gourmet festival will start  with the Grand Julius Baer Opening, where, after a stylish champagne reception, the talented chefs serve samples of their culinary excellence, such as the champagne lobster with lentils and the exotic green curry soup – both unique explosions of flavour. This event is the height of sophistication, with the golden draped curtains and hanging intricate chandeliers, creating an atmosphere of elegance for diners to enjoy delectable Zeeland mussels with potato, plankton and green herbs in style.

Guests can enjoy this with a perfect selection of drinks, including Laurent-Perrier that compliments the taste of every dish, while savouring the soft melodies of the live music in a vibrant social atmosphere.

The following day Le Grand Hall at the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel will sweeten the tastebuds with mouth-watering chocolate delicacies, as Chef Stefan Gerber creatively presents his scrumptious Chocolate Cult, a week long chocolate tasting extravaganza. With the stomach gently lined with a bliss of sweetness, next enjoy a 5-course meal in the chic Salon Venise in Suvretta house, just off the Via Chasellas near the Kapelle Regina Pacis chapel.

At the same time, you can also taste Laurent-Perrier’s finest champagnes and wines with Scarlette Stocker’s beautiful Swiss violin melodies. Enjoy a lazier morning the next day, and head over to Salastrains for an exceptional brunch, as one can sit back and relax under the sun with the view of the Upper Engadine Lakes – a pure blue lake glistening with the reflection of the towering snowy-topped mountains.

Then, five of the guest chefs, Judy Joo, Bel Coelho, Lanshu Chen, Renu Homosombat and Carolina Bazan, will bring you some of St. Moritz’s finest specialities, such as the famous ‘Golden Egg’ – an egg shell filled with laksa soup and a confit egg – or the Truffle Pizza.

Get ready to take part in the Hinterhof Hotel hopping to enjoy an unforgettable culinary experience across six different spots within the Grand Hotel Kronenhof and Hotel Saratz. This will allow guests to experience a number of excellent dishes in elegant luxury hotels, with a harmonious assortment of wine.

This experience will act as a taster for the midweek Kitchen Party at Badrutt’s Palace Hotel, where all the guest chefs come together to serve a wonderous feast, from aromatic mushroom soups to delicate pate and finely cut meats flavoured to perfection. To top it off, guests can witness the chefs’ talent live as they prepare and cook all the food before them.

Wine connoisseurs  can test their specialist tastebuds at the Waldhuas Hotel in Sils-Maria, just 6.2 miles from the centre of St. Moritz. Guests can experience an extraordinary synaesthesia as the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Burgundy grapes that will take them on a flavoursome journey from the vineyards Leflaive and Romanée-Conti, to finish with a delightful gourmet dinner.

At the Hotel Giardino Mountain, chef Rolf Fliegauf will perform his award-winning talent of combining seasonal ingredients with surprising combinations of food, like his aromatic red prawns with avocado and quinoa salad. This will be served in four acts seated around a long, elegantly decorated table, with the alternate option of an a la carte menu, both with a perfectly selected wine list.

Finally, to complete this charming week, guests will put on their finest suits and a tie or ball dress, and head over to the Suvretta House for the Porsche Gourmet Finale. This brings the festival to a spectacular conclusion, making you wish you could request an encore. After a champagne reception, you will be seated in the vibrantly decorated Festivo and Capriccio salons, with their elaborate bouquets of flowers and coloured atmospheric lighting, and where the host Aninna Campbell will lead you through the gala night, as a live band provides a charismatic atmosphere.

For the upcoming festival the guest chefs include a mix of culinary experts who will definitely astonish the guests as their tastebuds experience a bliss of 5-star gourmet meals. Among the guest chefs is Heiko Nieder, the 2019 Gault&Millau Chef of the Year, who often cooks up an astonishing 50 or more ingredients in each dish, awarding him with two Michelin stars.

His extraordinary combinations never go unnoticed and he is known for his Breton lobster with strawberries, beetroot, tarragon and mustard and his desert of blueberries with celery, cucumber and ginger.

Another guest chef is the fantastic Markus Arnold, who describes his inspiration to be from a “restlessness” for all things new combined with his love for Japanese gastronomy. His work has awarded him with a Michelin star and 17 Gault&Milau points, leading him to open his own restaurant, the Steinhalle in Bern, Switzerland. The Managing Director and Exectuive Chef at the Zur Fernischt in Heiden, Germany, Tobias Funke, will also be treating the Gourmet Festival with his expertise, as his aim he explains is to “amaze the guests and make their taste buds dance”.

With his unique Carbonara where forest flavours mix with mushrooms, Sbrinz cheese, egg and Swiss cured beef, and his use of sunflowers in his cooking, guests will no doubt be dumbfounded by the wonderful dishes he prepares.

The 2006 Female chef of the year, and the 2014 and 2020 Chef of the year according to Gault & Millau, Tanja Grandits will be bringing flavoursome cuisine to the festival from her love for experimenting with different herbs and spices. As author of some of the best cookbooks, and winner of two Michelin stars, guests are certainly in for a treat when they experience her culinary delights.

These are only a few of the talented chefs coming to the next festival, for guests will also be able enjoy the work of two Michelin star winner Christian Kuchler, the three Michelin star winner Andreas Caminada, the 2018 Newcomer of the year in the Tessin Mattias Roock, the 2019 Newcomer of the year Patrick Mahler, and the two 2020 Newcomers of the year in German-speaking Switzerland Stefan Heilemann and Mitja Birlo.

St. Moritz Gourmet Festival is a wonderful experience, and St. Moritz is a beautiful landscape with a village full of addictive happiness and charisma. It is one of the most luxurious destinations that holidaymakers enjoy, and after one visit, travellers find themselves counting down the days until they can be back in one of its 5-star hotels gazing at the perfectly picturesque views. With such a grand collection of events, exquisite places to stay and a truly heavenly setting, the Gourmet Festival is certainly an epicurean adventure worthy of the most demanding gourmand.