Denis Martin

Denis Martin’s cuisine has unbeatable facets. First of all, his technique nearly reaches 10/10. He indeed analyses all the possible processes until he perfectly masters them. Imaginatively speaking, he neither sets himself any limitations; every dish is an erupting volcano that gives off fantastic ideas. In the mouth, his proposals could not be any more delicate and amazing; he always offers futurist flavours that brim with nuances, very subtly and harmoniously displayed. His dishes are so light that the guest’s stomach feels totally comfortable after tasting 25 bites. His staging could not be any more photogenic and spectacular. Every delicacy is a show full of magic.
Let’s be clear: we are in front of the most important and best disciple of Ferran Adrià’s cuisine in the world. Same spirit, same structure, but with different sequences. Because Denis is a creator, an artist of the same kind, with very personal and miscellaneous experiences. His dishes are unimaginable and convulsed adventures with happy endings.
The incredibly harmonized contrasts are a constant theme in his work. The “Bleue des glaciers” hides a lemon and star anise iced drink with wormwood air. Liquid nitrogen takes infinite forms, such as the little frozen tart with piña colada taste that covers some rum syrup and peanuts cream. Sometimes, the message completely turns upside down, taking the guest from a very complex and psychedelic techno proposal to the most absolute naturalist essentiality, such as the langoustine served with extra virgin olive oil lyophilized cherries. Some dishes are inspired by Swiss cheese and Italian recipes, like the immaculate and dietetic raviolis filled with Fribourg Vacherin, served with fresh walnuts and basil consommé. Or the mind-boggling pizza margherita, whose elements and proportions have been totally reversed. Or this third wonder that takes us to the local gastronomic landscape: Gruyere and Vacherin fondue, in two textures, proposed with a baguette shaped tomato water meringue. Denis’s work has some hints of insolence, like in his yuzu, served with pork, cockles, apple and lemon grass. Back to minimalism and product exaltation with the “Swiss chanterelles” and arctic char from the Leman Lake: the fish filet is covered with a mushroom and some butter that is melted with a blowtorch in front of the guests, who can appreciate the way both ingredients get idyllically integrated. Crazy paradise could not be missing: crunchy Thai soup, that tastes like seafood and looks like a hamburger, lain on herbs and flowers. “Rouge” reflects complete inspiration: red mullet with beet and cherry juices. The hake coated in small cuttlefish sauce takes the form of a filet dressed with a black gabardine –the best doughnut we have ever tasted–, accompanied by some vanilla parsnip and rose-perfumed yoghurt. “Swiss Air” is an airmail envelope that is given to the guest, who opens it and breaks the vacuum bag that is inside before pouring its content into the plate: pigeon cooked at low temperature soaked in its caramelized juice. The desserts are as brilliant as the rest: the petits-fours are the most imaginative on earth, especially the hallucinatory Sachet coca”ïne”.