Auberge de Dully A one trick pony since 1964

If a restaurant banks its reputation for doing one thing right, they have simply got to nail it every service.

I'm in awe of the Auberge de Dully on the Banks of lake Geneva.

This humble inn of a place (They have 8 rooms) started as a dairy making cheese, in 1840, it first opened as a wine house, in 1905 it installed the towns first public telephone line. In 1959 the Charriere family were holed up in the joint as guests and duly decided to cross the rubicon and buy the joint. They completed this purchase in 1970 when they also bought the cellar and vineyard Chateau de Dully. In 1989 son Nicholas stepped  up to the crease and carried on this family tradition by taking over the management.

So I can hear you wonder what has this one trick poney got that I may want. Well truth be told two things, one salty and the other sweet! Here is the menu!

Chicken, roast chicken....open fire, twirling spits, heat,  getting a sense of this? Let me show you a picture then...

I got another too..

 

Here another angle!

Can you feel the heat, the noise, the smell of chicken, skin all crisp and crackling?

It's super important that click on the picture of the Chicken on the platter above, in that way you will be able to see the chicken up close and personal like, okay, okay it's not the same as being there but even the good old internet has limitations! See the gravy under the bird?

Did I mention the Rosti? Oh yea I almost forgot! Burned crisp,  just enough, this is what all hash browns are descended from, the hash brown missing link, the Darwining proof if ever anyone needed it that Hash browns the world over evolved from Swiss rosti...

So let's add it up, some of the best roasted chicken in the world, spit fired over wood, crispy rosti, a green salad (forgot to mention that) with a bold mustard vinaigrette in a bijou crammed pack little gem of a restaurant that has been doing the same thing with stellar service since 1964! I don't know of many places that have nothing further to perfect! Pretty unique so far but then comes dessert and we get to grips with second dish  a world famous (yes I said world famous) tarte a la creme or cream tart  to you and me!

This is one of the most insane taste sensations that has ever sold itself as dessert. A butterscotch tart would approximate the fixings going on here..The thinnest of crust layered with sugary caramel which is then topped by cream that cooks brown. This is an insane pudding! Served pizza pie piping hot, straight out of the oven, the taste is, dare I say it even more memorable than the chicken. In fact as I was eating it I thought of ways in which I could come by and only eat tart without looking competely ridiculous! It is not cloying or too sweet, some of the cream burns and mixes with the sugar underneath (by design) and then changes the tastes in that particular bite. This is a global top ten dessert!


Auberge De Dully
Dully
+41 21 824 1149
www.aubergedully.ch
Closed all day Wednesday
Dinner only Monday to Friday
Lunch and dinner Sat-Sun
20 minutes past Geneva Airport direction Lausanne

Tristan my favorite Swiss Chocolate Shop!

First some good news, usually when you read about some new foody place it's spot that you really have no chance to get to! Well not this time; today I write about a place that you may well have driven by without even knowing that it exists. If you ever find yourself driving from Geneva to anywhere you are not far, if your drive takes you from Geneva to Lausanne, you have passed by. Our subject today is located between the villages of Rolle and Aubonne about 5 minutes from these motorway exits. The village (actually smaller than a village) is Bougy-Villars, this is blink and you'll miss it territory. A place that has become famous for being the home of the most perfect confectioner I know. Mr Tristan Carbonatto - the shops proper title is - Tristan Artisan Chocolatier. To give you some perspective, this tiny weeny hamlet has had to build a six car parking lot to ease the traffic that can and often does bring this place to a choco saturday standstill. Folks from all over Switzerland and I surmise beyond seek him out and for good reason. I am convinced that the size of the operation (Miniscule) is a contributing factor to the shear artistry, innovation and taste of this bounty.

Tristan is a wonderful happy cheery man, who generously offers samples of all his wears willingly as if he wants you to enjoy and take you on his chocolate trip.

His crown jewel is The Pave, little cubes of chocolate, 74%, 53%, Milk 32% and white about size of a sugar lump, a perfect cube of chocolate mastery. As the pave hits your palate things start to happen as the cube melts onto your tongue, the black 74% strikes the perfect balance of chocolate and acid, the slight bitterness is offset by the restrained use of sugar which allows the cocoa bean to star. As you try the 53%, certainly still dark and a long way still from Milk Chocolate the blackish bitters give way to rich unctuous flower or berry like tones. It's quite extraordinary to me how the melting aspect of these chocolates, the mouth feel; contributes greatly to the overall soaring satisfaction one gets from popping one of these beauties. The white Pave, tastes like chocolate butter, your tongue is coated much in the same way as a raw lip feels relived once the chapstick is finally applied;  soothing, calming, coating with stratospheric, unctuous lingering... Are you getting my drift? The Paves have no cream which delineate them from Truffles also on offer.

Close up of Pistachios and White Chocolate Paves (Click for to see even closer)

No you can't have any of mine!!

His caramel truffle is explosive, a touch of sea salt kisses the almost burnt darkness of the dusky caramel, for almost two minutes after I had swallowed this truffle I was still getting secondary and tertiary flavor memories, not dissimilar to watching dying embers languishing in the fireplace giving off a smoky memory of the fire it once was.

 

The PAVE's resting comfortably!

Everything is beyond what you know! I have particular hankering for candied sicilian pistachios, they are dipped in the darkest of dark chocolate enrobing this green jewel with a handsome robe of coco. These dusky babies are not made for sharing at all, they make you completely selfish. You'll  prefer to save what you can't finish to eat alone later. I bought chocolate for some business acquaintances and about three miles past the shop I decided I would not give any away. It's hard even to imagine sharing chocolate this good with your own children!

Tristan's "simple" tablets with almonds or hazelnuts rewrite what you know about this chocolate bar, the perfect nut roasting to marry the chocolate. Today I'm writing about his staples but he is a fantasist and accordingly the shops filled with cocoa whimsy.

PS On Tuesday's they are officially closed but production and mis en place is in full swing so knock on the door next to the shop and they willingly let you in backstage and will willingly sell to you.

Tristan
Grand Rue
CH 1172 Bougy Villars
Closed Sunday - Monday - Tuesday
Opening hours 10h-12h - 13h30-18h30
Saturdays open without interruption NB SATURDAYS IS OFTEN PACKED!!!!


(Closed Mondays and Tuesdays)

Auberge de Soleil a happy mistake

I love happy accidents or rather, accidental discoveries. Today I wanted to stop in Luins for some Malakoffs a swiss ball of breaded molten cheese fondue which is a specialty of this town but they were closed. I drove off unfulfilled but then bumped into The Auberge De Soleil 5 minutes down the same road. That was a good detour.

 

I walked in to the Bistro, gourmet restaurant is also within and discovered a chef with humor and a room filled with cusine laughs. (See Below)

 

You see what I mean! I was worried that the food might also be laughable then I saw or rather my nose saw something at the bar that sung my name and perfumed the eaterie.

 

Are you starting to realise that I was in fact in exactly the right joint for lunch; well I was.

I started with a beautiful cauliflower soup that tasted more like cauliflower cheese than Dubarry but what a brilliant dish.. Hey I photoed the soup. 

Want some? Then came the fois gras with fig compote.

 

This was silken and superb. Lovely presentation for a bistro!!

Then came Tagliatelle with black truffles, but and I want to apologize with a big but, I forgot to snap it. It was my guest who ordered it but I was taken about by the shear generosity of the truffles that I immediately took one huge shaving and buttered my bread with it. Then I tasted the goods and before you know it, it was gone.. and so was my picture. The people I ate with adored my dilemma, they laughed.

Next post the best chocolate shop I know! Watch this blog!