Chef Anne-Sophie Pic’s restaurant at Beau-Rivage Palace reopens

(Image credit: Photography by Amaury Laparra. Courtesy of Tristan Auer)

published 24 October 2024

Fifteen years after taking over the kitchens of the beloved Swiss hotel Beau-Rivage Palace, and following an extensive design-centric renovation, Anne-Sophie Pic, the most Michelin-starred female chef in the world, reintroduces her restaurant Pic au Beau-Rivage Palace. The establishment, which already boasted two Michelin stars before the makeover, hopes to land a third star upon its reopening, making it the second three Michelin-starred restaurant in Lausanne.

Pic au Beau-Rivage Palace, Lausanne

Designed by French interior designer Tristan Auer, the restaurant’s interiors have been revamped to reflect Anne-Sophie Pic’s personality and cuisine. In the entrance, a cabinet of curiosities displays some of chef Pic’s most treasured memorabilia, including her notebook filled with inspirations and a photo of her grandfather, the celebrated chef André Pic.

Basked in natural light, the interior is airy, with soft hues of light pink and beige reflected in the rose-patterned carpet and the curved ash tree backdrops enveloping the booths. Drawing inspiration from chef Pic’s cuisine, Auer notes that ‘the materials are simple and sober, but behind them lies an inventiveness in gesture and implementation’.

At Pic au Beau-Rivage Palace, chef Pic serves a ‘sensitive and floral cuisine that celebrates the lake and the scents of Alpine valleys’. The menu invites diners on a culinary journey through traditional Swiss dishes and the chef’s star dishes, like her Berlingots ©ASP, stuffed with sheep’s milk cheese, embellished with saffron from the hills stretching above the city and lavender from the hotel’s greenhouse. In season, the chef works with fish from the lake, like fera or Arctic char.

But the heart of the restaurant is the bar area, tucked behind a stained-glass window, where diners are invited to taste one of the dishes from the set menu. The space was conceived together with Paz Levinson, chef Pic’s Chef Sommelier Executive, to offer a new dining experience.

Le Cochon Krauter Mature-geranium Rosat et Gentiane

‘The bar is an anchor point in the restaurant, a place for exchange, a common ground for fluid cuisine’, says chef Pic. It is the perfect stage to showcase the non-alcoholic creative beverages unique to the chef’s cuisine, like a tomato Chemex – a coffee brewed with tomato water – paired with venison served with candied tomatoes, and a chicory cocktail.

The terrace at Pic au Beau-Rivage Palace

Pic au Beau-Rivage Palace is located at Chem. de Beau-Rivage 21, 1006 Lausanne, Switzerland, brp.ch

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Hélène Bauer is a travel journalist and editor splitting her time between Switzerland and Paris. She helped launch the digital edition of Air France’s in-flight magazine, EnVols, and has been published in various publications including BBC Travel and The Atlantic. She writes about travel, crafting guides to some of the best places to eat, sleep and visit in her two native countries – France and Switzerland – and across the globe.