The British star chef will be the new host of a 450-year-old hotel in eastern Switzerland - including the newly designed fine-dining restaurant La Chavallera.
Top chef James Baron and his Thai-Swiss wife Natacha will reopen the historic hotel on 8 July as Krone - Säumerei am Inn. The 37-year-old Briton has made a name for himself in the international gourmet scene in recent years. Most recently, he was chef de cuisine at the two-star restaurant Landmark Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong. Before that, Baron cooked with Didier de Courten in Sierre and Andreas Caminada at Schloss Schauenstein. Later he worked as head chef at the Hotel Tannenhof in St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria, where he met his wife Natacha.
In the new Krone, the two are focusing on revamped gourmet alpine cuisine. "We are inspired by the region, the landscape, the culture, the architecture and the alpine dishes," says Baron. In the newly conceived fine-dining restaurant La Chavallera mainly regional products will be put on the table "in connection with the treasures....brought to the valley – from Milan and Venice to Munich and Geneva," says the star chef.
The more than 450-year-old farmhouse at the foot of the Albula Pass in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland was bought by enterpreneurs Regula and Beat Curti in 2002 and extensively restored and expanded. With the new hosts, the hotel with 17 rooms, a restaurant and several guest lounges is now getting the next innovation boost: "The Krone will be a young and lively establishment with exciting new cuisine," says Regula Curti: "Casual at a high level".
The village of La Punt Chamues-ch itself is also becoming more international. Near Krone, the English architect Sir Norman Foster is creating the new InnHub – a retreat and place of inspiration for local, national and international companies and organisations, including shops, a restaurant, sports centre as well as apartments.
