Swiss master chef: Ivo Adam is one of the hottest names on the gourmet circuit, a world champion chef and the author of two recipe books, He is also a 'recipe tapper', and that's no misprint: he's rapped his recipes on TV, on CD and in classrooms where he inspired kids to cook.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]I met Adam at his restaurant, Seven, in Ascona, which opened in June 2007. As one of the most popular (and sunniest) destinations in Switzerland, the lakeside resort needs little introduction.
"It's fantastic ... look at it ... it's like Saint-Tropez," says Adam, 50.
Looking out at Lake Maggiore, the village bathed in warm sunlight and the sky a deep Mediterranean blue, it's hard to disagree. The natural attractions of Ascona are all here, though for decades the resort has been more safe than chic, more familiar than funky.
Beautiful dining
The restaurant, designed by German architect Bert Haller, sits right on the lakeside, enjoying views across the bay of Ascona. When diners aren't gazing across the water or at one of Adam's creations, they're casting an appreciative eye over the decor--stone, granite, glass and leather predominate. And at Seven, style is for sale: diners can buy everything they see, from the sleek, steel salt and pepper mills (sold out when I first visited, such is their popularity), to the leather loungers in the cool bar zone.
Lakeside there's the 'Sea Lounge', where you get to sit back on sofas, sipping an aperitivo while chilling to--what else--lounge and jazz music. Adam and his partners, not just content to turn taste buds inside out, have brought lifestyle to Lake Maggiore and urban glamour to Ascona. And, in case you were wondering, it's his partners, the seven-member Brauer family who are behind the name Seven.
With two restaurants, several gold medals from international cooking competitions, an award-winning cookbook and another to be published this year, does Adam think he's achieved a lot?
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"Sure I have. But you know, I push myself. I want to do as much as I can now--when I'm young. My creative energy won't be around for ever."
This creative energy earned his restaurant Apropos-Kaultenherberge in Roggwil, Canton Bern, 15 Gault-Millau points--a huge achievement for a young chef. Gault-Millau points are awarded for the food alone, with 20 points the almost-unachievable maximum.
Older chefs have warned him that ideas don't come thick and fast forever, he says. "Even now I can see the difference. My ideas come in waves--not like when I was younger."
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Born to cook
Born in Biel, Adam started cooking while still at elementary school, making birthday cakes for friends at the tender age of eight. Trained as a chef, pastry chef and chocolatier, he also graduated from the well-known hotel school in Thun and it was here that the idea of recipe rapping came to him.
"Back in 2004, I gave a presentation on diet and healthy eating for my diploma and wanted to get my message across to young people. Rap and hip-hop seemed a great way to do that," explains Adam.
"I put together a CD with some rapped recipes ... good simple food like a pasta dish [and] Birchermuesli."
All together, Adam laid down 16 'rapcipes'. The CD was presented in a pizza-style box, and, thanks to a tie-in with a Swiss cereal producer, the single Birchermuesli went double-platinum in Switzerland.
Swiss-German recipe rapping may not be to everyone's taste, but there was a serious point behind this. Adam went on tour to over 40 Swiss schools, encouraging kids to get into the kitchen, experiment, have fun and get healthy. Earlier this year he popped up on a Swiss snowboarding TV show, urging the nation's youth to "Pimp my Fondue".
Comparisons with Britain's Jamie Oliver are inevitable, both having TV exposure, cookbooks, supermarket deals, a passion for promoting healthy eating and working with young people. And of course, both are relatively young--though Adam has little of Oliver's 'cheeky chappy' demeanour.
Adam has previously noted that Oliver's "spontaneous cooking is not mine. I am more demanding, I want to offer the whole spectrum of the culinary arts." Still, he says, he could learn something from Jamie Oliver: "The way he markets himself is great."
Consumed by food
Tall, fit and a young-looking 30, Adam relaxes when we begin to talk about his food. "My work is my hobby and my life--I live for my work. If there were 25 hours in a day I'd be happy as at least I'd get an hour to myself," he says.
Although the quality of the produce or the skill of Swiss chefs isn't in doubt, Adam has been quoted by swissinfo as saying the Swiss "are usually very conservative and not willing to try different things, so I want people to say after a meal: 'hey, I didn't expect that'.
"We've got great produce in Switzerland" he asserts, "great local produce here in Ticino and we're moments away from Italy. I want to take the food and do something different with it."
And so he does.
Pushing boundaries
Terms like 'crossover' and 'experimental' are bandied-about quite a lot, but diners at Seven get all that and more: Mediterranean favourites appear in new guises, reinterpreted and reinvented with foods and flavours from every continent.
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Lobster is partnered with mango, couscous and vanilla, while that Italian favourite, ravioli, is stuffed with duck liver and appears with peanuts, popcorn and dark chocolate.
You'll find a risotto dish at every restaurant in the region, but only Adam offers a sauerkraut risotto with calf's tongue, champagne and capers.
Each dish looks good. There's an audible silence as diners absorb the food with their eyes before tucking in, and each component part (and there are rarely more than four) makes itself known on the plate.
"For me, it's very important that you see and taste each component. It's like playing with Lego ... one brick isn't enough. Maybe I like the blue cube, but it looks even better when I add the yellow rectangle," explains Adam.
I ask him where be sees himself in the world of molecular gastronomy, of culinary alchemy: "We've definitively incorporated some of the techniques into the kitchen, but I design the food ... I don't play with it."
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Complementing an innovative menu is a non-traditional approach to dining. Out goes the standard three or four courses and in come assaggini--an Italian term meaning 'tasters'. Portions are smaller, and diners are advised to choose three or four. though there's no obligation to follow the usual starter, main course and dessert route.
Pricing is lower than might be expected, considering the chef behind the meal. Pasta-based assaggini average SFr 20, while fish and meat dishes are rarely more than SFr 25. The menu degustazione--seven courses, what else--is priced at SFr 135.
Add to this the opening hours. Many dishes are available round the clock--very rare in traditional Ticinese kitchens that so often close at set hours--and customers can pop in for an apero, or a dish or two throughout the day.
Sharing food and space
This spring a second restaurant will open further along the lakefront. Called 'Seven Easy', it will offer a more informal dining experience. Chefs from Sicily and Naples will be serving up hearty portions of fresh pasta, pizza and grilled specialities.
Adam is as excited about the design of the place as he is about the food: "We've got huge, wooden tables where you'll sit next to people you don't know. I love the idea of people having to talk to each other--'pass the sauce please'. By the end of the meal, you've met someone, you've shared an experience."
This sharing of food and space is, I venture, very Swiss: "Yes, it is. But we're in danger of losing these moments; families don't eat together any more, the parents are out at work, the kids in McDonald's."
After a string of achievements, could it be that Adam is settling down?
"Well, I'm not slowing down," he laughs, "but I want to develop this project. You don't get respect as a chef if you're constantly moving from one thing to another. I'm at that stage in my life where I'm getting a real buzz from mentoring too, working with my team, encouraging my chefs' creativity--it's a great feeling when one of my cooks wins something."
Adam gets a faraway look in his eye as he discusses some ambitious plans for Ascona--a cooking academy, a sushi bar (Seven Sushi) and maybe even a bar.
And then? London, Paris, New York ... who knows?
His smile seems to anticipate exciting opportunities ahead.
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