Swiss style – Château El Masr / Geneva / Switzerland

House & Hotel Magazine features Switzerland.

We stayed @ The Chateau El Masr, a nice “house”, which is the only example in Geneva of Neo-Tudor style.

Since the 18th century, Cologny has been home to some beautiful country houses. As one of the eight towns juxtaposing the city of Geneva, Cologny is the least populated town and thus emphasizes its village character, which is mainly residential.

Château El Masr, is located in Cologny, one of eight towns adjacent to the Swiss city of Geneva and surrounded by a fantastic Alpine panorama. Geneva is one of Europe’s most important financial centres, and Château El Masr, with its view across to the famous Lake Geneva Water Fountain, could be just the place to unwind in these turbulent financial times.

Renovated in a British Neo-Elizabethan style the property boasts eight bedrooms, seven bathrooms and a rooftop terrace, while its chandeliers were crafted in Murano, and a marble fountain and various statues in the gardens come from Venice. From its characteristic crenelated exterior to its fine art interior, Château El Masr has many of the ingredients of a typical fairy tale Alpine hideaway.

Though no shrinking violet, one could imagine its more modest size would make it that much more fun to live in than its larger, more theatrical contemporaries. This delightful locale also has crenels, machicolations, and a seigniorial chapel. Price is available, of course, upon request.

Towards the end of the 18th Century, Jean-Paul Demierre purchased this property belonging to the Geneva cooper. It was his son, Ami Demierre, who built the tower at the entrance to this property, now covered with ivy. This tower is identical to the Champel Tower, since Ami Demierre used the materials left over from building the latter.

When this property was bought at the end of the 19th Century by Scotsman Charles Floods, who had just returned from Egypt where he made his fortune, he kept this tower and had the architects Bourrit and Simmler build a half Gothic, half Oriental style chateau, which he named El Masr.

El Masr meaning the Egyptian.

Since then the current owner spent five years renovating this building. From the columns to the roof, everything has been renovated with great care, respecting each detail in order to perfectly maintain the Neo-Elizabethan style, which was very fashionable in Great Britain at the time of the initial construction of the chateau. The chandeliers of this residence were created especially in Murano for this chateau, and the marble fountains and statues that decorate the outside of this chateau were imported from Venice in order to maintain the harmony of this trend.

This home is comprised of a terrace donjon and a turret staircase with an incredible view over Calvin’s City and the Lake Geneva water fountain. This delightful locale also has crenels and a seigniorial chapel.

Our resto tip in Switzerland: “Schauenstein”

Schauenstein is located in the Swiss Alps, in the sleepy “city” of Furstenau, in reality an alpine village of 700 inhabitants. It is about 100 miles from Zurich, which by train can be reached in two and a half hours: from Zurich airport change at Zurich central station and take the train to Chur, then change again to reach the station of Thusis, which is a few miles from Furstenau. It is a lengthy journey but a scenic one, as the train goes past an impressive lake and then heads into the snow-capped mountains. The final leg of the train ride is the so-called Glacier Express, which serves assorted famous ski resorts such as Davos. Its name proves that the Swiss do, after all, have a sense of humour, as it should really be called the Glacial Express based on its true velocity. The scenery it passes is certainly very pretty, and you have plenty of time to admire it.

Schauenstein itself is just great, the dining area is split into two separate rooms, with the kitchen in between. This is not mass catering – the restaurant accommodates just 16 customers at lunch and 26 at dinner. The decor reflects the age of the building, with lots of wood paneling and impressively thick doors.

The wine cellar has around 3,000 bottles, presented in a thick tome. There was a wide selection of Swiss wines, but also plenty of the classics.

Lets talk food, we started our dinner:

Canapés included rocket sorbet with apple, with intense and well-balanced flavour. A potato and leek soup also had plenty of flavour.
Churros were excellent, with a spicy dip, while the best nibble was char, served on a cracker, simple but tasting superb.

Bread was made from scratch in the kitchen, a soft, doughy white bread, served warm with local butter. Just delicious.
Our first amuse-bouche was langoustine from Brittany, pan-fried and also served raw, with basil mousse and lemon espuma. On the side were delicate rice crisps and a lovely langoustine jelly with lime foam; the langoustines were of high quality, the lemon and lime elements works brilliant togehter.

Tuna and cucumber in various forms now appeared, including some raw tuna with avocado foam. Some tuna was seared, some served as sashimi, some marinated, each with different preparations of cucumber; all were of excellent quality. Veal tartare was next, served with sweetbread and also a deep fried piece of veal. The veal itself was lovely, but the star was a sweetcorn sauce, which had remarkable flavour and worked really well with the veal, with a sweetcorn powder adding a contrasting textural element.

Yummy and for me enough, I am happy.

Just a small dessert.

It was marinated mango and pineapple, refreshing, with passion fruit and mascarpone sorbet, but on the side was a dish of spectacularly rich chocolate fondant.

All dishes were well balanced, with appealing combinations of flavours, and some surprises mixed in with the familiar.

Enjoy.

Meet & Greet: Matt Harding