Roland Trettl meets Heiko Nieder

Swiss precision

Heiko Nieder, a chef de cuisine in Zurich who is a native of north Germany, amazes Roland Trettl with his absolutely unique way of combining old, familiar products in surprising new ways.

Heiko Nieder, a chef de cuisine in Zurich who is a native of north Germany, amazes Roland Trettl with his absolutely unique way of combining old, familiar products in surprising new ways.

What use are entrenched preconceptions if they no longer apply? Take Switzerland, for instance – mountains, banks, and big shots, or exorbitantly expensive and completely dead grand hotels. At least you know what to expect.

Next thing I'm standing in my secret favourite city, Zurich, outside the 100-plus year old, extremely venerable Dolder Grand, spectacularly modernised by celebrity architect Lord Norman Foster at a cost of 440 million Swiss francs – and my preconceptions are blown away, starting with the youthfully smart hotel manager, who rapidly takes in my garish, fashionable attire – ripped jeans and baseball cap – and immediately switches to an informal form of address. Obviously Swiss hotel managers are not what they used to be either. It's pretty much the same with the hotel restaurant called, with stunning simplicity, "The Restaurant", whose luxurious interior I enter without inhibition. The walls are clad ingot-deep in silver leaf and then – just to be on the safe side – hung with originals by Dalí, Richter, Tàpies and Lempicka.

When we come to the 37 year-old north German chef de cuisine, Heiko Nieder, so gifted is his cooking that the famous restaurant paintings suddenly become mere posters.

Take his arrangement of mozzarella, tuna, raspberry and mint foam. It tastes tremendous. And the fascinating thing is that everyone knows every product in this dish, but the composition is totally different. Everyone knows that mozzarella needs the acidic freshness of tomatoes, but who would have thought that a raspberry would deliver the same acidity? And the idea of replacing basil with mint – it sounds so simple, but requires a clear thought process. Like Heiko's oysters with top class soft cheese brie de Meaux, apples, fried onions and cinnamon. Brie de Meaux placed on top of the oysters like a foam sounds like a culinary assassination, but tastes sensational. As does the celeriac foam, which is given structure by the celeriac brunoise, and elevated by the addition of sea urchin tongues, wafer-thin slices of chorizo and Greek basil. Ultimately the products are prepared conventionally; it's the composition that is avant-garde.

It's irrelevant whether a chef innovates using the very latest techniques, or if he derives his creativity from composition rather than technique. What's important is that you don't get a sense of how creative and witty the chef thinks he is with every bite. That's why I'm going to mention another "lowly" dish as an example – poached char on a delicate vegetable jelly, sprinkled with camomile-infused rapeseed oil. On the plate it looks almost obsequiously modest, its sheer brilliance is only revealed in the mouth. This is exactly the dish that I will use to describe Heiko to my lads at Hangar-7 in Salzburg. He's German in general and north German specifically, and as such very proper, very precise in his work and decidedly considered when he speaks. Almost like a good Swiss man. It would be ridiculous for me not to hang on to a couple of my preconceptions.

Photos: Jürg Waldmeier, Helge Kirchberger / Red Bull Photofiles