When the garden rests, the restaurant also goes into hibernation. For a restaurant that cooks with what grows on its own soil, that’s only logical. But now that spring is turning to summer, it’s time for the Oz to wake up, freshen up and head into its second season rested.
“Oz” – the name is Rhaeto-Romanic and means “today” – belongs to the growing gastronomy company of Andreas Caminada, probably the most prominent top chef in Switzerland. He holds three Michelin stars for his cuisine at Schloss Schauenstein, located in the tiny town of Fürstenau in the canton of Graubünden. The “IGNIV” family also belongs to the Caminadaversum with their cheerful star cuisine to share. There are now offshoots in St. Moritz, Bad Ragaz, Zurich and Bangkok.
In addition, Andreas Caminada founded the Fundaziun Uccelin in 2016 together with his wife Sarah. The goal: to send talented waiters and chefs around the world to gain top-class experience thanks to the network of top chefs and to enrich the Swiss gastronomy of the future. Caminada also needs talented young people for the “Casa Caminada” next to the three-star restaurant, a neo-rustic gem that is completely devoid of deer antlers.
Graubünden specialties such as Capun chard rolls or dried pear ravioli are offered here at the highest level, and bread specialties made from untreated flour come from the bakery’s wood-fired oven. And in the “culinary cellar” there are countless colorful jars with preserved fruit and vegetables from the permaculture garden nearby.
Chef Timo Fritsche in the greenhouse of “Oz”
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Image: Gaudenz Danuser
Over 80 tomato varieties alone
This garden made possible the latest addition, the vegetarian “Oz”. For Andreas Caminada, the opening of this chef’s table restaurant, which seats a dozen people, was a logical development. He sees “Oz” not as a mere meatless address, but as a “culinary driving force” for his entire team. For years, the qualified alternative practitioner Thomas Monn took care of the garden, the soil, the useful earthworms in it and what should grow on it out of sheer passion. He is now employed as the responsible gardener and master of an unbelievable variety of vegetables, fruits and herbs from which the Caminada team can draw. More than 80 tomato varieties alone grow here, small yellow as well as purple oval or large red beefsteak tomatoes. There are also a wide variety of cabbage plants, smooth or with pink frills, naturalized exotic species such as physalis, pumpkins, edible flowers… At peak times, the garden has 700 varieties.
The chef de cuisine at Oz, Timo Fritsche, who previously cooked alongside Andreas Caminada, works closely with the permaculture garden. He can consult with Thomas Monn and determine the cultivation plan together with him. After his daily forays into the garden, he sometimes spontaneously incorporates freshly sprouting “babies” such as radish blossoms or tiny cucumbers into the vegetarian dishes. With his kitchen, Timo Fritsche would like to pay tribute to the work of the gardener, as he says.
In the basement of the “Casa Caminada” the garden is stored in an inlaid form.
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Bild: Anna Burghardt
The “Oz” is located in the old “Remisa”, the former coach house, opposite the entrance to Schloss Schauenstein. The doors are so low that even people of average height have to watch their heads. The intimate setting in which the chef devotes himself to the produce of the garden is emphasized by the dark blue of the walls. The U-shaped counter made of light sycamore wood around the central kitchen is an eye-catcher.
Three hours of the working day go into non-alcoholic drinks
The protagonists of the nine-course menu: fresh produce from the garden, supplemented where necessary with vegetables from long-standing suppliers – after all, the garden is still under construction. There is also pickled, preserved, fermented food from the previous season. In autumn it was mostly cabbage, turnips and winter salads that Fritsche and his assistant processed in front of the guests – into dishes such as braised chicory with saffron nut butter sauce and mayonnaise with black garlic. Now, in the new season, peas, herbs and rhubarb are on the agenda. The Pea/Watercress/Lime dish features grilled pea cream, accompanied by a fermented green tomato salsa, fresh grilled peas and radish pods. It is finalized with young pea shoots, lots of fresh mint and a lime foam.
The pea/watercress/lime dish
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Image: © Gaudenz Danuser
Another dish focuses on Thomas Monn’s carrots from the previous season: These were fermented in a kimchi marinade, which means they can be kept for a long time, just like in Korea. In the “Oz”, a carrot soup is added before the eyes of the guests, seasoned with sea buckthorn and lemongrass, as well as a refreshingly spicy kimchi carrot granité. The permaculture garden contributes freshly picked coriander blossoms in fragrant white as decoration.
Carrots fermented in kimchi marinade
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Bild: Anna Burghardt
A lot of effort is put into the “Oz” when it comes to non-alcoholic beverages. Almost three hours a day, so they say in the prep kitchen, they devote themselves to kombucha, water kefir and other fermented drinks. Here, too, the team often visits the garden and is inspired by herbs such as clary sage or cola herb to come up with liquid ideas. The results are a delicately sparkling water kefir based on rhubarb syrup with a rhubarb and rose dessert. Or a drink made from cream and fermented tomato water. A salty pea-based lemonade, meanwhile, hints at the close connection between chefs and the garden: when peas are on the menu, that means lots of empty peapods. Instead of throwing them away, the “Oz” team presses them into green juice, which they let ferment briefly.