650 kilos of the finest sea­food. André Jaeger is a legend! At the „Fischerzunft“ in Schaffhausen, he coo­ked for 19 points for decades—delighting his loy­al guests twice a year with his magni­fi­cent fish buf­fet. Over 40 years ago, a guest encou­ra­ged him to tra­vel to Brittany hims­elf and purcha­se lob­ster direct­ly. For car enthu­si­ast Jaeger, this was no pro­blem: „I bought a ref­ri­ge­ra­ted truck from the bank­rupt­cy office in Diessenhofen, dro­ve to Brittany, and retur­ned with over 1,000 kilo­grams of sea fish, lob­ster, crabs, and mus­sels in the coo­ling com­part­ment. I actual­ly only wan­ted to host a lob­ster evening, but it tur­ned into the fish buf­fet!“ However, reti­re­ment is not an opti­on for such a pas­sio­na­te chef as Jaeger. That’s why his fish buf­fet continues—in March at the Rôtisserie of the „Storchen.“ Bianchi is his sup­plier: 650 kilos of fish are ordered!

MSC seal for sus­tainable fishing. André Jaeger says about his appear­ance at the ele­gant „Living Circle“ hotel: „I am tre­men­dous­ly exci­ted about the fish buf­fet. This week I was at Bianchi in Zuffikon and wit­nessed the ref­ri­ge­ra­ted trucks arri­ving from Brittany. Everything the heart desi­res is the­re: loup de mer, rouget, mon­k­fi­sh, tur­bot. Those deep red gills and tho­se glas­sy eyes! That is the qua­li­ty I enjoy eating mys­elf and that I want to prepa­re for my guests. I am a visu­al per­son; when I see all the­se pro­ducts, ide­as and inspi­ra­ti­on for new dis­hes come to me.“ For his fish buf­fet at Hotel Storchen, André Jaeger uses only what is cer­ti­fi­ed with the MSC seal: „We have a respon­si­bi­li­ty; the fish are all ‚pêche à la ligne,‘ mea­ning caught from small boats. I am com­mit­ted to sus­tainable fishing.“ He says this calm­ly, wit­hout appearing preachy.

Dream team André & Cyrille. André Jaeger wro­te this year’s menu tog­e­ther with Frenchman Cyrille Anizan, the 14-point chef of the „Rôtisserie.“ „We dis­cus­sed a gre­at deal with each other. In the end, the menu works for both of us.“ Dishes such as „Octopus with bread salad à la Provençale“ or „Moules mari­niè­res à la Poulette“ are inspi­red by Cyrille. Jaeger: „For the guest, the­re is a bit more Provence and a bit less Asian cui­sine on the buf­fet. And this year we are working tog­e­ther. Last year, every sin­gle fish went through my hands.“ 

Premiere with sal­mon from Lostallo. New on the buf­fet: Swiss sal­mon from the fish farm in Lostallo GR. Jaeger will cook it who­le at low tem­pe­ra­tu­re in the oven and ser­ve it as a warm appe­ti­zer with an egg-tar­ra­gon remou­la­de! The fish farm in the Italian-spea­king part of Graubünden is distin­gu­is­hed by sus­tainable fish far­ming. The sal­mon grows in fresh moun­tain water wit­hout anti­bio­tics and che­micals. The distances are short; the fresh­ness is unmat­ched. „I have alre­a­dy tried the Swiss sal­mon; the qua­li­ty is fan­ta­stic. I have not pre­pared it mys­elf yet; this will be a premiere.“