Swiss chef André Jaeger on his Hong Kong years and why he had to leave even though he loved it
- In 1975, after four years at The Peninsula, in Hong Kong, the chef returned to Switzerland to take over his parents’ restaurant, Fischerzunft
- But running his own business was not easy, and it wasn’t until he made some additions to the menu that things changed
Describe your childhood. “I was lucky growing up in the farmhouse restaurant, Fischerzunft, in Schaffhausen [in northern Switzerland], where my parents worked. I went to school in a small village with 200 inhabitants and home smelled of fresh food – we were surrounded by the delicious food that would be served to the guests.”
When did you realise you wanted to become a chef? “By the age of 12. My grandmother was an excellent cook and when our parents didn’t have time for us, we would go to our grandparents. I was the one who stayed most of the time in the kitchen with my grandmother, helping her or tasting what she was preparing. She would go to her garden and pick fresh peas, and I would help her to shell them and cook them with mashed potatoes and roast veal for lunch or dinner.”
What was your apprenticeship like? “I was 15 when I started my three-year apprenticeship in [Beau-Rivage Palace], a five-star hotel in Lausanne. Everything was new for me, like shrimp and lobster. I had never seen caviar before and they used to serve it in the original tins that we brought out to the guests. We would weigh the tin before it went out and then weigh it when it came back and charge the guest [according to how much they ate] but not without us taking a spoon for ourselves!”
Tell us about your time in Hong Kong. “I was ready to leave Switzerland at the age of 23. It had become much too small for me and I wanted to do and see something else. I applied to the St Regis in New York and The Peninsula in Hong Kong after reading brochures and magazines at École Hôteliôère de Lausanne [a hospitality management school].
“The Peninsula’s general manager, Peter Gautschi, called me soon after I had written, in January 1971. He did a quick interview with me over the phone, then hired me as assistant food and beverage manager to start in March. I had to apply for a work permit and in those days there was no internet so it had to be done by telegraph, speed mail and phone.
“When I packed my suitcase I was so ignorant – I brought some free-time clothes, underwear, two shirts, one blazer, two pairs of flannel pants. When I arrived in March, it was blistering hot and humid. I was driven to the hotel in a Rolls-Royce; in those days, The Peninsula had eight Silver Shadows.
