At the lakeside entrance of the five-star Beau-Rivage Palace hotel in Lausanne, you will find its Café Beau-Rivage. I recently attended a special press lunch at this elegant brasserie. We had hoped to take advantage of the welcoming terrasse that day, which faces Lac Léman (aka Lake Geneva). Unfortunately, the so-called “Saints de glace” (ice saints) had other plans! The damp, cool weather forced us inside to the restaurant’s bright Belle Epoque dining room—an alternative that did not disappoint.

Chef Loïc Vanneville has led the kitchen at the Café Beau-Rivage for about one and a half years. His menu takes inspiration from brasserie-style dining with dishes like sole meunière and profiteroles. It also features high-quality Swiss ingredients, such as pike from the lake, goat cheese from Mont-Gibloux and green asparagus from Valais. Entrées (starters) generally range in price from CHF 25 to 36 and main courses from CHF 42 to 88. This restaurant is easily one of the most expensive brasseries in Lausanne.

Lunch at the Café Beau-Rivage

For the press lunch I attended at the Café Beau-Rivage, the restaurant served us the following four dishes after an amuse-bouche. To accompany our meal, we enjoyed an Oeil de Perdrix wine from Maison Carrée in Auvernier (Neuchâtel).

• White asparagus from the Landes region, Amalfi lemon royale custard, grated homemade bottarga. It was a wonderful, light start to the meal with the umami flavors of the bottarga complimenting the white asparagus.

• Pike and lake crayfish cake, reduced crayfish sauce, smoked pike roe, shellfish oil. This was my favorite dish of the lunch. The “cake” was like a quenelle de brochet revisitée, pairing the delicate taste of pike with tender crayfish. The velvety sauce was the perfect match for crusty slices of bread.

• Swiss veal tenderloin smoked with hay, green peas and fresh morels. Another saucy dish with fresh spring vegetables and a quality cut of veal.

• Gariguette strawberry and basil pavlova. This interpretation of a pavlova reminded me of a Swiss meringue shaped like a deep vol-au-vent pastry shell. The presentation was stunning, from the graphic design on the plate to the tiny elderflower blossoms on the sliced strawberries. Inside, the pastry chef added diced strawberries in a whipped cream.

With impeccable service throughout from the thoughtful team at the Café Beau-Rivage, as you can see, this was a special lunch. Imagine when you can enjoy it on the terrasse!

Café Beau-Rivage , Place du Port 17-19, 1006 Lausanne, cafe@brp.ch, +41 (0)21 613 33 30.

Open every day from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. for lunch and from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. for dinner.

Full disclosure: I attended this press lunch at the Café Beau-Rivage as a guest of the Beau-Rivage Palace. The thoughts and opinions expressed in this article, as always, are purely my own.