Peter Marty

by Dr. Iain Corness

The visiting chef at Bruno’s Restaurant is a relatively young Swiss, Peter Marty. A very pleasant and personable man, he enjoys the interchange of ideas in the kitchen, and rates meeting new people and chatting with customers as one of the good parts of his profession. There are many downsides, however, so much so that he does not want his son to follow him, but when you discuss this in depth with Peter, he personally would not change from being a chef.
His own direction in life was making itself evident by the time he was 12 years old. Though there were no culinary professionals in his family, his mother was a good cook, and Peter found himself drawn to the kitchen to help his mother.
The natural progression continued and he was apprenticed as a chef after leaving school. Like all chefs, he had to begin at the bottom, cleaning cooking pots and the following the recipes for dishes, supervised by his tutors. However, he can remember when he first created his own recipe. He was 20 years old, and still an apprentice. “It was something with fish,” said Peter, but he could not remember exactly what. He went on, tapping his forehead as he spoke, “I have a lot of recipes in my head,” he said.
Peter, in fact, is well known for his culinary innovations and I asked him did he write down his recipes, or were they all kept in his head. “Some I don’t need to write down, like lobster with black truffles, but others I will jot down the ideas and my wife writes them down for me when I get home.”
His inspiration for new ideas can come at any time, but a sleepless night can often bring its own rewards, with yet another recipe to be tried the following day. “I keep a paper and pen beside the bed, for those. Sometimes there is nothing for one or two weeks, then one every two to three days. Sometimes I just see things in the markets.” However, it would be foolish to expect every one to be a winner with the diners, but Chef Peter says that 60-70 percent of the new ideas do work.
After serving time in the best restaurants in Zurich, including famed Michelin three star kitchens, Peter decided he did not want to end his days chained to an oven in Switzerland. There was more to life than that. To become more independent, he opened up a catering company which produces gourmet meals for small dinner parties, but for the past few years has been working throughout the world as a visiting chef.
Being a chef is a portable skill and allows for travel and for many is one of the advantages of taking up cooking as a profession. Chef Peter also enjoys that side of his professional life, but said that the best part was talking to customers who had enjoyed his food. He looks for subtlety in flavors and his idea of a lemon sauce is certainly not cream with a dash of lemon juice. He becomes very expressive, saying, “When I make a lemon sauce I use lemongrass, ginger, (another couple of ingredients I did not have the time to write down), chicken stock, coriander and only a little bit of cream. I think this is special,” he said. “I like it so that people are not sure just what it is.”
If the diners enjoying his creations make the best part of his time in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove, it is not difficult to imagine what is the worst – when the customer doesn’t like it. Chef Peter smiled and said, “But people like my food, thank God or (remembering where he was) thank Buddha!”
As a visiting chef there are other advantages, from his point of view. “I meet new people, I meet new cooks. This is great. We exchange information, so that when I go back to Switzerland I have recipes from other countries, like Thailand, Vietnam (where he was before coming to Pattaya) and China.” He has also enjoyed himself so much in the two weeks he had been here, when I interviewed him, that he wants to come back again next year.
Of course, there are some drawbacks too (as there always are in life) and one of those is working in strange kitchens where implements and supplies are not readily to hand. However, this is not such a problem in Thailand. “When I need something, I just ask. This is easier in Thailand because you have a lot of people in the kitchen. In Bruno’s there are 15 cooks, but in Zurich there would only be eight for this size of restaurant.”
Since he obviously does enjoy his profession, I asked Peter if he would recommend his son follow him into the kitchen, but he said no. “This job is very hard. You are making food every day. It is long hours, maybe 14, 15, 16 hours a day. It is hot in the kitchen and every day you have to work at full power. You can never let your standards fall.”
Before interviewing Peter, I had tried one of his special items at lunch, which was a dish featuring sun-dried tomatoes with chilled gazpacho, US scallops and double cream. It was so obvious to the waiter that I was enjoying it that he brought over a spoon, so that I could get the last of the sauce! It was that good.
Despite the love of travel and interesting places to work, he still looks at Zurich as his home, though he is not closing the door to opportunities. “Sometimes when I see this (Bruno’s), I could be tempted to set up a restaurant here!” Would we be that lucky?
Peter Marty is a culinary creative, there is no doubt about that, and will be at Bruno’s till the end of this month. He is worth the visit!