Chef Gero Porstein returns to collaborate after eighteen years
During its seasonal closure, Waldhaus Sils's chef reunites with an old collaborator for a four hands dinner that bridges nearly two decades of culinary partnership.
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When Waldhaus Sils steps back from service, certain reunions become possible. Chef Gero Porstein seized the seasonal pause to return to the kitchen alongside Ralf von der Heyde at Hotel & Restaurant zum Schneggen in Reinach AG, a partnership born again after eighteen years apart. The two had worked together at the Carlton Hotel in St. Moritz, and this four hands dinner became an opportunity to weave that shared history into five courses that moved between memory and invention.
The kitchen itself tells the story of collaboration: white plates lined the pass, each receiving careful hands, garnishes of bright greens and golden crisps positioned with the precision that comes only from years of working at the same level. Savoury elements emerged across the evening’s progression, cocoa dusted pastries encasing tender vegetables, glossy spheres of concentrated flavour beside them, each plate a small conversation between two kitchens and two decades of parallel experience.
What unfolds in such moments transcends mere technique. The shared language of chefs who have worked together before moves without explanation; a glance holds volumes. The presence of familiar faces around the tables, the genuine warmth exchanged in that bright kitchen under its even light, suggested something beyond the culinary exchange itself. Both kitchens understand that hospitality, at its truest, is built on generosity and the willingness to open doors for others, even when one’s own kitchen has momentarily closed.
Waldhaus Sils resumes full service when winter deepens in Engadin.
Imagery courtesy of Waldhaus Sils (@waldhaussils).
