Roman Crkon, Head Chef at the Handeck Hotel and Nature Resort

Six restaurants in the Jungfrau Region have been awarded 15 or more points in the Gault Millau gourmet guide. Among them is the restaurant at the Handeck Hotel and Nature Resort. Roman Crkon is largely responsible for this achievement. We paid a visit to the 37-year-old head chef.

We’re sitting in the Handeck restaurant, enjoying the starter from the four-course gourmet menu: ‘Ceviche of Swiss salmon from Graubünden’ is what the menu says. And: calamansi and mandarin sphere / apple and rocket sorbet / coriander oil / pistachio couscous / shallot gel / herbs from the alpine garden. First things first: it tastes brilliant. The name ‘gourmet menu’ is no coincidence. We’re already looking forward to the rest of the course. But first things first.

The head chef is already waiting for us. Roman Crkon comes from Povazska Bystrica and was born in Slovakia. His love of cooking is no coincidence. “My father is also a trained chef, so I’ve had a connection to the catering industry since I was a child. I often spent time in restaurants and hotels – and always enjoyed watching my grandmother cook,” he tells us. Another of Roman Crkon’s passions is travelling. And so, after completing a four-year apprenticeship as a chef and obtaining his vocational baccalaureate, he decided to gain experience in kitchens abroad. He ended up in Switzerland, together with his now wife, Ivana. His first posts were in Laax and Saas Fee, before he moved to the Jungfrau Region for the first time in 2010. He spent three summer seasons working as a chef de partie at the historic Alpinhotel Grimsel Hospiz. In 2013, he was offered a year-round position with Grimselhotels. After two years, he became sous-chef at the Hotel and Nature Resort Handeck, and head chef in 2017. In winter, when the Handeck restaurant is closed, he leads the kitchen team at the Grimsel Hospiz.

When talking to Roman Crkon, it quickly becomes clear that a head chef has to deal with a lot of administrative work and is more often found outside the kitchen than inside it. Although, in Roman Crkon’s case, that’s only partly true. His office is, in fact, more or less in the kitchen. At the very least, he can see into the kitchen from his desk – as well as into the cold store and the larder. He’s usually first seen here at 8.30 am, when the ordered goods are delivered. This is followed by a brief initial meeting with the kitchen team. They discuss the day’s schedule. What still needs to be prepared? Have any groups booked? Do any allergies need to be taken into account? “Vegetarian, vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free – cooking has become more demanding,” says Roman Crkon, “and as a chef, you have to adapt to that.”

From the head chef right down to the dishwashers – Roman Crkon’s team consists of ten people. However, he doesn’t like to talk about the kitchen team. He prefers to talk about one big team. This includes his staff, the front-of-house staff, the reception staff – and, of course, his bosses, Grimselhotels manager Markus Meier and his wife Marianne. It’s not about pitting people against one another, but about working together. That’s important to Roman Crkon. “What’s the point of good food if the front-of-house staff aren’t doing a good job or the guests are treated unkindly?” When asked about his boss, he says: “Markus lets me get on with it. He gives me plenty of freedom and trusts me.” And what, in turn, does Markus Meier say about his culinary figurehead? “Roman knows his craft and is an expert when it comes to preparing meat. He is a calm and level-headed department head who never loses sight of his goals. A passionate and accomplished chef, always coming up with new creative ideas and maintaining a consistently high standard of quality.”
But back to the daily routine: after the meeting, new orders need to be placed, invoices paid, and duty rosters and timesheets drawn up. Next door in the kitchen, meals are already being prepared for the Handeck canteen at Grimselwelt, which Roman Crkon and his team also supply.

Before we head into the kitchen, Roman Crkon wants to show us his herb garden. He redesigned it whilst the restaurant was closed during the coronavirus pandemic. From thyme to rosemary, verbena and curry – and lots of flowers. Here, Roman Crkon always finds just the right ingredient to enhance his dishes.
Speaking of the COVID-19 pandemic: the Handeck Hotel and Nature Resort has weathered it relatively well. The reason: 80 per cent of the guests come from Switzerland. Among them are many children, “because we used to be a family hotel – and we still are, to some extent,” says Roman Crkon. For example, the children’s buffet has been retained to this day. Roman Crkon and his team also regularly cater for wedding and birthday parties. This provides planning certainty, as à la carte guests tend to book at short notice and are very dependent on the weather.

Before we head into the kitchen, Roman Crkon wants to show us his herb garden. He redesigned it whilst the restaurant was closed during the coronavirus pandemic. From thyme to rosemary, verbena and curry – and lots of flowers. Here, Roman Crkon always finds just the right ingredient to enhance his dishes.
Speaking of the COVID-19 pandemic: the Handeck Hotel and Nature Resort has weathered it relatively well. The reason: 80 per cent of the guests come from Switzerland. Among them are many children, “because we used to be a family hotel – and we still are, to some extent,” says Roman Crkon. For example, the children’s buffet has been retained to this day. Roman Crkon and his team also regularly cater for wedding and birthday parties. This provides planning certainty, as à la carte guests tend to book at short notice and are very dependent on the weather.

The bad weather is, in fact, the reason why things aren’t very busy today. It’s something Roman Crkon doesn’t like in the long run. “I like a bit of action; otherwise I get bored quickly,” he says. “But not chaos,” he adds straight away. In the kitchen, it’s immediately noticeable that there’s no shouting going on; on the contrary, it’s quiet, and everyone knows what they have to do. “I don’t like noise. My team has to work quickly, but calmly.” He describes himself as a level-headed boss. He also describes himself as fair and pleasant. You can believe him. Nobody in the kitchen contradicts him. That’s a good sign, at least. He put his team together himself. “I’m constantly on the lookout for young talent.” He often finds them in his old home town. The language spoken in the kitchen is German, whenever possible.

What does the head chef enjoy doing most? “I love working with fish,” he says. And outside the kitchen, he enjoys coming up with new menu ideas. Yes, outside the kitchen. Roman Crkon sketches his menus first, before bringing his sketches to life in the kitchen. He likes to play with colours – from the plate right down to every single flower that adorns it. “It lets me give free rein to my imagination, and I love that.” He waxes lyrical about his job. “I can make people happy; that’s one of the best things about my work.”

The kitchen at Restaurant Handeck opens at 11.30 am. When we pop in, the lunch rush is long over and preparations for the evening are gradually getting under way. The meat needs to be prepared well in advance. A pea and lentil soup and a wild herb soup are simmering away on the hob, whilst a truffle jus and a raisin foam are being prepared alongside them. Until five minutes ago, we didn’t really feel hungry, but that has now changed abruptly. Another thing that stands out is the heat, even though there are only four people in the kitchen at the moment. “Yes, when six or seven people are working and we’re cooking around 80 à la carte meals, it can get very hot indeed,” says Roman Crkon.
Every plate that goes over the counter is checked. By the head chef himself or – in his absence – by the sous-chef. Roman Crkon refines the plate a little further, wiping away a bit of sauce here, decorating it with a flower there. “A perfectionist?” I ask. “Yes, almost too much so,” comes the reply. Although a Gault-Millau chef does, of course, need to have a certain degree of perfectionism.