Christian Vogel: Michelin-starred chef at "Birdy’s"

From skiing talent to chef at "Birdy’s by Achtien" 

Had he not injured himself so badly, Christian Vogel’s career would have been completely different. He was an ambitious alpine skier, who even completed training sessions with the current Olympic champion Michelle Gisin. But at the age of 15, a torn cruciate ligament stopped him in his tracks. 

Then he came up with the idea of turning his hobby into a profession: cooking. "I’ve always enjoyed cooking. My parents had a cheese dairy and a delicatessen with 200 types of cheese in Goldau, so I came into contact with good food early on. At the age of eight, I made my first caramelized almonds because I liked them so much," Vogel explains. 

Now the 31-year-old is the chef at "Birdy’s by Achtien". The top restaurant in Brunnen in the canton of Schwyz has already been awarded 15 points by GaultMillau and a Michelin star. 

Sometimes Vogel still performs as a DJ 

Anyone getting to know Christian Vogel will meet a man with an open mind and friendly charisma who is always a bit of a live wire. And that’s not by chance: As a teenager he built loudspeakers or made a light organ for a Halloween party. "I was very interested in how electricity works at the time. I wanted to see what happened," he says. 

Today, Vogel still lives out his second passion from time to time at his restaurant when he stands behind the turntables himself. But his great passion has been cooking for some time. And while doing so, he fully lives out his love of experimenting. 

Fascination with cauliflower  

On his journey to finding his own style, the chef with spiky blond hair studied the texture of vegetables and possibilities to manipulate them in depth: What happens when sugar is converted by steam? What is the cell structure of celery and what can be done with it? 

Some of his reflections are more reminiscent of physics and chemistry than cooking school. "Textures fascinated me early on," says Vogel. "Even a cauliflower offers so many more possibilities than an entrecôte," he thinks – that’s why fish and meat only play a minor role in his restaurant as a side dish. There are two types of menu on offer: dishes to share under the name "Birdy’s Choice". And four evenings a week, Vogel and his team serve a surprise menu at the food bar. 

Inspiration by celebrity chef Ferran Adrià 

One important source of inspiration for Vogel was top chef Ferran Adrià, who took Michelin-starred cuisine to a new level in the 2000s with what is known as molecular cuisine. In the second year of his training, Vogel got a set of Adrià’s "Texturas" products, with which he could transform the physical state of ingredients and turn flavors into a whole new experience. 

One of Adrià’s most spectacular techniques is the "sphere", a kind of candy with a gel-like outer skin and a liquid core. "But when using these products, I also noticed that in this case the texture is often changed at the expense of taste," says Vogel. So his mission was clear: From then on, the chef wanted to process vegetables and other natural products in such a way that they retained their intense flavor, but still surprised his guests. "A foam and something crispy in a dish can make a lot of difference," explains Vogel.

Fields and forests are Vogel’s pantry

If you’re picturing the chef as an introverted lab nerd, you’d be wrong. The Michelin-starred chef loves the outdoors and is out on the road, on skis or on a wakeboard as often as possible. And he uses fields and forests as an organic pantry for his work. 

"As a skier, I spent a lot of time outdoors and am very intensively aware of sudden breaks in the weather, the changing seasons and lots of other things," says Vogel. The peace and quiet outside give him new strength. "I have sharpened my understanding of nature over the years. I can see what grows where and what’s in season." 

Locally sourced products are automatically served at "Birdy’s by Achtien": In the summer of 2024, Vogel picked eight kilograms of rowan berries and five kilograms of elderberries in Andermatt and in Brunnen on his own doorstep.

Vogel is a source of creativity 

Vogel says he would never run out of ideas. He finds being creative easy. In his kitchen, he vacuum cooks a red cabbage leaf in the rowan berry syrup, then fills it with chicory, pears and smoked parsley root cream and finally slices smoked, dried chestnut finely over the dish like seasoning. "For me, it’s logical what goes together. But of course it’s also important to explain this to the guest," he says. 

He fulfils this expectation of himself very well. With a mischievous smile, Vogel says that a kitchen like his is "special" in central Switzerland. The clientele doesn’t seem to mind, many of them have become regular guests. "The feedback is good," says the "Birdy’s" chef. "And I can cook whatever’s in my head. That makes me happy." 

The cooking researcher and collector then gets on with the dessert, for which he prepares smoked beetroot, which he has rehydrated in walnut syrup and arranged with dairy ice cream and Trinidad Tortuga chocolate from Felchlin, among other things. "I am bursting with creativity, it never takes long for me to come up with enough ideas."