Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Valentine’s Day: the mind and heart turn to wine and roses, wonderful Swiss chocolates, and, if your budget allows, a magical night at a special restaurant – this is a gentle reminder that you don’t need 14 February to think of these delights. Love knows no season. Swiss chocolates, by the way, have been selling well, year-round.

Photo: water wall and winter garden East-West Hotel, Geneva

Geneva has never been short on great places to go but a quiet revolution has been going on in Paquis that is turning it into a quartier to compete with Carouge for a healthy mix of chic, charm and liveliness, perfect for romance at any age.

The recently opened East-West Hotel’s Sens restaurant and The Grill, newly open at the Kempinski Grand Hotel Geneva on the edge of the district, offer two excellent romantic dining interludes, if not for Valentine’s then another evening or even weekend, as these are two of the most interesting new additions to Geneva’s hotel options. [Ed. note: Kempinski has a Valentine’s Day special offer that is good until Saturday, 16 February.]

Paquis, for those who don’t live near it, is a name that has provoked twitters for years: It’s the city’s red light district, with a few seedy bars and cheap hotels, sandwiched between Cornavin train station and Lake Geneva. As international city red light districts go, it was always small and pretty tame. Even a recent apparent love triangle murder in the area shocked locals for days because in Paquis, at night, ça bouge, things happen, but crime is not common.

Photo: the Hotel de Rivoli was completely renovated but its 19th century stone stairwell was kept by the East-West and jazzed up

For the past four or five years, Manotel has been quietly upgrading its several hotels in the neighbourhood, on the basis that Paquis’s great central location offers travellers convenience. Manotel prices are affordable to the average business traveller. City records show that hotel stays are rising.

Small  ethnic restaurants, many of them very good, have sprung up, notably in the area between the train station and the rue des Paquis that is bordered on one side by Rue de la Navigation and on the other by the rue des Alpes and Sigismond. The prostitutes are still in the neighbourhood but they are now a minority on the streets at night.

A serious boost to the neighbourhood came at the start of 2008, when the faded old Rivoli Hotel was reborn as the ultra-chic East-West Hotel, with its Sens restaurant under the direction of the much-touted twin Pourcel brothers from Montpellier, France.

Also see:

• Interview, Anne-Marie Morrongiello, "Making a home for world travellers," owner of East-West Hotel
• Interview, Benjamin Marais, "Starting point for wine: find what you like," wine steward, Kempinski Grand Hotel, Geneva

The facade of this new member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World chain is discretion itself, to the point where it’s easy to miss it. Inside, luxurious, richly pleasing yet startling colour combinations leap out, but a home away from home feel to the place is quickly apparent thanks to the cozy dining areas and the library, a joy for anyone who thinks staying in a hotel should be combined with reading interesting books and watching good videos. True, it’s not cheap, but it’s not as expensive as some of the city’s five-star "palaces" which don’t offer the same level of interestingness.

The food at East-West: this was a pleasant surprise at a recent open house for journalists because the extraordinary meal consisted of one small, wonderful tidbit after another and another: tapas have arrived and suit Geneva!

Given the Mediterranean background of the chef brothers, who bear an eerie resemblance to Dupond and Dupont, aka Thomson and Thompson of Tintin fame, and their well-publicized love of travel and of fusion cuisine, this should not surprise.

It did, however, because it was quickly apparent that the option to go into the bar or restaurant and eat as little or as much as you like, spend as long or as short a time as you wish, is a great addition to eating out in the heart of Geneva.

Wifi is free to restaurant customers, on demand. The appeal of a solo or duo working city lunch here should not be overlooked.

The only word for the rooms at East-West is charming. Some are more oriental than others, some will suit masculine tastes, others are more feminine. A strong point is the single rooms, a touch of civilization in a working world where travelling on your own can land you in rooms that make you want to go home.

Single business travellers to Geneva take note: get the company to pay for this hotel.

Photos: The Grill, Kempinski Grand Hotel Geneva, at night.

Sometimes however, you want the big banana when you travel and the other born-again hotel, the Kempinski Grand Hotel Geneva, fits the bill. For a hotel with 400-plus rooms the service remains friendly and personal. The hotel has been reopening in stages since the Kempinski Group took over the Noga Hilton, with some rooms ready in mid-2007 and the official opening in October 2007.

The new Grill restaurant caters to a young, lively crowd that is looking for good food, wine and a touch of class.

The Grill, visited on the eve of its own opening in late January 2008, lives up to its mission of simplicity and elegance. Mother-of-pearl and burnished copper strip tiles on walls, tables at comfortable distances, deep rich reds and strokes of black that lighten the room rather than drag it down, toasty warm oak floorboards: Tarek Hegazy, of AB Living Design, has given it a decor that is a 21st century blend of clean new lines and old-fashioned warmth. The room contrasts well with the creams, silvers and open spaces of the rest of the hotel.

The menu is uncomplicated and the food is excellent, helped along by an open-to-diners kitchen grill, with fish and meat visible in the refrigerators behind the chefs who cook in front of you. Their little black hats are a fun departure from the traditional tall white ones, setting the tone.

Chefs Olivier Villette and Rodolphe Collet have designed a menu that uses classic French cuisine as a starting point but the foods are lighter and brighter.

A case in point is the pâté pantin whose green tomato chutney, ginger and lime would startle grand-maman in her kitchen. A word from the party who asked for a lighter starter: the house-smoked salmon could not be better.

The provenance of the meat reminds you that what you’re eating is the real thing: select from Swiss Simmental, French Charolais, US beef or Australian Wagyu Kobe. You’ll also have to decide on the source of your lamb, duckling, chicken and fish.

The wine list will be under development for several months, but it is and will remain one of the strong points of the restaurant, designed to appeal in particular to younger diners who are not wine snobs or connaisseurs but who would like to make sure they are getting a very good wine that will marry well with the food.

Photo: Kempinski wine steward Benjamin Marais

The wine list boasts that it is organized by "flavours" rather than the more conventional regions and appellations. If you’re used to skimming a list of Burgundies and New World wines, the initial look at whites that are "fresh and fruity" or "fine and elegant" is a bit disconcerting, but the menu is easy to follow and the wine steward’s counsel, if you ask for it, is excellent. For steward Bejamin Marais, the key is to make sure that guests discover the "magic" of wine.

Ed. note: a meal for two with a glass of wine in the dining room or at the tapas bar in the East-West or at The Grill, Grand Hotel Kempinski: count on spending CHF 70-150.

Room rates, from CHF350 at the East-West and from CHF600 at the Kempinski.