Mr Violier's apparent suicide came just weeks after his Restaurant de l'Hotel de Ville in Crissier, near the southwestern Swiss city of Lausanne, was crowned the best of 1,000 top eateries across 48 countries ranked by France's La Liste. The ranking was seen as the French foreign ministry's answer to the Britain-based World's 50 Best Restaurants. Some saw it as launched out of pique after not a single French eatery reached the top ten of the UK-based table.