TRAVEL - Switzerland Highlights

Casual view of the valley, NBD. #nofilter

The final piece of this (much delayed) European travel highlight series includes some of the awesome regional food I got to sample in a trip to see Graham's grandparents at their chalet in the picturesque Lotschental valley, followed by a quick one night stay in Zurich, from where we were sadly flying out of to return to the States. After days of eating delicious but rich food all over France, I was looking forward to simpler, perhaps more rustic cuisine (except for the, uh, cheese everywhere but more about that later.)

Getting to the Lotschental itself from Lyon required three train journeys (with some tight changes!), a bus and a cable car trip up the side of a mountain. Once the hectic, six hour extragavanza was over, however, we were treated to absolutely pristine views, crisp mountain air and a delicious home cooked meal involving raclette cheese, more raclette, wine, more raclette, more wine and so on. 

A quick round up of foodie snaps from our time in Switzerland:

A regional specialty called käseschnitte which is kind of like a Swiss version of a croque monsieur, except the bread is soaked in wine - yeah, it's getting serious - before being covered in cheese and broiled. You can get different fillings, like this particular version which has ham and wild leeks (and a fried egg, obviously)

This is basically an excuse to show the crazy Lotschental view again but I swear, somehow the view and the mountain air makes beer taste better. This is one of many consumed throughout the trip.

We were very sad to leave the Lotschental but then we consoled ourselves by finding an Italian restaurant in Zurich and eating TRUFFLES TRUFFLES TRUFFLES TRUFFLES

Must be the Italian border's proximity but the pasta really was excellent. Al dente (and I didn't even have to do my douchey thing of asking for it extra chewy) is standard and super cheesy pesto.

Be sure to check out some of these spots and let me know if you have any other recommendations for the area!

Panoramarestaurant Zudili
3918 Wiler, Switzerland
It's kind of an apres-ski cafe bar at the top of the cable car you'll take to get up to the mountain. Absolutely heaving during the winter ski season but the view is spectacular and you can get a refreshing, if not overpriced (like everything in Switzerland), cold beer.

Restaurant Dorfkeller
3917 Kippel, Switzerland
Incredibly charming inn-type restaurant in the UNESCO-protected village of Kippel, which was about an hour's hike down the mountain from where were staying (not as scary as that might sound - everything is pretty well paved though the Euro signage can be confusing). Main thing you need to know is that they serve the wine soaked käseschnitte extravaganza which was a really good reward post-hike.

Cantinetta Antinori
Augustinergasse 25
8001 Zurich, Switzerland
If you need a respite from the onslaught of Swiss bread, cheese and beer by having the Italian version of those things, this place is exactly what you need. There are other Cantinetta restaurants in Florence, Moscow and Vienna too.