The largest of the five restaurants in the fairytale Hotel Gstaad Palace oozes beauty and artistic flair. If you find yourself sitting here of an evening, start by ordering a glass of champagne and a few oysters. Then sit back and soak up the atmosphere and ambient lighting. Maybe check out the skill of the serving staff as they carve and fillet meat in front of you. This is the place to come for inventive culinary creations, this is the place to come if you’ve got a craving for haute cuisine classics from around the world. Highlights include the beautifully thick and foamy lobster bisque with carefully shelled lobster tails, the home made foie gras terrine with mandarin and black garlic, the sole meunière, the salt-crusted sea bass and the châteaubriand with béarnaise sauce. This restaurant steeped in history and Culinary Director Franz Faeh are also famous for their extravagant buffets and barbecues on the Big Green Egg. We decided to go for the double slow-cooked Simmental veal cutlets and were suitably impressed by the crust on the outside and the tender meat that was still nice and pink on the inside. It’s no surprise to see caviar on the menu at an establishment of this calibre. Here it’s served as a simple dish with new potatoes, sour cream and chives or as a side with a signature Palace rainbow trout fillet with white wine sauce and boiled potatoes. Franz Faeh’s mighty Grand Marnier soufflé (which is also mighty fluffy) is a firm favourite amongst regular diners and restaurant critics alike.
Words Alex Kuehn
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