Kitchen Around in Zermatt

by Andrea Warburton

Zermatt has an abundance of restaurants to choose from with a variety of styles, so it is difficult to decide where to start.  Luckily,  a local event planner, Marco Godat, had a bright idea while eating in the kitchen of a restaurant where he had organised a wedding.  He loved the idea of being 'backstage'and seeing the craziness of how a restaurant kitchen works and thought others would be interested in this too.  After approaching restaurants that were open to new ideas the Kitchen Around tour was realised.

Starting at Cervo mountain resort, our table for four was snuggled in at the end of the kitchen with a view over all of the action.  When booking, we attempted to make it for five, but once we were ensconced in our seats, we really could see why there was a limit of four guests.  Our starter was a caramelised goats cheese and beet root salad served with a beautiful Johannisberg white wine from the Valais region.  It was easy to get distracted from our own food as we watched beautifully presented plates going out to the diners in the restaurant and used a menu to decipher the different dishes going passed. 

After a taxi ride, in the little electric buggies that are the only vehicles allowed in Zermatt, we came to our second course at Walliserhof in the centre of town.  This was a much larger hotel with a traditional Stubli, brasserie and a banqueting room and the kitchen reflected this being the largest we visited.  We were shown around the kitchen by the head chef and then settled into their table which is used for the kitchen's own 'family' meals.  Our amuse bouche of parsley root soup with mini ravioli was followed by the main course rabbit with polenta and mustard sauce.  The local Waliser Pinot noir complemented the rabbit perfectly.  

As we were leaving we were given a bag of goodies and our walking directions to our next stop, Z'Art.  This was the smallest kitchen by far and it was clear that equipment had to be moved around to accommodate our table in the corner, it really felt like the chefs were having to work around us.  Even with their limited space the Chocolate Creation dessert with the rich moist chocolate cake, creamy chocolate ice cream and refreshing tangerine finished our roaming dinner perfectly. 

Having seen the cramped working spaces and knowing what some chefs are like I was surprised that this whole Kitchen Around tour works, but as Marco pointed out, the chefs were not so happy to begin with but now they love it.  It is only available on Saturday and Tuesday evenings so the chefs do get a break from being on public display. 

At 139CHF per person including all of your food, wine, taxi and gift it is a great way to get around some of the best restaurants in Zermatt and a great introduction to inspire other nights out.