La Chavallera, La Punt Chamues-ch, Switzerland
I was visiting my friend and her family in Zuoz for a week, so I decided to book this restaurant that was only one stop by train. Specifically it was inside a local hotel just 5-min walk from the train stop. I booked for a week day night. Although I was the first customer for the night as usual :), it turned out to be completely full.
Table
The menu was super simple. I had to say it was not as expensive as I thought, given that I am in Switzerland. I want to mention the canapés, a cute set of cauliflowers: (1) a tart, (2) a spoon, (3) a few slices and (4) a soup in the clock-wise order, which were (1) crunch and light sweet, (2) savoury, (3) a very nice cold, fresh and bitter, and (4) salty and creamy. This was a very nice introduction of the night. It turned out to be a introduction of the menu too as there were a few dishes containing cauliflowers.
Menu and canapés
I was amazed by the ‘pear ravioli’. The ravioli filling was actually pear as the name suggested. The sweet flavour stood out significantly over creamy foamy sauce where the light brown butter blended in very well. The drizzle sage oil also interested me. It has strong herb and punchy flavour but not as rich and heavy as olive oil, this balanced well with pear and butter.
This dish was very different and fun, compared to often cheese-based and sea food-based ravioli filling in a tomato-based and olive oil-based sauce. The chef made a simple dish from simple ingredients attractive.
Pear ravioli, brown butter and sage
Then I loved the ‘masu salmon’. First, it was locally farmed masu salmon paired with corn, although the menu said bell peppers. The chef certainly used simple and locally sourced ingredients very well, which gave better profit for sure :D, and more sustainable ingredients, especially in a small hotel in a ski town deep in the mountain. The salmon was in light and pale red. This is in fact the correct colour when you farm salmon.
The dish was well balanced. The salmon skin had a little charcoaled or burnt taste hence gave sharp bitterness. The actual salmon was tasted less fatty than I expected and provided a great base creamy flavour. The absolutely simple corn added sweetness and crunch texture. The leaves and flowers of sudachi on top of corn in fact was the strongest flavour in this dish, that is, a citrusy, bitter and fresh flavours.
Masu salmon, corn and sudachi
Both main dishes were excellent, starting from the quail. My friend’s husband was teasing me on if the quail was actually sourced from the black bird outside of their terrace. I was laughing and sending them pictures when I actually had the quail in real in the last evening.
The quail was cooked in a mysterious way. The top a fifth is just fully cooked, and then a distinct line separates the rest pink medium rare meat. I guessed they were cooked separately and assembled together, including the new ‘skin‘ made of sunflower seeds and cicorino rosso leaves. Flavour wise, it was juicy, tender and umami-rich quail, sunflower seeds provide some earthy and soil flavour and especially a great texture when chewing together with quail. The probable soy sauce was light and provided a handful salty punch over the rich quail. I loved it.
Quail, cicorino rosso and horseradish
The second main veal fell into an expected seasoning however with some seaweeds and shiitake variants. The veal actually tasted lighter than the quail, probably because of the extra juice. The chef was really good at blending and balancing flavours, here (1) rich meat and cream, (2) earth-tone and light sweet truffles and shiitakes and (3) fresh and umami-focused seaweeds. The presentation was simple and invited me to mix everything then a good bite.
Veal, truffle, shiitake and sauce albufera
This restaurant was quite surprising. The chef used many local and even simple supermarket ingredients, because he has to be practical to deal with supplying ingredients in small hotel in a small town. The presentation overall is of very Swiss: simple, clear-cut and effective. The flavour was greatly balanced, and fun.
I had also a great chat with the chef’s wife. She was Thai. She was very entertaining and can speak multiple languages to the customers’ need. I was also joking with her that I noticed all the dishes always come with a spoon alongside fork and knife, which was very Thai.
🐼 Score: 4/5
