19. March 2011: Restaurant in the Romantik Hotel GuardaVal

The experience at the restaurant in the Romantik Hotel GuardaVal starts with a “Potato foam soup, duck on cold cranberries, home-made grissini and Bündnerfleisch”. The soup was very tasty and had a genuine potato taste. The only downturn was that the bowl in which the soup was served was plastic and not glass – drinking from a plastic “bowl” is just not the same as drinking from a glass. The duck on cranberries was tasty too. The home-made grissini was tasty too but a bit too spicy. The Bündnerfleisch, on the other hand, just didn’t really fit there somehow.

The first course was cherry-smoked deer filet on ratatouille and red wine pears. The cherry-smoked deer is tender and rich in taste. The red wine pear together with the vegetable ratatouille made a great combination – the slightly sweet taste of the pear complemented the ratatouille perfectly. The cherry tomato had a slight hint of vanilla and cinnamon – which was a perfect surprise.

The lemon grass foam soup was good as it had a genuine lemon grass taste but it wasn’t overwhelming. The marinated red mullet which came with the soup was somewhat disappointing. It wasn’t bad or anything but somehow it was just missing the special taste. The “edge” was kind of missing.

The second starter was a veal from the region with braised cheek, red wine shallots and “potato tree cake”. The veal was really tender, the sauce which came with it was really tasty too. The veal cheek was okay too. The red wine shallot, on the other hand, was truly great – as the onion’s sweetness gave it a special hint. The “potato tree cake” was nice too look at but pretty regular in taste.

After the starters the kitchen sent us an intermediate course – home-made raspberry sorbet with sparkling wine. The sorbet was very good as it had the original raspberry taste and it helped perfectly to digest a bit before the main course.

The main course was a “Loup de mer” in a salt crust with small potatoes and Mediterranean vegetables and a wild garlic sauce. The fish is wholly made in the salt crust which gets cut open in front of your eyes at the table – it looks pretty impressive as the salt crust is massive. The loup de mer is tender and tasty but what makes it absolutely great is the wild garlic sauce. The sauce is discreet but perfectly fits the fish – absolutely great. You get the second part of the fish (the portion is for two people) after about 5 minutes from the kitchen.

The final cheese variation was a selection of goat cheese and regular cow milk cheese which was served with three different chutneys and fresh fruit bread. The cheeses were good as they were basically a nice selection of the same cheeses having different ripeness. The chutneys were pretty tasty too.

The whole menu cost CHF 105.00 (CHF 95.00 normally for a five-courses dinner plus CHF 10.00 extra for the main course Loup de Mer which was a specialty to the menu). One might say that CHF 105.00 is pretty much but for what you actually get, the price is more than fair. Also, in general the prices for drinks and the like are pretty decent being CHF 7.80 for a bottle of water (0,5L), CHF 9.00 for a glass of champagne, CHF 13.00 for a glass of Berta Grappa Tre Soli Tre, CHF 7.00 for a glass of white wine Johannisberg, CHF 6.20 for a double espresso and CHF 7.90 for a glass of white wine Chardonnay Thaller. A bottle of Nebbiolo Olé from Dirupi, 2007 costs CHF 63.00 which is also pretty decent – and the wine goes pretty well with fish and white meat.

The waiters and waitresses are very friendly and correct – at least most of them. In total, there was an armada of four waiters responsible for our table and three of them were outstanding – friendly, always refilling the glasses, explaining what got served without being obstrusive. So just about perfect. Only one waiter was somewhat unprofessional when serving the dishes. It’s a pity that one spoiled the performance of the other three – but as a matter of fact, it’s just a no go when the dishes are just put down in a very hard and rough way and you get the feeling that he doesn’t want to do the job he’s doing.

The ambiente in the restaurant at the Romantik Hotel GuardaVal is great. The interior is nice and a perfect mixture of modernity and old-fashioned design. The rooms are wide, white, and open-spaced.

Make sure to ask for a table from which you can look over the little town of Scuol – it’s pretty at night and definitely worth seeing. Especially with the little chapel which is illuminated.

Overall, the restaurant at the Romantik Hotel GuardaVal is definitely a great place to have a romantic dinner. The location is pretty, the view over Scuol is really nice, the waiters are (at least almost all of them) very professional, the dishes are absolutely great and the prices are pretty decent too. Definitely a place I can recommend!

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Contact Details:

Romantik Hotel GuardaVal

7550 Scuol (CH)

Tel.: +41 81 861 09 09

E-Mail: info@guardaval-scuol.ch

Homepage: http://www.guardaval-scuol.ch

About the Author: Sven

I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org. Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City.