31. December 2011: Restaurant Villa Hausermatte

Dining at the Restaurant Villa Hausermatte is a great experience – the place is definitely a hidden gem. You do not see the restaurant from the streets and the place has no website. The evening started with “Duck liver terrine, home-smoked duck breast and duck liver with rosmary brioches”. The home-smoked duck breast was rich in taste, the duck liver terrine is very intense in taste but the best part is the duck liver itself – definitely great. If you mixed the three elements together, the explosion in your mouth was tremendous. The rosemary brioche was tasty but somehow the lower part was a bit old and crunchy.

The second course, a “clear oxtail soup with sherry and a vegetable ravioli” was good an fresh. The soup was intense in taste, the small vegetable and oxtail pieces made the soup rich and the vegetable ravioli had a really great stuffing. Overall, a great soup.

As a next course, we had a “turbot filet with lobster medaillon on winter spinach and lime butter sauce” – a course very rich in taste. The lobster medaillon was extremly tasty, the turbot filet was good too but the winter spinach and the lime butter sauce all together were just great. The combination of the single ingredients lead to a great experience in your mouth. Especially the lime butter sauce with the lobster medaillon is fabulous.

The fourth course was an “arrostino of veal steak and venison nutlet with fir sapling, juniper cream sauce, truffes de chine, potato puree in a crispy coat and savoy cabbage”. The arrostino of veal steak, venison nutlet with fir sapling looks very appealing because of the combination of the three colours in the piece. The juniper cream sauce completes the course and the potato puree from the blue potato was very intense in taste – not like usual potato puree but much more taste-intense.

The fifth course, a “Brie de meaux with black truffle, fruit bread, pear chutney and chestnuts” was good – but the truffle filling in the middle of the cheese was definitely not my piece of cake. I am not a big fan of intense black truffle taste so it was definitely too much for me. Still, if you like truffle in its intense form, it is pretty good, I was told from my company.

The desert was a “charlotte russe with orange sorbet, date-mango-papaya salad”. The charlotte russe was delicious and the orange sorbet even more so although it was a bit too sugery for my taste. The date-mango-papaya salad was good as the ingredients were fresh and somehow it all added up together to a great course.

Overall, the menu (CHF 123.00) was very good and prepared on a high level ensuring high quality of all dishes and ingredients. The menu was refined, the dishes were good, and some courses had the surprising element like the turbot filet with lobster medaillon. Others were plain good but not outstanding.

The price for the 6-course menu is definitely reasonable. The prices for the other elements like a double espresso (CHF 6.50), a glass of Pinot Grigio (CHF 7.50; 1 DL), or a bottle of Evian (CHF 6.30; 0,5L) are also fine. A bottle of Barbera d’Alba costs CHF 69.00 and fit the courses pretty well.

The service is of good quality. The dishes are brought from the correct side, taken from the correct side, the glasses are refilled (besides once my wine glass got empty and once my water glass), they ask the right questions, do not stress you in their frequency of serving the dishes – overall very good service. Just somehow there is still some room to make it perfect!

The interior of the Villa Hausermatte is very nice. The place is like a real villa, right next to the lake shore, with the decoration and interior of let us say the 80ies. It is somehow heavy but on the other hand very nice and just fits together with the personnel – it is really just one round picture.

I can definitely recommend dining at the Restaurant Villa Hausermatte – the dishes are very good (only little missing for 5 stars), the service as well (same applies here), the whole place has this nice aura and last but not least, all at very reasonable prices. So, if you ever feel like dining in a bit old-ish but very nice atmosphere, having good food, being served very well and last but not least not even pay too much for it, you should definitely book a table at the Restaurant Villa Hausermatte.

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Contact Details:

Restaurant Villa Hausermatte

Haldenstrasse 30

6006 Lucerne (CH)

Tel.: +41 41 370 11 66

Fax: +41 41 370 11 67

E-Mail: hausermatte.villa@bluewin.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.