The Kuhstall

Dear friends,

First of all I would like to wish you all a very happy new year and to thank you for your support to this blog. I already have many places I want to talk to you about in 2011 but let me start with one of the latest places I went to in 2010.

After some relaxing holidays and the organization of the 3^rd world championship of foie gras I hosted in Crans on the 28^th of December, I left on the 29^th to meet my friend Florian (that you should all know by now) in the beautiful mountains of Engadin. Florian’s been going there with his family for ever and they were kind enough to welcome me for a few days around New Year’s Eve.

Last year when I went to visit him he made me discover a fantastic place hidden in the mountains: The Kuhstall. Located in a cow-stole (which is the literal translation of its name), this restaurant is only open in winter and can only be accessible by foot or with the help of a ski doo or a tractor, generously provided by the management. Well, so far nothing really surprising since there are a lot of these places in various ski resorts around Switzerland. But instead of serving regular mountain food (basically anything that contains melted cheese and white wine), the Kuhstall serves top-notch gastronomical food! 

It is all organized by the manager, Freddy, who is a former chef from Stücki in Basel. Freddy is an extraordinary guy who, along with his great staff, dedicate himself totally to his customers.

So you can imagine how happy I was when Florian told me we were going there for diner on my first night in St-Moritz. After climbing up the mountain in a weird trolley, Florian, his brothers (Max that you already know as well and Sebastian with his wife Alexia), his  sister Christine, some of our friends from Luxembourg and Germany and I sat down at a beautiful table to start our meal. We enjoyed some great marinated salmon, some risotto and some delicious veal! Along with that we drank a Bünderwein (white wine from the region) and a great Italian red wine. 

The dessert was as well delicious (and I was lucky enough to finish the one of my lovely neighbor at the table). After the traditional Braulio (a liquor made out of plant in the region of Bormio in Italy which is, on top of a Kuhstall thing, Max’s favorite drink in the whole world!) and some grappas and liquors (Freddy has a fantastic assortment of digestives), we decided it was time to go back to the valley. We could have walked, we could have asked for the ski-doo, but we actually decided to sleight down in the dark with old-school Davos sleights…and it was really fun !

I can only recommend you to go and try this place if you are ever in Engadin. It is a fantastic culinary and social experience. Bring your friends, a bottle of Braulio for Freddy and some hot gears !

From Milano with love,

Mr. Nico

Kuhstall

+41 81 838 73 73

Corvatsch

AG Station Sils/Furschellas

7514 Sils