St. Moritz restaurant

During a trip to southern Switzerland in May ’08, my wife, Paula, and I visited St. Moritz for two nights during the depths of its spring off-season. Much of the town was shut down, including many shops, hotels and restaurants, and on a pleasant Saturday evening we found ourselves looking for a backup restaurant after discovering that our previously chosen restaurant was closed.

We walked by the Trattoria Bellaval (Hotel Bellaval, Via Grevas 55, CH-7500 St. Moritz, Switzerland; phone +41 [0] 81 833 32 457500 or, for hotel information, visit www.bellaval-stmoritz.ch). The posted menu for this unassuming-looking hotel restaurant looked promising, and its prices were reasonable, so we decided to give it a try.

Fortunately, we arrived shortly before an influx of diners that almost filled the modestly sized dining room. That allowed us to observe that virtually all of the other customers were local people, including several fishermen who rowed up to the restaurant from the lake for a big Saturday night dinner with their families.

Our English-speaking waiter helped us translate the relatively short list of well-chosen items on the German-language menu. We both chose a hearty meal of rösti with the local sausage along with a half liter of beer. Paula also ordered a green salad, which featured several different types of fresh lettuce and was both simple and excellent.

A few minutes after ordering, our rösti and sausage arrived sizzling in an iron dish. Our helpful waiter showed us how to best enjoy the sausage’s flavor (use your bread to soak up the small amount of liquid released when slicing the sausage).

Overall, the food was quite good. The total cost for the two of us, including tip, was approximately CHF50 (near $41). That’s a real bargain in a chic resort town like St. Moritz.

The Trattoria Bellaval is located on the lake just downhill from the train station in St. Mortiz-Dorf. There’s a pedestrian walkway that goes down a ramp from the uphill side of the train station, under the train tracks, and to the lakeside right at the restaurant.

STEPHEN O. ADDISON, Jr.

Charlotte, NC