Switzerland, 9.6.16 - 9.17.16, Part 9 of 13: It’s All About the Rösti
Being out on the glacier at the Jungfraujoch felt like spring skiing. It was sunny and warm, brilliant white snow and azure blue sky. There was also more people here than at any other spot we visited during our entire trip to Switzerland. The Jungfraujoch is one of the more popular places to visit in the world so I was glad we chose to go in the off-season. Even so, there were quite a few people milling around.
The team in front of the Mönch. Everybody was asking everyone else to take their picture.
Looking up at the Sphinx, 11,723’
Lots to smile about
The Mönch
It took us well over two hours to see what we wanted to see up there and now we were getting hungry. We took the Jungfraubahn back down through the Mönch and the Eiger to Kleine Scheidegg. Kleine Scheidegg sits in a prime position given its location. This is a hub of sorts where you can arrive by cog railway from either side of the Männlichen ridge. The views are incredible in every direction. To the west you looked into the Lauterbrunnen valley, up to the Schilthorn and across to Murren and Wengen. On the other side down below lay Grindelwald with the Wetterhorn rising over the town. For neck craning views, The Eiger Nordwand, the Mönch and the Jungfrau rose directly above the station. Kleine Scheidegg itself has a couple of berghotels, several places to get food and a big round bar centrally located on the big patio. That’s where we ended up.
Kleine Scheidegg. We ate on the patio with the umbrellas.
Glacier spilling off of the Mönch
The Eiger Nordwand
One of the great things about visiting a different country is sampling the local traditional food. In my pre-trip research, I read about various Swiss favorites. Of course we had to try the fondue and of course we had to try the swiss chocolate, but the one thing that intrigued me was rösti (pronounced rooshtee). Rösti wasn’t fancy, it didn’t cost a lot but seemed to be a truly Swiss dish. In its simplest form, rösti is basically hash browns but you never tasted hash browns this good in your life. It’s hard to say exactly why. You start with matchstick sized potatoes, fry them on high heat in goose fat, pat them into a round cake about the size of a Belgian waffle, flip and fry up the other side. Then you put some good Gruyere cheese on top and put it in a convection oven for five more minutes to get the perfect crispy outside with the inside still holding together instead of all mashed like hash browns. The potatoes can be mixed in with scallions, tomato, mushrooms, bacon, etc… We ordered Rösti with egg and it came with a sunny side up fried egg, a slice of Gruyere on the side and a big glob of chive butter. We plopped the butter under the egg, broke up the yolk, mixed it all together and our lives were changed forever.
Rösti with Egg. To die for.
While I was recovering from the Rösti, Bridgit and Dana headed for a gift shop. When we got back to our balcony at the Gletschergarten, she gave me a present of a hat she had found and I loved it.
My new hat
Later that evening, we walked down into town to a place that the owner of our hotel recommended as the best fondue in Grindelwald. We will never know if that was a true statement or not, but our fondue was really good. It was made with four traditional Swiss cheeses and they brought out bread chunks, pearl onions, bacon and potatoes to dip into the fondue.
At this time of year, most restaurants also brought out a special menu with wild game dishes. Gina got a venison dish and it was very tasty and tender.
Cheese Fondue
Dessert was Swiss Chocolate Mousse with fresh whipped cream, kiwis and apple slices.
This concludes Part 9. Here comes Part 10: The Eiger Trail.