Gourmet spots in Grand Resort Bad Ragaz and town:

When staying at the fabulous Grand Resort Bad Ragaz in the eastern pre-Alps of Switzerland – here my review – , my husband and I checked out the fine dining opportunities at our hotel and in the area too. And the culinary scene in the spa town of Bad Ragaz in the Swiss Alpine foothills is impressive! Our hotel is a foodie dream with eight dining-spots at its premises, from which two has two Michelin stars each. As to restaurants outside the hotel, there are no Michelin starred establishments close by yet quite a view with Gault Millau points. As a fine dining lover, you are indeed in the right place in this part of the Swiss pre-Alps!

Food offerings at Grand Resort Bad Ragaz

While you can have fine dining at all the eight restaurants on site, I would describe two of them as serious foodie places: Memories and IGNIV by Andreas Caminada with 2 Michelin stars each and 18 resp. 17 Gault Millau points. One more, the golf restaurant Gladys, has Gault Millau points, 13 out of 20, and another used to have 13 of them, Namun, the Asian dining-spot.

When it comes to the flagship restaurants of Memoires and IGNIV by Andreas Caminada, we were lucky enough to secure a table at one of them, Memories.

As we booked on short notice, there was no chance to get a reservation at IGNIV by Andreas Caminada as it is a very popular. Having said that we were very satisfied with our choice. While IGNIV by Andreas Caminada has a fine-dining sharing concept, Memoires does not. Instead it offers a surprise multi-course gourmet dinner. For more details, a few words to it follow afterwards. Later on, you will find a comprehensive post about my dining experience at Memoires on my blog.

As to the restaurants with a cuisine that is a tad less ambitious, my husband and I opted for dinner at the upscale Asian eatery Namun. In the next paragraph, you will learn how we liked it. And of course, we had breakfast at Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, too. As we stayed at the newly updated Grand Hotel Quellenhof, we had it included at Restaurant Verve by Sven, the second restaurant of Sven Wassmer, the chef at Memoires. And we liked what we got, here some information per each outlet.

1. Restaurant Memories (2 Michelin stars, 18 Gault Millau points)

Our culinary experience here was definitely a memorable one! I will not go into details as I will dedicate the restaurant a blogpost of its own. Only that much, Sven Wassmer is one of those brilliant young chefs in Switzerland who holds even more promise for the future! I would not be surprised if he won a third Michelin star at some time in the future.

Memories is a beauty, with lots of wood and a spectacular kitchen integrated in the restaurant where you can watch Sven Wassmer and his team in action. The chef celebrates a modern Alpine cuisine where the special character of the respective produce is in the core. You get here a seasonal surprise menu, either in six, nine or twelve courses.

2. Restaurant Namun

This is an upscale Asian restaurant where you get a mix of cuisines from the area, mainly from Thailand, China and Indonesia. In contrast to the typical Far Eastern gastronomy, prime cuts are available here, just as fillet of beef or veal. However, they prepare food in a traditional way, just as it is the case in the respective country of origin.

While my husband went for scallops with deep-fried carrot-papaya salad

as starter, I opted for crispy duckling salad with green mango and cashew nuts.

My dish was supposed to be hot yet I found it rather mild. Otherwise it was well prepared and tasty. The same is true for the scallops. As a main, I chose sole fillets coated in panko with Thai chili sauce.

It came with beans (not announced) and the sauce made a curry-like impression. Again the food was not as hot as described. Otherwise it was pretty good. My husband decided on crispy duckling with vegetables, pepper and red curry sauce.

The poultry was of high quality and carefully done.

As to the restaurant interior, I found it rather dark and somewhat rustic.

It did not really remind of a typical Asian restaurant, but that is of course a matter of taste. Service was friendly but a bit overwhelmed by the crush of diners on our visit. All in all, we experienced at Namun a solid enough performance yet no culinary highlight.

3. Breakfast at Restaurant Verve by Sven

Verve by Sven, Sven Wassmer’s second restaurant here, focuses on health and lifestyle. While you can also have lunch and dinner here, I only was at this place for breakfast (three times). Instead of a traditional buffet, options with fixed items are on offer here for the first meal of the day (also in non-Corona times).

My husband and I had the breakfast included in the room rate. To my knowledge, we were free to order anything from the extensive menu. Instead of composing a meal out of the variety of a la carte items, we settled for one of the three menus. These consist of water, a juice or smoothie, a hot drink, bread and pastries, yogurt resp. chia pudding with granola and fruits

(in two menus) as well as a hot or cold dish. My favorite out of the three option was Verve, featuring a poached egg, tomato jam and Swiss tofu cream on a sourdough bread, heavenly!

The restaurant’s interiors are nice with lots of natural materials and kept in subtle colors. I liked the green wall, covered with live plants. Some seats are positioned under large cloches, quite a sight. There is also a beautiful bar integrated in the restaurant. Unfortunately, it was out of use because of the Corona times we were living in.

Service is of a high level, no complaints here. On the whole, it was one of the better breakfasts I had had for some time!

Restaurant options outside of Grand Resort Bad Ragaz

Although the hotel has a wide offer of different restaurants for every taste, my husband and I decided to explore also the local fine dining scene in Bad Ragaz and surroundings. Out of three dinners, we had one in the town of Bad Ragaz, at another hotel restaurant. Furthermore, we ventured to neighboring Maienfeld, a town in the wine region of Buendner Herrschaft, to have lunch at one occasion.

Before going into these two fine dining experiences, here the result of my research on culinary hotspots in the region, mainly based on the Michelin and Gault Millau restaurant guides in combination with TripAdvisor and Google reviews.

Fine dining scene in Bad Ragaz area

You find here restaurants that I came across on my culinary research in Bad Ragaz

and the neighboring towns of Maienfeld and Flaesch, both part of the Buendner Herrschaft, a wine region.

1. Bad Ragaz

In Bad Ragaz there are two more restaurants mentioned in the Michelin and/or Gault Millau guides. On the one hand, our choice for one dinner, Hotel Restaurant Roessli in Bad Ragaz (Michelin listed, 16 Gault Millau points). For more information, refer to the next paragraph. On the other hand, Restaurant Loewen (14 Gault Millau points). This is a traditional restaurant with a nice outside space where you eat under chestnut trees. From the menu and the Gault Millau information, the fare is rather conventional with some original classics.

2. Maienfeld

In this small town in the wine region of Buendner Herrschaft you find one more restaurant listed in the Gault Millau food guide. And this is Restaurant Falknis with 12 points. My husband and I had lunch here before starting a walking tour through the vineyards. Details to it follow in the next section (and info about walks/hikes in one of the next blogposts).

3. Flaesch

This small wine town is home of two other fine dining places. One of them, Restaurant Muehle (Michelin listed, 15 Gault Millau points), was recommended to us by my sister in law. We decided against it because it was not in walking distance of our hotel. However, we passed it when doing the above mentioned vineyard tour. And its location is idyllic indeed, isolated and on a creek with a lovely outside area to eat by the water! The cuisine seems to be rather on the traditional side.

The other restaurant here is in the town center, Restaurant Adler (Michelin listed, 15 Gault Millau points). As it appears, the chef from South Tyrol celebrates quite an elaborate cuisine.

After this overview, here to our two restaurant visits.

Our restaurant experiences in Bad Ragaz and Maienfeld

1. Dinner at Hotel Restaurant Roessli Bad Ragaz

When my husband and I were walking from Grand Resort Bad Ragaz to the nearby Restaurant Roessli I thought that it would find the going tough as we had such a wonderful dinner the night before at Restaurant Memoires at our hotel. But no, not even close! The chef, Ueli Kellenberger, knows how to please with his refined yet minimalistic creations. And his wife Doris is a cordial and solicitous host.

The six-course menu that changes weekly persuaded us, so we went for it however leaving out the cheese course. There is also an a la carte menu if you do not want the whole she-bang. Ueli Kellenberger describes himself on the restaurant’s home page as curious, imaginative and with an eye for the detail.  Furthermore, he thinks of himself as not committed to any style nor habit. And I can confirm all this. I had a lot of joy dining here! In addition, he uses regional and seasonal produce whenever possible.

After the fishy amuse bouche, another fish course made the actual start, stripes of sole fillet with gazpacho tartar.

And the latter really tasted like the soup with the same name. We proceeded with a cold soup, a fruity curry one with calamansi sorbet.

It went perfectly together. Next was a tender and immaculately prepared tuna on a bed of asparagus,

followed by a lamb variation accompanied by beans and potatoes.

And the final course, a crumbly almond sable paired with strawberries and cucumber,

did not disappoint either. What a great meal we had here, and this reasonably priced (108 SFR/US$)!

The interiors were recently updated in a contemporary manner. You feel at ease here, whether you are dressed up like some guests from our hotel we met by chance, or casually styled just as some other diners here.

2. Lunch at Restaurant Falknis Maienfeld

We went to this restaurant in the center of town dressed in our hiking gear. Thus, we were pleased that we could sit outside in the the small court. Not that we should have been worried about our outfit. This is not a pretentious place yet one offering well-made traditional food.

As we had a big dinner scheduled in the evening, we only ordered one course. My husband craved cheese, so he chose the selection of local cheese with birnbrot (bread with dried pears)

and I had local asparagus with brown butter and parmesan cheese accompanied by potatoes.

Both of us were happy with our choice. And the glass of local wine we had with it was also very good. We even got an amuse bouche, a superb Riesling soup. Service was friendly and the chef said hello, too.

Overall

Although Grand Resort Bad Ragaz in the eastern pre-Alps of Switzerland has a large selection of fine dining establishments, I think you should give the gastronomy in its surroundings a try as well. Out of several options in close vicinity we checked out Restaurant Roessli in Bad Ragaz with innovative cuisine and Restaurant Falknis in Maienfeld featuring traditional staples. And both chefs knew their trade. As to our hotel, an evening at Memories, one of the flagships here (two Michelin stars), is a foodie’s dream. If you like upmarket Asian food, Namun is a good place to go.

If you want to know more about Sven Wassmer’s Memories, the just mentioned foodie heaven a Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, come back later to check out my next blogpost. I thought that the fine dining experience at one of most talented chefs in Switzerland is worth dedicating a report on its own. In case you look for ideas how to walk/hike in the area of Bad Ragaz,

another post to follow will cover this topic.

Date of stay: June 2020

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