We ate at Avena for one of our dinners in Zermatt. Although we had our hotel call ahead and make a reservation, it seemed like we may have been able to get a table nonetheless (at least in the summer). The restaurant itself is very cozy, with low ceilings and lots of rustic wood finishes - certainly somewhere that will keep you warm in the winter, but the temperature was a bit on the higher side in the summer, even with cool temperatures outside. Our server didn't speak a ton of English, but it was plenty enough for us to get by on, and the menus also had English descriptions as well. I didn't get too deep into the drink selection, but the glass of local white wine that I had was one of the better ones I have had in Switzerland so far.
The food itself is more on the German side of things, although there were some pasta options as well. We decided to start off by sharing a half portion of the house beef tartare - definitely the right way to go; I would have only ventured to get a whole portion if we had more people with us. Unlike most American-style tartares, which make the meat the focus (if not the only ingredient) of the plate, the meat here was mixed in with plenty of herbs and even had a hint of spice with it (which you could enhance with German-style hot sauce that was given to us on the side). It's a very lively take on tartare that we enjoyed a lot, although if you are looking for other styles - plain, something more Italian or French in nature - they have those as well. For the main, I went with a pork schnitzel that was served in a creamy mushroom sauce and a side of rosti (there were numerous other sides to choose from as well). I liked the earthy nature of the cream sauce, and the pork itself was quite good, but I was a bit puzzled to see that there was zero frying done on the pork itself, which, at least after doing some research online, seems to be unusual when it comes to the preparation. Perhaps it's a Valais-specific (or Zermatt-specific?) way of doing schnitzel, but it was a tad less hearty than I had anticipated. The rosti was good for soaking up the excess cream, as well as being better than American-style hash browns, and the other veggies on the plate - sautéed spinach, diced carrots - were decent. My wife's osso bucco was delicious when served in a red wine sauce, and she had the same kind of veggie sides that I did. Her main side was risotto, which was quite good but also a very large portion (arguably more hefty than the amount of meat)...so some of that got left behind at the end.
Overall, the flavors and the preparation of the food were pretty good, and I can understand why our hotel said this was a popular dining location for local residents - it captures the essence of the regional cuisine and does so in an unpretentious fashion. Given the breadth of the menu, I would definitely want to come back and try some other dishes as well. read more
