We ate at "Da Giuseppe", which is also the full(?) Italian name of the Restaurant Le Chalet for dinner last night. Even though Zermatt is right across the border from Italy, the town is predominantly German, so it was nice to have a bit of change from the largely French / Swiss food we have had on our trip so far. It's a good thing that our hotel made a reservation, as the restaurant itself is on the smaller side, and given that the servers basically spoke no English (all Italian, as far as I could tell), it was probably better that way. The decor reminds me a lot of the homey Italian spots that I encountered in the Italian Alps last summer, and with lots of Italian-language news clippings on the wall, cute wooden carvings of the Zermatt 'skyline' (if one can call it that) rimming the walls as well, it felt very much like we were in Italy. Despite the language barrier, there was English on the menu (and some kind of tasting menu referencing Brexit - no idea what that was about), so we could go about ordering our food with general ease. You get a decent amount of free booze here - a tall glass that looks like it should hold water but has Persecco instead to start, and a shot (or however much you'd like, since they give you the whole bottle) of grappa at the end - which can be well-appreciated on a cool night after a long hike. I also got a glass of the house red, which was fine but relatively generic (like other house reds I have had in Italy).
The food is quite good here, even if the prices (unfortunately) reflect the impact of Switzerland pricing. My wife's vitello tonnato (veal with tuna) was excellent; I really enjoyed how the meat provides a solid base for the tuna on the dish. My truffle cream soup was delicious; I liked that the olive oil cut through the cream a bit, and the 'bacon dumplings' (according to menu translation) added some texture to each bite. However, the 'bacon', which I would understand to contain some pork, didn't seem to have any meat in them at all - so that was somewhat disappointing. I also struck out a little on my main - the meat agnolotti Sicilian style was filling, but the meat inside did not stand out, and the bright orange sauce (which I venture to guess was some kind of vodka sauce) wasn't all that remarkable either. My wife's tenderloin steak was divine, though, and was definitely the best bite of the meal - cooked perfectly to medium-rare, full of flavor and drizzled (very) lightly with gravy / jus. We got a complimentary look at a wheel of Parmesan to finish - good on its own, but not really a cheese that I would typically slice up and eat on its own or on plain bread (our other option).
Perhaps I just picked the wrong dishes, but I came away from the meal with my expectations not having been met. While the food is cooked in the homey style one would expect, I felt that the quality was inconsistent with what I would have hoped. I would probably go back and give it another try, but I'm rounding down the 3.5 stars I would have given this place if I could do half-star ratings. read more