Restaurant Edelweiss – La Sorpresa, Flüelen, Switzerland

Just as the Swiss National, protected Flower is beautiful, so is the food at this quaint little restaurant in Flüelen, URI, also called LA SORPRESA.

The few times we had the pleasure to dine there, was always enjoyable and delicious. The restaurant is situated in the same building as the Edelweiss Bowling Bar. It’s a perfect place to enjoy with the whole family after a bowling party, enjoy lunch or dinner in the restaurant right next door. The two young hosts, Alessandro Lai, and Debora Strehler are doing a fantastic job, Alessandro is in the kitchen creating his new Gniocchis, and Debora handles the friendly, attentive service. I was impressed with the attention to details on every plate that came out of the kitchen, the fresh, crisp vegetables were skewered and perfectly steamed, the Shrimp-Skewer with lemongrass was a generous amount of large Shrimp, served over a bed of Basmati Rice with light lemongrass flavored broth over it, my Angus Steak was served with tasty compound butter, a vegetable skewer and crips fried potato rounds, the steak was also available with homemade spinach ravioli.

Alessandro also serves, on special request only, a specialty his brother prepares, called Bottarga, it usually is made of Rogue, however in Italy they also use Tuna Roe, the roe pouch is salted, pressed, cured and dried in the sun,  then thinly shaved and served over salad and or pasta. Similar foods are the Japanese Karasumi, which is softer, and the Korean Eoran.

The Tiramisu was heavenly light and large enough for two! even the scoop of ice cream came nicely decorated with pieces of fresh fruit.

As I am writing this post I heard that the two hosts my be leaving the restaurant sometimes next year, so you better hurry up, go and enjoy the great fare before the are gone, as we don’t know what is next in line for this cute little place! We shall keep an eye on them and follow them where ever they may popup in the near future!

Die Speisekarte.  Restaurant Edelweiss – Axenstrasse 82, 6454 Flüelen, URI

Restaurant News Tel: 041-535-5147

Das Take Away Men

Öffnungszeiten: 

MONTAG, DONNERSTAG & FREITAG: 11:00 – 23:00 UHR

DIESNTAG & MITTWOCH: RUHETAG

SAMSTAG: 11:00 – 22:00 UHR 

SONNTAG: 11:00 – 22:00 UHR

 

Jeroen Achtien: Dry Aged Pikeperch & Lamb Cheeks

Would you like a culinary borderline experience? Chef Jeroen (Restaurant “Sens”, Vitznau, Lucerne, Switzerland) makes it crack. Here are the test notes.

Gault Millau – July 12, 2020

Text: Urs Heller Photos: Olivia Pulver

EXPERIENCE 1: «THE PARMESAN OF THE SEA». Jeroen is not someone hiding outside in the kitchen. He likes the contact with the guests, so he prepares the first amuse-bouche outside on the lake terrace with stoic calm and a friendly explanation, «Caesar Salad», of course, one of a kind: a small leaf of lettuce. Pickled tomatoes. Dried, smoked, and grated egg yolk. A «Parmesan», not from Italy, but from the Rigi. A lot of effort for a single bite, but wonderful! Starter No. 2: “Edible charcoal”! Smoked hot peppers are in the black ball, which you can dip into an Indian lime dip. Also good: a Dutch toast with Beeler Sbrinz and mustard seeds; there is a fermented Beet sauce. The recipe can be scanned on the can and read on the iPhone. That’s how it works with young chefs today. The kimchi taco and the roll with chorizo ​​and black garlic were also great. A young chef grates dried and smoked octopus over it: “The Parmesan of the Sea!”

Jeroen Tamme Achtien, Head of Restaurant Sens, Vitznauerhof Vitznau

Recorded! Jeroen Achtien and his Dutch brigade amazed in the “Sens” Vitznau.

Jeroen Tamme Achtien, Head of Restaurant Sens, Vitznauerhof Vitznau

Preferred location right on Lake Lucerne. Dinner at sunset.

EXPERIENCE 2: ZANDER FRESH FROM THE ICE! Can fish be “dry-aged” like a mock of meat that is left hanging on the bone? “Of course,” says the Dutch cook and magician Jeroen Achtien, frees the Pikeperch, from eyes and gills, cleanses and vacuums it. The freshwater fish is then at zero degrees for five days on the ice. “It matures, gets more taste,” says the boss. However, “ice aging” is only half the battle for this parade. It gets awesome because there is a lot more to it: cauliflower. Thin slices of bacon, served with tweezers, fermented grapes, an impressive miso sauce. And a glass of Tonkubetsu Honjozu. “Sake goes best with it,” says Susanne Nguyen (formerly Tim Raue), who heads the service at “Sens”.

 EXPERIENCE 3: DUCK LIVER, STUFFED! Achtien: «I like foie gras very much. But stuffed liver in the menu – somehow this is no longer possible. So I experimented for a long time. » The solution has literally been on the table for a few days now: the chef is picking clarified butter, the foie gras is becoming an incredibly gentle spoon dish. So smooth that Jeroen immediately takes countermeasures: fried orange fillets, pumpkin kombucha, and yuzu gel set the tone. The “Royal Belgian Caviar” is also not “just like that”. The components here: Passion fruit (well!), Egg yolk, goat curd.

EXPERIENCE 4: Also Lamm cheeks can be braised. In the main course everything from the Muotathaler lamb, delivered by the butcher Markus Heinzer. First a cheeky wild garlic Bao-Bun with the small but very fine lamb cheek (!). Then the Back-Fillet matured for three weeks. The Lamb Neck, which has been cooked for twelve hours, lies under a Sakura leaf. We discover the Lamb Sweetbread under a savory salad. The jus has power: XO, with Scallop pieces in it! Sous-chef Marcel Koolen was in Asia for a few months in winter; so there are always Asian components on the menu.

Charcoal Dish – Edible «charcoal»! Smoked hot peppers are in it.

Vitznau Interior – Small, fine, stylish. The «Sens» in the Vitznauerhof.

Dutch Toast – Dutch toast, Sbrinz & Fermented Beet sauce.

EXPERIENCE 5: CHEESE FROM NITROGEN & «SUCKERBÔLLE». It never gets boring until the end. Jeroen Achtien comes out of the kitchen again, dips blue mold buffalo cheese in nitrogen. The effect in the plate: the cheese is just cold for a few seconds – then the typical blue mold taste develops. There is also “Suckerbôlle” (Sugarbread), a specialty from the Dutch Friesland; That’s where Achtien and half the kitchen brigade come from.

 GAULT MILLAU SAYS: “Vitznauerhof” chef Jeroen Achtien is one of the most unusual young wild chefs in the country. “Wild” is only half the truth: his creations are perfectly composed and only want one thing: taste sensations, as much Umami as possible. Taste is “king” in top gastronomy. Potential for improvement? Timing! Four and a half hours at the table are one hour too much, even on the most beautiful terrace on Lake Lucerne.

Hotel Vitznauerhof – Sens Restaurant, Seestrasse 80, 6354 Vitznau, LU, Switzerland

17 points by Gault Millau

Hotel Vitznauerhof on Lake Lucern

 

Attention: Beware of Swiss Traditions! Swiss Rip-Offs

If you are planning on living in Switzerland, or if you already live in Switzerland, but your German isn’t perfected yet, here are some tips you should know before you get yourself in trouble.

After living and working in 6 countries for many years, we were used to the system that when one orders online you must pay first before you receive the merchandise, just as it is custom with companies such as Amazon, eBay, and Ricardo, based here in Switzerland.

However, here in Switzerland, there are three ways of paying for your online purchase; one is by debit od credit card, by “Rechnung”, which means you will receive the product, and the bill will either come with the product together or a few days later in the mail, payable with 30 days, or there is the third option called “Vorkasse”, which means “advanced payment”.

On March 19, 2020, my wife asked me to search for a retrievable sunshade for our balcony, I found what she wanted from a Swiss online company called GOMM AG, (Racondo.ch Marktplatz-und Shop) based in Sarnen, Switzerland.

I called the wife to come to the PC screen to verify I had found the right item, she approved, I told her to go ahead and finalize the purchase. She then asked me “how should I pay for it?” I responded “do it by Rechnung”, this way we assure ourselves that the right product arrives, and pay for it thereafter.

On March 26th, 2020 we received the bill for the product in the amount of CHF 163.50, but still no product, at one point during the months April I decided to discard the bill since we never received the item.

On June 25th, 2020, over 3 months later we receive a collection letter from a company called eCollect, based in Baar, Canton Zug, demanding CHF 352.02 for an item purchased in March.

from the day of the online purchase, until the day of receiving the collection letter, we never heard, received an email, a phone call nor a “Mahnung” (Notice) in the mail from GOMM AG.

After writing a letter to the collection agency, asking them why I have never heard back from the company, and also to explain to them the reason why we didn’t pay the bill, we were told that we selected “Vorkasse” payment! As my wife doesn’t speak German yet, she didn’t understand the 3 versions of payment methods and choose the wrong one. That is why we never received the product.

The point of the matter is, it would have been very simple for GOMM AG to send us an email, call us or write to us, telling us that we choose a prepayment method and therefore needed to pay this bill.

However, the company found it easier to hand over the matter to a collection agency, which in turn are adding all there senseless, exaggerated, and inflated charges on top of the product cost.

When I asked the collection agency agent, why I haven’t received any notices within the three months, I was told that the seller is not obligated to send out notices, that the 30-day notice on the bill was sufficient!?

I asked her, then why do you charge me CHF 80 for three Mahnungen (Notices) which I never received! I have now two choices to settle this unnecessary situation, either pay the CHF 352.02, and then maybe get the product after all, or pay for “Stornierungskosten” (Canceling Costs), which I have not been told yet how much, but then I won’t receive the product as I officially canceled it by paying the Cancelin costs.

The conclusion is, be aware of where and how you order products online, especially if you don’t speak the language! It was our mistake not to choose the right payment method, but the way the company handled the transaction is, in our opinion very poor.

The only assumption I came up with, why GOMM AG didn’t make the call to us, send an email or, normally by post mailed Mahnungen, is that someone at GOMM AG has a  financial interest at eCollect, the collection agency, this is certainly an easy way to add revenue to that firm. Why wouldn’t GOMM AG notify us before initiating a collection process, which adds unnecessary costs to the customer, and, at the same time, the company loses a customer because we certainly shall never order from them again!

Have a blessed, stress-free, and scam-free day! and stay healthy!

Should you have occurred any unpleasant situations here in Switzerland, send us a note, so we may notify and warn other folks.