If you want to hike to dine in a luxury restaurant, then Switzerland's Chez Vrony may be what you're looking for. Photo / Chez Vrony
Zermatt, Switzerland is one of the most luxurious ski towns in Europe. Despite its smattering of Michelin-starred restaurants, Chez Vrony – a ski or hike-in-only restaurant is by far the most memorable, writes Megan Lloyd.
“Oh yes, you will definitely need snow boots,” Max says to me over the phone.
I don’t ski. If I’m to make it from the Swiss mountain town Zermatt up to his wife’s restaurant, Chez Vrony, I’ll need to hike. So I walk down the street to rent boots and head towards the Matterhorn mountain.
The morning before one of the most memorable meals of my life, I took the train from Zurich to Zermatt, a prime ski town in the southern Valais canton known for its breathtaking views of the Matterhorn peak and exquisite apres cuisine. Steel greys of the city faded away into fairytale villages just beginning to wake from winter hibernation: vibrant grassy knolls, vineyards at rest, a lake partially frozen to a still.
READ MORE: In the Swiss Alps, you can rent a ‘fondue backpack’ and hike to a giant fondue pot
If Zermatt feels hidden away from the rest of the world, Chez Vrony is another world entirely. Run by Vrony Cotting-Julen with her husband Max Julen, the restaurant is a 100-year-old institution in the Zermatt area. What was once a humble farmhouse now tops the list of every local chef’s favourite places to dine. Its limited accessibility – by foot or ski – makes for a privileged spot at the foot of the iconic Matterhorn peak.
I ride the gondola from Zermatt up to the bottom of the ski lift and start my 30-minute trek towards the restaurant. Skiers wave from above on the lifts as I stomp along in my boots, thankful to have them. Despite the lack of oxygen from the altitude, I feel the tension release from my bones and the grandeur of the mountain settles me – the terrifying way it holds the valley in its hands reminds me how finite I am.
At one point the trail abruptly ends. I see the rustic cabins of the Finlen village below and Chez Vrony in the distance. A frustrated mother and her children are equally as confused and resort to sliding down the remainder of the hill on their bums. I happily join them, shaking off the snow and stepping up to the entrance of Chez Vrony.
Max cheerfully greets me at the door in sleek black ski gear, his wide smile beaming across the landscape. My table seems special until I notice almost every chair on the terrace has the same front-and-centre view of the Matterhorn. I cosy up in my sheepskin blanket and sip a glass of Swiss red blend as the slew of skiers slide up to the deck after a morning on the slopes.
I spot Vrony dressed elegantly in all white, greeting every other guest with a warm hug or kiss on the cheek, and directing servers back and forth from the patio to the dining room with its two floors already flooded with diners.
The menu is dizzying. Kirsh-laced fondue, braised lamb shank, and an award-winning burger courtesy of its own cows are just a couple of temptations. I start with the bloody mary soup with lamb chorizo, which seems the perfect response to eating in the snow. The server brings it with a bottle of vodka in hand and promptly tips it right into the warming, piquant broth.
In a nod to neighbouring Italy over the ridge, I opt for the caramelised pear and mountain goat cheese raviolis, which are nestled into a thyme and brown butter emulsion and topped with a slice of perfectly crisped bacon, and frizzled arugula. Each forkful melts like the snowflakes falling on to my table; the sweet fruit breaks up the savoury pork and sauce like chorus and verses make up a song. I sink deeper into my sheepskin and pause between bites to take in the stillness of the mountains, eating with restraint to make the moment last for an eternity.
Vrony is still in the swing of things as we sit down inside after my meal. In between embraces with customers and employees, she tells me her grandmother Veronica, a mother of 12, was the first woman to summit the Matterhorn (in a skirt) and used to serve milk and tea to mountaineers in this very spot. Her father unwillingly inherited “the shed” as they called it, so her parents remodelled and opened up a self-service restaurant. Vrony began working here after university and eventually took over with her husband Max in the late 90s, creating a full-service experience that still celebrates local products. “We try to be very traditional and try not to go very far [with ingredients],” she says. They raise 10 cows every season and continue to cure their own meats and cheeses just as her grandparents once did.
As I walked back down the mountain, belly warm and full, I was struck by the magnitude of these mountain women. Vrony, a mother of two at the helm of this monstrous ship that nourishes thousands every year. Veronica, an entrepreneur who fed hungry travellers while caring for 12 of her own. Even that mum on the trail lugging her kids down the snowbank for a meal. Each mother carried her own weight up and down the mountain. Maybe they aren’t all summiting the Matterhorn like Veronica, but they’re getting somewhere.
GETTING THERE
Fly from Auckland to Geneva Airport with one stopover with Qatar Airways and Emirates.
Zermatt is approx 3 hours by car from Geneva.
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