SWISS “flies” to Zermatt for winter culinary delights

The meals served to First and Business Class travellers on SWISS’s long-haul flights from Zurich will bear the hallmark of Zermatt, the famous winter sports resort in Switzerland’s Canton Valais, from December onwards. The creations of the Findlerhof alpine restaurant for SWISS First customers and the Chez Vrony mountain restaurant for SWISS Business guests mark the latest three-month chapter in the award-winning “SWISS Taste of Switzerland” inflight culinary programme. With their extensive use of various local produce, the new meals offer travellers a wonderful opportunity to experience the Valais flavours and traditions. And Business Class guests on selected European services will also sample the delights in February of the region’s “Tschäggättä” custom.

Whether it’s on the sun terrace with a magnificent view of the mighty Matterhorn or within the cosy interior, guests at the Findlerhof and Chez Vrony mountain restaurants in the hamlet of Findeln above Zermatt enjoy fabulous local specialities and further food creations. And from December to early March, premium travellers aboard SWISS’s long-haul services from Zurich will also be able to sample the same Zermatt delights. For the latest phase in the airline’s award-winning “SWISS Taste of Switzerland” inflight culinary programme, Franz Schwery of the 14-GaultMillau-point Findlerhof gourmet restaurant has concocted the meals for First Class travellers on SWISS’s outbound long-haul services. Business Class guests, meanwhile, will enjoy a “flying visit” to the Chez Vrony restaurant, the warm hospitality of hosts Vrony and Max Cotting-Julen and the food delights of this multi-award-winning culinary meeting place.

SWISS First customers can look forward to starters that include Heida wine soup with Valaisian cheese, Zermatt cured meat and croutons, followed by a main course of pike-perch fillet with saffron sauce and sepia noodles. In a “first” for the programme, guests will also be served Valais raclette on request. SWISS Business travellers, meanwhile, will enjoy starters such as locally-sourced smoked perch with saffron mayonnaise, and main courses that include “Walliser Geschnetzeltes” – sliced veal Valais-style with mushroom and dried apricot cream sauce. The desserts on offer also include a local speciality: Valaisian rye bread mousse and crumble with spiced orange compote. Alongside the desserts, customers in both classes will also be offered various cheeses from local Valais producers including Aletsch Carnotzet, Gommer Bergkäse and Aletsch Grand Cru.

As always, the meals will be accompanied by a selection of suitable wines that includes such local Valais delights as a 2012 Cornalin Montibeux by Rouvinez Vins in Sierre, a 2011 Cayas Réserve Syrah by Germanier of Vétroz and the 2006 Hans Erni Cuvée du Centenaire, Grain Nobles by Marie-Thérèse Chappaz, the queen of Swiss dessert wines.

Valais accents on European flights, too

SWISS Business travellers on selected European flights to Switzerland will also enjoy a taste of Canton Valais traditions between 12 and 25 February 2014. For these two weeks the “SWISS Traditions” programme will be spotlighting the local “Tschäggättä” custom, which is practised every spring in the region’s Lötschen Valley. In the period between Candlemas and Ash Wednesday, a number of locals dress up as the titular “tschäggättä” with huge carved wooden masks, animal-pelt cloaks and bells fastened to their belts. To mark this mythical custom, SWISS Business guests on the European flights concerned will be offered various regional specialities including veal with apricots, “cholera” (a vegetable pie with potatoes and cheese) and a dessert of plum compote with rye bread mousse.