Doing reviews means one has to suffer. Sometimes the meal is not great, or the atmosphere frosty, or you are just not quite in the mood. On a few occasions when I wrote for MaltaToday, I had to return to a restaurant for a second sitting offseason meal because I hadn’t managed to take pictures. This was not always a joy to do.
In Lech however, I would have returned to every single place no eaten exactly the same meal (except the first night where smoking was permitted in the restaurant, yuk) indeed, last night, the last night of our ski holiday, we did just that.
The Post hotel, a Relais & Chateaux, was next door to ours and having used their free wifi all weekend, decided to pop over for dinner, you know, out of guilt on the Sunday, and then the Monday.
Well, any meal that starts with truffle and Parmesan popcorn is going to be good. The amuse bouche of a fresh curd with pumpkin oil, seeds and a lump of the flesh itself cleaned the palette and prepared our guts for the onslaught of rich, wild food.
I started with beeswax potatoes, new potatoes presented like little hives with trout caviar at their base and crisp beeswax scattered across their tops, giving a crunch the soft and squishy eggs and potatoes. John had more curd with kohlrabi and winter asparagus – there’s a story about asparagus, but I’ll leave that for another day. His was also well presented on a fabulous black plate which made the white and green of the vegetables really standout.
We both opted for the venison, the room we were in had its walls adorned with antlers of varying sizes and even the curtains, cushions and table had deer designs. Maybe it was a subliminal message as it was the best venison and one of the best pieces of meat I have ever eaten.
The word tender doesn’t do it justice; literally seared, the cooking process ceased at that point. The meat fresh and flavorful, our knives almost not required. Served with a delicious combination of puréed kohlrabi and peas with batons of the former and toasted buckwheat and dried apricots and a jellied apricot this dish was perfectly proportioned and though satisfying on many levels, did not leave us bloated.
On repeating the exercise we didn’t have starters and indulged in the serious cheeseboard. 14 types of cheese, mostly local, served with mustards and honey and crispy home made breads.
What more can I say! with a local bottle of red, the dinner came to around €160, and it was worth every single cent.
