Badrutt’s Palace latest prank – La Coupole/Matsuhisa

Switzerland is celebrating 150 years of winter tourism this year. An essential part of this success story was the legendary St. Moritz hotelier Johannes Badrutt. The story goes that he wanted to convince his British summer guests of the advantages of the Engadine winter with a bet. If his guests don’t like it, he’ll cover the travel costs – that’s the idea. Well, the British seemed to have taken a liking to the white splendour in Graubünden, stayed until Easter and brought all their colleagues with them the following winter. His son, Caspar Badrutt, continued the tradition of hospitality with the opening of Badrutts’ Palace some 40 years after the start of winter tourism. Since then, the unique hotel has stood for hospitality, luxury and exclusivity. But in St. Moritz, you can’t rest on your laurels, you have to offer the discerning guests something new again and again.

Tradition and innovation are two essential components of Badrutt’s Palace’s long-standing success story. For the start of the 2014/2015 winter season, the management has once again come up with something special. The former first tennis hall in Europe has been converted into a new restaurant. We got an insight into the new gourmet temple last Saturday as part of the opening.

We left the ski equipment at home for once. In the new year, we will have two more opportunities to explore the Engadine ski resorts and so this time the focus was on enjoyment. With light luggage, we managed the short distance from St. Moritz train station to Badrutt’s Palace, which towers like a castle on a steep slope above Lake St. Moritz, on foot. At the train station, just walk straight ahead towards the underground car park and take the escalator up to the village. Of course, the hotel also picks up guests at the train station on request.

In our room (room prices during the winter season from around 490 CHF for a standard double room) a magnificent mountain view and an Engadine nut cake awaited us. In addition to this small attention, the rooms offer other small, fine details. Nothing is left to chance. The rest of the afternoon we made ourselves comfortable with a cup of tea in the beautiful Grand Hall and marveled at the view. In view of Lake St. Moritz, which had not yet frozen over at any point, it was difficult for us to imagine how the first polo tournaments would take place on the lake in a few weeks – fingers crossed for cold days, after all, Badrutt’s Palace is providing its own polo team for the first time this year.

Reopening of Matsuhisa @ Badrutt’s Palace

After the soft pink color of the evening sky gave way to the starry night, the time had come. Japanese celebrity chef Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa is changing his restaurant concept at Badrutt’s Palace after ten years. Guests of St. Moritz will now have the exclusive pleasure of having one of only six offshoots of its premium brand “Matsuhisa” on site worldwide. For this new restaurant, the old tennis hall was redesigned by Martin Brudnizki Design Studio from London. Historical elements, such as the old steel girders, were skilfully combined with modern style elements. The result is impressive. Also noteworthy is the new glass dome, which allows guests a view of the hotel tower in daylight. The restaurant exudes a casual atmosphere. At the opening ceremony of “La Coupole/Matsuhisa@Badrutt’s Palace“, the celebrity chef was personally present and hit the sake vessel together with host Hans Wiedemann, General Manager Yves Gardiol and Tasos Ioannidis, owner of the Belvedere Hotel Mykonons, at the traditional sake ceremony.

Looking
at the cards

Afterwards we tasted our way through the wide range of Japanese dishes at dinner. We started the culinary excursion with Yellowtail Sashimi Jalapeno. My favorite of the evening was the gossamer baby spinach with scallops, dried miso and parmesan and the excellent black cod “Black Cod” with yuzu and miso, a house specialty. But also the grilled Wagyu beef, which was served with three different sauces, tasted excellent. But since we had never eaten in the “old” Nobu, we lack the comparison to what extent the premium restaurant concept Matsuhisa stands out from Nobu. However, the ambience and the architectural concept of the new restaurant are convincing.

Wet and happy awakening

Sunday morning we started with a dip in the pool. Funnily enough, I haven’t yet encountered any other hotel pool where you can jump in from a ledge. We couldn’t resist it, and had to capture my extremely elegant jump as a GIF (so I can also pay off my “bikini picture debts” in the old year) ;). But apart from the fun factor of the diving rock, the entire pool area, including the outdoor pool, is simply fantastic. If my stomach hadn’t growled slowly, I could have spent the whole Sunday morning looking out into the mountains from one of the deck chairs, lost in thought. But breakfast in the classic ambience of “Le Restaurant” is also an experience.

Homeward

And after a short walk through St. Moritz, it was time to travel home again. Since the winter atmosphere in St. Moritz left a lot to be desired last weekend, we were all the more pleased when, after crossing the Albula tunnel between Preda and Bergün, we were able to admire a white-powdered winter wonderland through the train window and enjoy the Graubünden nut cake.

Note: I was invited to this stay by Badrutt’s Palace – thank you very much for this. As always, my readers can be sure that I always represent my views and enthusiasm here.