It was a cool, drizzly evening when the Edwards’ began their trek into the unknown. Their journey would lead them into the wilds of Swiss restaurant eating. Their destination was a lovely place on Bahnhofstrasse that combined two restaurants into one building, obviously a Swiss ploy to confuse Americans. One restaurant was called Le Gitan and was located towards the back of the building, while the other was called Zermatterstubli and situated in the front. Zermatterstubli won out because of its simple menu and very casual atmosphere. If one were so inclined they could view each of these restaurants by visiting www.legitan.ch.
Fortunately for the Edwards’, their waitress spoke English as well as they did, and was amazing to watch as she seamlessly switched between German and English depending on the customer. Since our heroes (henceforth known as M and Chris) had not fed in approximately two hours, they were down to their last reserves of physical and mental strength. Digging deep into their last vestiges of strength, they managed to order buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes to begin their much needed meal. Little did they know that the appetizer would set the stage for one of the greatest meals they had ever known. M ordered a salad with chicken and veggies, while Chris selected the exotic, steak and potatoes. Chris likes to live on the edge, always pushing the culinary envelope. Chris’s food came first and being the observant one that he is, he quickly noticed there were no potatoes, though he didn’t say anything right away, hoping there was some easily correctable mishap. M’s salad came next and looked oddly like a salad with chicken. Chris’s tension built as he awaited what had become of his potatoes, when suddenly the waitress came towards the table carrying a large dish. To Chris’s utter delight the dish contained not just his potatoes, but all the potatoes he could eat, straight out of the oven. The waitress scooped out several spoonfuls of potatoes for Chris. These weren’t just ordinary potatoes though, they were covered with cream and cheese!
Meanwhile, M had taken to eating her salad and when questioned by Chris as to its worthiness, she replied that it was fantastic. The chicken was seasoned with something she had never before tasted and that turned out to be Elder flower. As M pointed out, it is rather difficult to make a salad anything special, but the Zermatterstubli had managed it.
Chris declared his steak with garlic butter and potatoes with cream and cheese to be one of the best meals he had ever had and M came to the same conclusion, so they decided to venture into the dessert menu. (Much to Chris’s dismay, he refused second helpings of potatoes in order to “save room for dessert”, which he later realized was just silly and that he had plenty of room for both.)
M quickly decided on the black and white chocolate mousse, while Chris bravely dared the “Hot, Wild berries and vanilla ice cream.” Both desserts were declared excellent and the determination was made to return to the Zermatterstubli as soon as was practical.
That concludes our story time for this evening. Stay tuned tomorrow for the Edwards’s next adventure…THE MATTERHORN GLACIER AND THE SCARY TRAM! (Insert your own dramatic music here.)