normal magazin nummer23 winter

Die neuen Hotelzimmer erweitern das Angebot der Pension St. Jakob, welche von Sepp Infanger gleich neben dem Neubau geführt wird. The new rooms augment the accommodation offered by the neighbouring Pen- sion St. Jakob, which Sepp Infanger will continue to run alongside the new facility.

Espen Engelberg Massenlager/Hotel/ Restaurant Engelbergerstrasse 66 6390 Engelberg Tel. +41 41 637 13 88 www.espen-engelberg.ch

A surprise awaits travellers entering Engelberg this season. On the other side of the road from the Eugenisee lake is the fully revamped Espen. The former shooting club clubhouse is now a restaurant, hotel and hostel. “You cou ldn’ t exac tly ca ll it the most at trac tive building in the v illage,” grins owner Sepp Infanger. “It was high time it got a facelif t.” Sepp has owned the Pension St. Jakob nex t door since 1987 and had long been interested in taking on the disused clubhouse as well. In 2013 he f ina lly purchased the

the host at Pension St. Jakob. In a good week in the autumn he wou ld buy up to 1,000 sheep f rom Va lais farmers and sell them on to private farmers or to large meat wholesa lers like Mi- gros and Coop. He has an eye for qua lity: there must be the right ratio of meat to fat. If a lamb is covered in thick wool, Sepp can tell how fat- ty it is with a quick squeeze of the tail or ribs. Sepp has par ticu larly high standards when it comes to his own sheep and pigs. They spend most of the year on the meadow by his farmyard or up on the mountain pastures. As

shabby building f rom the loca l authority and since then has worked hard to shape an appea ling facil- ity that will rev ita lise the entrance to the v illage. Sepp grew up at the

far as possible, the meat on the restaurant ’s menu comes f rom his own ani- ma ls or other loca lly raised livestock. For Sepp, it is a mat ter of decency to use the entire carcass, so guests

Sepp Infanger wants his new facility to revitalise the en- trance to the village.

far end of the Engelberg va lley. The son of a farmer, he helped out on the family farm in the summer and worked up the mountain during the winter. At the age of 16, he had a job assisting skiers on the old Bitzi lif t, whose pylons can still be seen f rom the Trübsee- Hopper and f unc tion as waymarks for snow- shoe hikers on the Ober trübsee trail. The lif t belonged to the Trübsee hotel, and its owner Kari Hess quick ly recognised young Sepp’s true vocation. “Whenever Kari needed help in the kitchen, he wou ld whistle for me,” says Sepp. Because his mother worked in ser v ice in the v illage, it was Sepp’s job to prepare the mea ls at home. “I learned most of it f rom my grandmother, a trained cook.” Sepp wou ld have liked to have turned his passion into his profession, but his father was against it, so instead he trained to be an agricu ltura list. Sepp still runs his father’s farm, with two employees. Until 2005, he traded livestock during the week, and at the weekends he was

are in for some surprising dishes.

The restaurant is open daily until 10 p.m. It primarily ser ves traditiona l Swiss food but a lso of fers a few Asian mea ls. Some of the dishes can be taken away if holiday- makers fancy picnicking by the Eugenisee or want to eat back at their apar tment. Working with architec t Petra Engel- berger, Sepp has cleverly div ided the old building up into new sec tions. Each of the 19 rooms, which sleep between two and 14 , has its own bathroom. The rooms can f unc tion as hotel rooms or as dormitories for families or various sized groups. The spacious room for guests with disabilities has an ex tra room for an accompany ing carer and has been positioned in such a way that it can be used by hotel or hostel guests. Sepp appointed a manager to take care of operations. He him- self can usua lly be found in the kitchen or out f ront, meeting the guests. “As the boss, I have the priv ilege of choosing the tasks I like best.”

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hotellerie | thehotel industry

hotellerie | thehotel industry