34-35 / 68
32
33
gastronomie
|
food+drink
The pasture where local farmers used to graze
their animals now offers excellent year-round
hospitality to visitors from far and wide.
Ribbons of mist drif t past the steep rock
face as the sma ll red gondola brings v isitors
safely up to Fürena lp mountain restaurant,
1,850 metres above sea level. Since 1979, the ca-
bleway run by the Mat ter family at the end of
the va lley has been the most comfor table way
to reach the cu linar y delights and spor ting
ac tiv ities on of fer here, high above the v illage.
In winter, the Fürena lp is far f rom the bustling
ski slopes and of fers pure, un-
spoiled nature. Hikers with
or without snowshoes can
take to the trails and mar vel
at the majestic mountain
landscape. The sledge run is
a lso a whole lot of f un – not
on ly for the lit tle ones. However you choose
to spend your time, you’re likely to work up an
appetite for the regiona l specia lities on of fer
in the restaurant. Among other delights, the
Fürena lp mountain restaurant ser ves Ä lpler
Magronen, Swiss macaroni cheese just as farm-
ers used to eat daily on the summer pastures. It
was their mea l of choice for one simple reason:
pasta, potatoes and onions keep well, and they
cou ld produce the cheese and but ter them-
selves. Since December 2015, Urs Por tmann has
been put ting hear t and sou l into running this
charming restaurant complete with spec tacu-
lar v iews. The Obwa lden native knows his
way around Engelberg as he spent 15 years as
head chef of the restaurants operated by Titlis
Cableways. But before Urs and his family set-
tled in Engelberg, his job as a chef took him
around the world. Af ter working in various
Swiss hotels and in Sweden, he spent f ive years
on exclusive cruise ships in Antarc tica. On
his last cruise, he met his wife Josefa, a hotel
manager who had a lso caught the cruise bug
and was working on the same ship. Ha lf a year
later, she was a lready expec ting their f irst son,
Kev in. Two years later came Christopher. And
thus a cruise ship romance quick ly turned into
a family. The Por tmanns eventua lly lef t the
high seas behind them and for a lmost ten years
ran Josefa’s family’s guesthouse in the Bavar-
ian Forest. They eventua lly moved to Engel-
berg in 1999. Urs was a lready familiar with
the region; while training to be a chef at the
Kurhaus hotel in Melchsee-Frut t, he at tended
the loca l vocationa l college
in the low season and lived
in the boarding school at the
Schweizerhof hotel. Despite
the various cha llenges he
faced at Titlis Cableways, Urs
never lost sight of his dream
of one day opening a mountain restaurant.
When the Fürena lp was adver tised for lease in
the loca l newspaper, he jumped at the chance.
He ran the restaurant on his own until June,
when Josefa joined him as f ront-of-house staf f
and host. “We have invested a lot of love in this
restaurant,” says Josefa. And you can tell. The
tastef u lly decorated dining room and beauti-
f u l terrace adorned with f lowers are ver y wel-
coming. And if heavy wind and snow ca ll a ha lt
to outdoor ac tiv ities, the restaurant is the per-
fec t place to wait for the bad weather to pass,
especia lly since ski passes are a lso va lid for
the Fürena lpbahn. The wide range of delicious
homemade dishes is sure to get your mouth
watering. The tripe, for example, has a lready
achieved cu lt status, so make sure you order it
when it ’s the daily specia l. Pair it with a good
bot tle of wine f rom the tanta lising wine list
and watch the world go by. And at the end of
the day, the sma ll red gondolas are right there
to bring you safely back down to the va lley.
Josefa and Urs Portmann have
invested a lot of love in the res-
taurant on the Fürenalp.
gastronomie
|
food+drink
Von der Fürenalp sind die
Spannörter zum Greifen nah.