Unterseen Restaurants

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When you are on vacation in Unterseen or Interlaken and you would like to go to a really special place for a special occasion or anniversary, I may highly recommend to have dinner or lunch at the Grandhotel Giessbach. Chez Florent is the name of the excellent Gourmet-restaurant of the Parkhotel Giessbach and it has 14 Gault-Millau-points. The restaurant is open daily during the summer and in the winter-season they will open only at friday and saturday evening during the 4 weekends of advent and upon reservation for groups with a minimum of 40 persons !
Parkhotel Giessbach is such a lovely ambiente in a great surrounding, with the great terrace facing the Brienzersee and with a view of the waterfalls at the other side.

Favorite Dish: Chez Florent is well known for its fine french and swiss cuisine and they offer a special 4-course menu every day - you may find more details on the web-page below !
There is also another restaurant and cafe in Grandhotel Giessbach with more moderate prices - see my last 2 pics !

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Restaurant Neuhaus is at Thunersee, at the west-end of Unterseen and Interlaken and it has a great terrace facing the lake and the Niesen, (the Swiss Pyramid). This hotel and restaurant has a very old history and in the old building you will find the restaurant with a modern wintergarden and a great terrace with shady trees facing the Thuner See.
Most tourists will see this place only, while they pass by when taking a cruise on Thunersee.

Favorite Dish: Taste the ice-cream-coups, they were my favorite, when I spent an afternoon in Neuhaus, swimming and relaxing.This place has its own landing-stage for sailingboats and the steamers of Thunersee and also a private bathing-area, where everyone is welcome, but on busy days an employee will collect a small amount of money from non-residents of the hotel!
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The restaurant on top of Brienzer Rothorn is most probably the highest restaurant of the mountains around Interlaken, where you may sit also outside on a terrific terrace . Restaurant Rothorn Kulm is a perfect place to have lunch or dinner and prices are average or even a bit lower than down the valley in Brienz and Interlaken. Take a look at my 3rd picture : that place-mat shows all the surrounding mountains and while waiting for your meal, you may search for the mountains in the panorama-view. (AND very important for VT-ers : take the place-mat home and use it, when searching for the right names of mountains and lakes that you are describing in your VT-tips;-)
That same place-mat is also used at many other restaurants in the area !
This restaurant and Rothornbahn are open in summer ONLY !!

Favorite Dish: My favorite dish was Roesti mit Schinken und Spiegelei ( Hashbrown potatoes with fried eggs and overbacked with cheese and ham ) is a dish I may highly recommend. Roesti is a really great dish and mostly also a bit less expensive than an ordinary lunch. You will hardly ever get such great hash brown potatoes outside of Switzerland !

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Of course you will take a tour to the Jungfrau-Joch with the highest trainstation in Europe and a perfect view on a clear day, BUT when it comes to prices and quality you have to considder that you will have no chance to escape extremely high prices.
On Top of Jungfraujoch there are 2 main restaurants :
One of them is with waiter-service and even more expensive, the other one is with self-service and about average prices. And in addition there are various small bars and coffee-bars with snacks and coffee.

Favorite Dish: I had Spaghetti Bolognese, applecider (Suessmost), a coffee and a croissant for desert. On the total it was not bad at all and also not really overpriced, when you considder the special location and the logistic problems that a restaurant will face at such a location ! On a place like this you might have eigther thousands of tourists during one day or almost nobody, it will totally depend on the weather and is really hard to predict...

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Restaurant Schuh is a traditional cafe and restaurant that dates back already to the glorious times of tourism back in the 19th century. Nowadays this excellent Tea-room / Confiserie / Restaurant is not at all a cheap place for ordinary tourists, but rather a place to spend the afternoon and enjoy cakes, coffee and piano-music. Restaurant "Schuh" is located at the corner of HÖHEMATTE, and from the garden-restaurant you will see the famous mountain-view of the Jungfrau.
Plenty of years ago I was working there for a summer-season, and when I returned in 2005 it did not have changed a lot : There is still a pianist playing in the afternoon and the evening, you still have to choose your cakes at the counter among a giant buffet of different cakes, pastries and chocolates and take them to your table yourself, while the drinks are served by the waiters.
Something new to me was the chocolate-show, where you may watch the production of fine chocolates daily at 4,5,and 6 p.m. The entrance-fee to that performance is 10 sfr and you will get a voucher in that amount and may change it against some of their sweet souvenirs...

Favorite Dish: This is really one of the best places I have ever seen, regarding production of cakes, fine chocolates, petit fours,ornamental chocolates of all kinds - in any case this is the swiss equivalent to Demel in Vienna - just watch the great windows with chocolate-ornaments or figures, chess-plays with all figures made of chocolate...

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MIGROS is the other cheap restaurant-chain in Switzerland that I may highly recommend for tourists on a budget and all of those people, who are in a hurry !
MIGROS with their self-service-restaurants all over Switzerland are always a good choice to eat a good meal for a reasonable price. The MIGROS in Interlaken is directely opposite of the station Interlaken-WEST.
These restaurants are also a good place to read the newspapers that they have on free display or to warm up on a cold or rainy day. Mostly you will not be chased away by the servants, when you just sit at a table without consuming anything as long as these tables are not urgently needed for other guests.

Favorite Dish: I had a great lunch there and they have a hot buffet with all sorts of fried chicken, meat, fishes... and a hot buffet of different sorts of rice, vegetables & french-fries etc. - you simply help yourself and at the cashier you have to pay 2,60 sfr for every 100 gramms of the meal on your plate.
For desert you may try "Rueblitorte" - a cake made of carrots, its healthy and tastes surprisingly good !