Where to eat and drink in Gstaad: worth the short train ride
Lunch on the mountain and dinner up and down the valley, much of it a short train ride from Gstaad. Café du Cerf in Rougemont is the cheese dinner, the 16 Art-Bar-Restaurant in Saanen is the steak to book, Pizza Basta is the easy night on the Promenade, and Boucherie, a butcher by day, is where the evening starts.
Gstaad has a name for grand hotel dining, but most of the week eats warmer and less formally than that. Lunch is a long one on a terrace with rösti in front of you, and the farm at Chalberhöni, at the foot of the Rougemont sector, is worth aiming for: ham, egg and bacon on potatoes cleaned that morning, fruit pies after, and play equipment for the children.
The dinners we would book are spread along the valley, and the short train ride is the habit to get into early. Café du Cerf, over the language border in Rougemont and seven minutes down the line, lives on cheese: two fondues, one of them with tomato and herbs, then raclette until somebody calls a halt, and the owner carries it out himself. For a bigger night, book the 16 Art-Bar-Restaurant in Saanen, one stop down the line, where the regional côte de boeuf is big enough for two and the wine list has been thought about.
When nobody can face the train, Pizza Basta on the Promenade is the easy good dinner: thin, crisp pizza, a smaller size if you ask, and gluten free pasta done properly. And for one evening, book a fondue bag at the Molkerei, a minute off the Promenade, and a hut on the hill to carry it up to.
The evenings are grown up rather than loud. Boucherie in Saanen, a butcher's shop until the evening and a bar after it, is the place to start them, with oysters and wine at the counter. Book the dinners ahead, and know which village each one is in before you promise anybody a short walk home.
Mountain lunch
Rösti on a working farm's terrace at the foot of the Rougemont sector, cooked by the family who run it.
Restaurant Chalberhöni Waldmatte
A working farm at the bottom of the Chalberhoni run, with a big terrace in front of it and the family's own cooking coming out of the kitchen. The rosti with ham, egg and bacon is the order and the potatoes are cleaned fresh that morning, which you can taste. Homemade fruit pies after it. It fills at weekends and empties midweek, so a Tuesday lunch here is a different experience from a Saturday one. There are rooms upstairs and play equipment for children, and the price is reasonable for what arrives.
Dinner
Cheese over the language border, a côte de boeuf for two in Saanen, and pizza on the Promenade for the night nobody wants the train.
Café du Cerf Rougemont
Over the language border in Rougemont, seven minutes on the train with a five minute walk from the station at the far end. Cheese is the whole business here: the classic fondue, a second one made with tomato and wild herbs and served with potatoes, and raclette a gogo when you want to keep going. The cheese is local and the owner brings it out himself. Finish on the meringue with local cream. The terrace faces straight at the Videmanette and it is the sheltered, sunny one in that village.
16 Art-Bar-Restaurant Saanen
Down a side street in Saanen, one stop by train from Gstaad, in a chalet room hung with modern art. The cote de boeuf from the region is the thing, cooked by Facundo, and it arrives big enough to share between two. Foie gras and the salad with barba di frate to start, the local cheese board or the moelleux au chocolat to finish. The wine list is long and has been thought about rather than assembled, and there are cocktails at the bar before you sit. Ring even when it looks fully booked, because they have found a table for five at short notice.
Pizza Basta
On the Promenade and the easiest good dinner in Gstaad. The pizzas come out thin and properly crisp, and if the standard size is too much they will make a smaller one on request. Gluten free pasta is on the card and done well rather than merely tolerated, and the desserts come in half portions too. The wine list is better than a pizzeria needs it to be, and the iced tea is made in the kitchen. Walk ins have been given good tables on a Saturday evening.
Bars
A butcher by day and a bar by night on Saanen's main street, with a raclette burger and Thai cooking if you stay to eat.
Boucherie
A working butcher on Saanen's main street by day that turns into a bar at night, which is a better idea than it sounds. Oysters and a glass of wine standing at the counter is the way to use it. If you want feeding, the burger with melted raclette cheese is the one everybody names, and there is Thai cooking coming out of the same kitchen that is genuinely good. Whoever is serving is good with small children and will ask a parent before offering anything sweet. It is not cheap and the produce explains why.
Cafes and quick bites
The village dairy, for the fondue bag you take up the hill and the cheese you carry home.
Molkerei Gstaad
The village dairy a minute off the Promenade, and the best cheese and milk counter in the valley. The thing to do here is book a fondue bag: they put the whole set together for you, and you can book one of the fondue huts up the hill to take it to, which is the Gstaad evening people actually remember afterwards. Staff will walk you through the whole arrangement in detail if you have never done it. Otherwise this is where the cheese to carry home comes from. There is a grotto attached that is worth a look while you wait.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Opening times and ownership change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.