Where to eat and drink in Zermatt: Findeln for lunch, the village for dinner
Lunch on the mountain is the event and dinner is in the village. Chez Vrony in Findeln is the terrace everybody knows, booked a long way ahead, Restaurant Zum See is the old room under Furi you can walk to, Restaurant Julen is the lamb dinner to book, and Osteria Bella Italia and MANUD are the change from cheese.
Zermatt eats lunch on the mountain and treats it as the main event of the day. Findeln, the hamlet under Sunnegga, is a lunch destination in its own right, and Chez Vrony is the name everybody knows: benches with blankets on them and the Matterhorn in front, a burger and goat cheese ravioli worth planning the day around, and a booking made a long way ahead. Do not try to fit it into an hour.
For something older and lower down, Restaurant Zum See is a handful of old timber huts under Furi with low ceilings, a working fire and pasta made in house. You can walk up to it from the village, which matters for anyone in the group not skiing that day.
Dinner is in the village, and because the village is car free and walkable, where you are staying matters less than whether you booked. Restaurant Julen is the one to book first. Lamb is the point, and the Shepherd's fondue, where the lamb cooks in broth at your table, is the dish that sets it apart from the fondue rooms around it. By the middle of the week part of the table will want a night off cheese. Osteria Bella Italia feels transplanted from Italy rather than adapted to the Alps, and the surprise menu is how to eat there. MANUD does Asian cooking, banh mi to curry, from breakfast through to dinner.
The North Wall is the bar for a younger crowd: pizza you build yourself, cooked in an open oven, Guinness on tap and a ping pong table on the terrace. It fills early, as several of the village dinner rooms do, so book the dinners before you fly, and the terrace too if you want to be outside.
Mountain lunch
The terrace everybody in Zermatt knows, worth the whole afternoon, and an old hamlet of timber huts under Furi, close enough to the village to walk up to.
Chez Vrony
The name everybody in Zermatt knows, down in the Findeln hamlet below Sunnegga, and it needs booking a long way ahead. The burger and the goat cheese ravioli are the two dishes people plan a day around, with the flammkuchen behind them and the veal if you want a proper lunch. The terrace runs on blanketed benches facing the Matterhorn, so it stays comfortable long after the plates have gone. Come off the Sunnegga path or the Five Lakes route and give it the afternoon rather than an hour.
Restaurant Zum See
A cluster of old timber huts below Furi, and stepping into the room is as much the point as the food: antique photographs, low ceilings and a working fireplace. Everything including the pasta is made in house, so the tagliatelle bolognese, the fillet with rosti and the Kaesschnitte all repay ordering. Book, though arriving before the noon sitting has worked for people who did not. Ski down to it in winter or walk up from the village, and there are usually dogs in the courtyard.
Dinner
Lamb two ways at Julen, one of them cooked at the table, and an Italian room where the kitchen chooses five courses if you let it.
Restaurant Julen
Lamb is the whole point here and the rack of lamb is what to order. The Shepherd's fondue is the other one, lamb cooked at the table in a rich broth, and it is the dish that separates this from every other fondue room in the village. The veal set comes with a salad buffet worth working through before the main arrives. Staff will take a first timer through a cheese fondue properly, which matters if it is your first, and the wine steers are good.
Osteria Bella Italia
An Italian room in the middle of the village that feels transplanted rather than adapted. Ask for the surprise menu, five courses chosen by the kitchen, which is the way to eat here. Otherwise the seafood pasta and the pizza are the orders and the tiramisu is the dessert to hold out for. Walk ins can usually get a seat at the bar, and limoncello and meloncello arrive at the end without anybody asking for them.
Bars
Pizza you build yourself on slow fermented dough, Guinness on tap, a young crowd and a ping pong table on the terrace.
The North Wall Bar & Restaurant
Pizza built by you from a margherita base with a list of toppings to add, cooked in an open oven in front of you on dough given seventy two hours to ferment. Guinness on tap, a good beer list and a young international crowd. The terrace has a ping pong table and fills quickly, so book it if that is where you want to sit. One of the cheapest bands in the village, and every table tends to be full by half six.
Cafes and quick bites
Banh mi, curry and rice bowls for when part of the table has had its fill of fondue, and it serves from breakfast to dinner.
MANUD
Asian cooking in the middle of a fondue town, which after four days is exactly what part of the party will be after. Banh mi with pulled pork, the tom kha curry chicken and the rice bowl with salmon sashimi are the dishes, and there is homemade sriracha on the table. Open from breakfast through to dinner, with live music on some evenings and a terrace when the weather allows. Prices sit in the middle of the range and it is a good room to sit in for a long lunch.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Opening times and ownership change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.