My Learned Companion and I may have stumbled on a cunning way to eat nice food for bargain prices...

We were in Kuessnacht am Rigi this afternoon, looking for somewhere to eat. There was an interesting Serbian restaurant, but it was full of smokers, so we gave it a miss. There was a kebab shop nearby, but after a somewhat heavy night, I thought it might be wise to avoid such dubious foodstuffs at lunchtime. Finally, we found ourselves outside a quaint, wooden beamed restaurant, with a Michelin plaque outside. "Why not?" we thought, "It might not be that bad."

So we walked in, took one look at the decor and table settings, realised that it wasn't our kind of place, and walked out again.

Despondent, we tramped down the steps, before noticing that underneath the smart restaurant lay a Stube, advertising food at much more reasonable prices, in an environment more suited to the likes of us (MN just made me remove a reference to "utter wankers"...don't know why).

Anyway, as we sat down at our plain wooden table we noticed that the food we were about to eat was clearly prepared in the same kitchen where the food for the utter lovely people upstairs was prepared. "Mmmmm..." we thought. "Perhaps we'll get gourmet food at Stube prices?"

And we were right! The food was delicious: I had a very pleasant roesti with onions, cheese and bacon, followed by a creme brulee with tonka beans in it (apparently). MN had venison schnitzel with all the trimmings and some kind of soup with bits in it. The whole lot, including drinks, came to 84 CHF for the two of us. The main courses were less than 20 CHF each.

So, if you find a fancy restaurant with prices that make you choke, have a look and see if there's a Stube attached. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Should you find yourself in Kuessnacht am Rigi, the restaurant is called the Engel.

En guete!

...and you've been in Switzerland waaay too long considering 84CHF cheap for some "Stube" food.

Exactly. When I read "eat cheap" I expected something considerably cheaper... like the newly opened Thaifood "place" near my work selling lunches for 8-10 CHFs. I did not yet try it out as it quite literally is a hut and I do not really love to eat my lunch as take away at my desk... but I will write a review here soon then...

Congrats on eating out, well and cheap, I thought this was some thread about listing cheap places, ours would be IkeaStube, but it's so anti fancy, I don't think it counts here.

Nonetheless, I got inspired today watching the Hotel de l'Abbeye's chef sharing his inexpensive traditional family recipe, ran home from the eliptical and made it, hmmmmmmmm...So nice. Cooked caneloni, basil, tomato sauce, chives, garlic, onions, double cream, peppper, olive oil, sundried tomatoes, green pesto, sariette, oregano, thyme. They actually use aromat (I left that out it does not need it) and flamb the caneloni in whiskey first (after frying onions, garlic and chives), but I couldn't do it for our 3yr old's aft-ed mouth. White wine worked nicely there, just a tad. So, homeStube wins again

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"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

1. What is a Stube? (stoob?)
2. Tonka thins the blood so watch out.
3. 84chf

On a similar topic:

I find Globus foodhall in Bellvue to be good value for lunch. Costs me 22chf with a drink for hot and tasty Asian food. Much better IMO than Mishio or similar, and whatever I get from Migros for lunch is nasty and seems to cost exactly 14chf every time. Lunch at Totos or similar is always 35-40chf which is crazy for lunch on a semi-daily basis.

Like this sort of thing?



Cheers,
Nick

Actually, I'd say an "espuma of sauce choron" ain't your typical stube food. This actually reminds me of the gastropub idea . . .

Thanks DB . . . will investigate.

1. A Stube ("schtoo-beh") would be a lounge-bar in the UK.

2. It's also toxic to the liver and kidneys. And rats (Warfarin is derived from it!).

3. Indeed. As you so rightly say:

I think Stube stands for a place they pour drinks for you, but I am not sure. Like Winestube they have in Deutchland. Or wine cellar? La cave?

Our biggest bargain (after the ikea meatballs, I admit) is Manor Margarita, i think it is 10,75fr or something like that, their pizza au choix is around 13fr. They also do fresh pasta in their resto, for 15fr, with sauce, salmon, other little things. All freshly cooked. It's lovely. It's not Stube, but you can get open wine and some beers, not specialties, but for a quick train trip and a family meal, it's a pretty good deal (their deserts aren't so...nice, except the choc tart, that's tasty).

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"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

"Stube" (schtoo-ba) = unfussy locals' place. The Weisse Rose down near Bellevue is a classic Stube.

If it has both a Stammtisch (large table for the regulars) and a printed menu, it's probably a Stube. Menu is typically short, food typically a bit hit or miss. Find out which two of the nine dishes on the menu they actually do well, and don't order anything else again, ever.

Alternatively, go to the Stube next to/downstairs from a really posh restaurant, and order anything you like. Seriously this was really nice food for the price point - way beyond typical Stube fare. I would happily (OK, only mildly begrudgingly) have paid 40-45CHF in Zürich for the main+starter I had.

For two. Including drinks, dessert, coffee.

We could definitely have eaten cheaper (kebab/pizza shop down the road) or better (the cloth-napkin joint upstairs) but for us this really hit the 'special occasion' sweet spot - kind of a balance between fine food, affordability and unrarefied atmosphere.

Thinking back afterwards, we realized we've had several similar experiences - think about going somewhere fancy, chicken out at the last minute, go to the somewhat plainer restaurant downstairs, eat, drink, be blissful.

So that's it from now on I reckon.

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I dont think 84CHF for 2main meals, one soup, one desert and drinks is expensive.

You beat me to it MN.

Two desserts. I was going to just steal bits off his but apparently that's only permitted on birthdays with a 0 in them. Who knew?!

Even better

we'll visit this restaurant!! Sounds good...

Ah well 84chf seems a bit more reasonable then

Ah, reckon you're looking at the upstairs menu! We only saw the "Kleine Karte" shown on their website - plus the Tagesmenü choices, of course. Yesterday those were the venison schnitzel I had (with potatoes, veggies and a nice Bündner Gerstensuppe) for CHF19.50, or pumpkin ravioli (with starter and sides, can't remember what she said they were though) for CHF15.50.

Heyyyyyy...Is that the big x0 I am thinking of? Happy x0, yet again...Hope you had a fantastic present, one does not forget those 0 birthdays, ever.

Cheers, the frogs.

Not yet - hence I wasn't allowed to steal bites of his dessert and had to order my own. Life is hard, right?

But we are now...