itself is a curiosity in architecture. A portion of it
was originally a convent, and the new building was
intended at one time to be a royal residence, and at
another period was to have been the centre of a Portu-
guese Monte Carlo.
Pampilhosa
The buffet at Pampilhosa, the important junction
station on the Lisbon-Oporto line, is Buffet,
much above the average of railway Pampilhosa
dining-places in Portugal. I believe that its manager
is a partner of M. Weissman mentioned above.
XI
SWITZERLAND
The Food of the Country — Lucerne — Basle— Bern — Geneva —
St. Moritz — Davos.
The Food of the Country
Switzerland is a country of hotels and not of
restaurants. In most of the big towns the hotels
have restaurants attached to them, and in some of
these a dinner ordered a la carte is just as well cooked
as in a good French restaurant, and served as well ;
in other restaurants attached to good hotels the table
d'hote dinner is served at separate tables at any time
between certain hours, and this is the custom of most
of the restaurants in most of the better class of hotels.
There is in every little mountain-hotel a restaurant ;
but this is generally used only by invalids, or very
proud persons, or mountaineers coming back late from
a climb. There is no country in which the gourmet
has to adapt himself so much to circumstances and in
which he does it, thanks to exercise and mountain
air, with such a Chesterfieldian grace. I have seen
the Englishman who, at the very excellent restau-
rants of the Schweitzerhof or National at Lucerne,
ate gloomily a perfectly cooked little meal which
he had ordered a la carte on the day of his arrival
in Switzerland, sitting smiling in peace two days
later eating the table d'hbte meal at a little table
310
Switzerland 311
in the restaurant of one of the hotels at Lauzanne or
Vevey, Montreux or Territet, after a walk along the
lake side or up the mountain to Caux, and four days
after taking his seat at a long table at Zermatt or the
Riffel Alp, talking quite happily to perfect strangers
on either side of him, and eating the menu through
from end to end, more conscious of the splendid
appetite a day on the glaciers had given him than of
what he is devouring. Switzerland entirely demora-
lises the judgment of a gourmet, for its mountain air
gives it undue advantages over most other countries,
and an abundant appetite has a way of paralysing all
the finer critical faculties.
At one past period all hotels in Switzerland were
“ run ” on one simple, cheap plan. There were meals
at certain hours, there was a table in the big room for
the English, another for the Germans, and another for
mixed nationalities. If any one came late for a meal,
so much the worse for him or her, for they had to
begin at the course which was then going round. If
travellers appeared when dinner was half over, they
had to wait till it was quite finished ; and then, as a
favour, the maitre d’hotel would instruct a waiter to
ask the cook to send the late comers in something to
eat, which was generally some of the relics of the
just-completed feast, the odours of which still hung
about the great empty dining-hall.
Lucerne
Hotel National
Page 170
Presented as published in 1903. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
itself is a curiosity in architecture. A portion of it was originally a convent, and the new building was intended at one time to be a royal residence, and at another period was to have been the centre of a Portuguese Monte Carlo.
Pampilhosa
The buffet at Pampilhosa, the important junction station on the Lisbon-Oporto line, is Buffet, much above the average of railway Pampilhosa dining-places in Portugal. I believe that its manager is a partner of M. Weissman mentioned above.
SWITZERLAND
The Food of the Country — Lucerne — Basle— Bern — Geneva — St. Moritz — Davos.
The Food of the Country
Switzerland is a country of hotels and not of restaurants. In most of the big towns the hotels have restaurants attached to them, and in some of these a dinner ordered a la carte is just as well cooked as in a good French restaurant, and served as well ; in other restaurants attached to good hotels the table d'hote dinner is served at separate tables at any time between certain hours, and this is the custom of most of the restaurants in most of the better class of hotels. There is in every little mountain-hotel a restaurant ; but this is generally used only by invalids, or very proud persons, or mountaineers coming back late from a climb. There is no country in which the gourmet has to adapt himself so much to circumstances and in which he does it, thanks to exercise and mountain air, with such a Chesterfieldian grace. I have seen the Englishman who, at the very excellent restaurants of the Schweitzerhof or National at Lucerne, ate gloomily a perfectly cooked little meal which he had ordered a la carte on the day of his arrival in Switzerland, sitting smiling in peace two days later eating the table d'hbte meal at a little table
Switzerland 311
in the restaurant of one of the hotels at Lauzanne or Vevey, Montreux or Territet, after a walk along the lake side or up the mountain to Caux, and four days after taking his seat at a long table at Zermatt or the Riffel Alp, talking quite happily to perfect strangers on either side of him, and eating the menu through from end to end, more conscious of the splendid appetite a day on the glaciers had given him than of what he is devouring. Switzerland entirely demoralises the judgment of a gourmet, for its mountain air gives it undue advantages over most other countries, and an abundant appetite has a way of paralysing all the finer critical faculties.
At one past period all hotels in Switzerland were “ run ” on one simple, cheap plan. There were meals at certain hours, there was a table in the big room for the English, another for the Germans, and another for mixed nationalities. If any one came late for a meal, so much the worse for him or her, for they had to begin at the course which was then going round. If travellers appeared when dinner was half over, they had to wait till it was quite finished ; and then, as a favour, the maitre d’hotel would instruct a waiter to ask the cook to send the late comers in something to eat, which was generally some of the relics of the just-completed feast, the odours of which still hung about the great empty dining-hall.
Lucerne
Hotel National