South Tyrol for Foodies: best dishes and where to eat them
A day on beautiful ski slopes, through snow-covered valleys or discovering picturesque mountain villages, a hike through the woods or up to the mountain huts on the peaks of the Dolomites, are unmissable experiences in a trip, a weekend or even just a day spent in South Tyrol. At least as much as sitting in front of a steaming plate of dumplings or a fragrant speck board after a tiring day with your backpack on the shoulders or skis on your feet.
The mountain gastronomy in South Tyrol is hardly comparable with other Alpine regions: it offers a wide and delicious variety of dishes. It's hard to choose what to eat, and the dishes are so good that you rarely feel guilty for having ingested a copious amount of butter and carbohydrates, which are usually never lacking! The first courses, in fact, are definitely the protagonists.
After a few years spent in the valleys of the Dolomites, I share my personal list of dishes not to be missed, and a few places to go to taste a delicious version of them.
Speck and cold cuts: let's start with the basics. Speck is produced in South Tyrol and is the undisputed protagonist of every dish, but not only. Every meal worth of this name, every quick snack, requires a generous speck platter, accompanied by local rye bread (crispy or soft). The other cold cuts are not bad either! The quick lunch version is a good hot rye sandwich filled with speck and local cheese.
Eggs, potatoes and speck: ok, it's not really a gourmet dish, but after trying it, it will become your favourite ski-slopes-meal. Potatoes browned in butter, fried eggs and crispy speck. Fast, hot and hearty.
Potatoes mezzelune: an exceptional first course that won't help your diet. It is ravioli with a potato dough, usually filled with cheese or mushrooms. The seasoning is simply made with butter and Parmesan cheese.
Schlutzkrapfen: a less sinful version of the potato ravioli, as the dough is made of simple rye flour and water. They are filled with spinach, and seasoned with the omnipresent butter.
Spätzle: heavenly gnocchi, with a fluid dough, which is poured into boiling water, and then seasoned with cream and speck. Even better in the green version, with spinach in the dough.
Gnocchi with cheese: a vicious mixture of bread and cheese, very simple, seasoned with an avalanche of Parmesan cheese, butter and chives.
Canederli: these are the typical bread dumplings of South Tyrol. A dough with eggs, cheese, stale bread, enriched according to taste with speck, spinach, mushrooms. These bread dumplings are boiled, and then eaten with simple melted butter, or, in a wintery and warm version, in broth.
Meat: from the pastures of South Tyrol comes delicious meat. The meat dishes, even the simplest entrecote or grilled steak, are always delicious. Make sure they come from local farms, and you won't be disappointed.
Apple strudel: a must, also as a snack on the ski slopes. A roll of puff, shortcrust, or thin and crunchy pastry version, filled with apples, pine nuts and raisins. Pair it with a good dose of hot vanilla cream.
Sweet canederli: they are made of ricotta cheese, and filled with chocolate, jam or cream. They are different depending on where you eat, and there is no universal version.
OSTERIA CIASTEL
San Vigilio di Marebbe
A 14th century stube inside a noble farm that today houses apartments and a delightful restaurant. The tavern is an excellent place to try typical South Tyrolean specialities in an ambience more rustic than average, in the elegant panorama of San Vigilio di Marebbe. The restaurant is very cosy and the food is definitely of high quality.
It offers typical local specialities such as canederli, spätzle, gröstl, cold cuts. The local cold cuts are served in an appetizing chopping board accompanied by the fennel bread typical of Val Badia. Among the first courses are the potato ravioli in a mouthwatering chanterelle version. The specialty is then the meat grown "in house": the grilled steak with potatoes and vegetables is among the best we have ever tasted.
It is a bit difficult to find the restaurant, because the location on the online maps is wrong. So pay attention to the signs on the street.
OSTARIA POSTA
Picolin
A very elegant restaurant, with very low prices. The dishes are those of tradition, with a modern and elegant twist. The spinach ravioli are served with blueberry butter, the spätzle are served with a braised ossobuco, the potato dumplings stuffed with cotechino with lentil sauce. The dishes are elite-restaurant style.
It is located on the road, near the ski slopes of the hamlet of Picolin.
RIFUGIO CORONES
Kronplatz
It is located at the top of Kronplatz, between the ski slopes and the chair lifts. It has a self-service area, for skiers eager to get back on the slopes, and a serviced, scenic area that seems all too pretentious. Actually the environment is quite informal, and the prices are average.
The dishes are exceptional. Excellent are the canederli in broth, eggs, speck and potatoes browned to perfection, the buttery and perfectly cooked cut of beef. The wholewheat mezzelune with walnut butter are a truly sinful version of the South Tyrolean dish, and the sweet dumplings are also an excellent version with chocolate filling and berry sauce.
The dishes are all too abundant, so order them in moderation if you don't want to spend the afternoon dozing in the sun instead of ploughing the ski slopes.
COL DL' ANCONA
San Vigilio di Marebbe
This chalet is located on the ski slopes, at the arrival of the Picolin lift. Great for a break during the skiing day, but also accessible by car from San Vigilio. On a sunny day it offers the best view of the snow-covered mountains in the area. Besides the cold cuts, excellent soups, the classic eggs, potatoes and speck, this is the only place where we were able to have cheese dumplings. We got addicted to them!
They also make an excellent strudel.
This content is NOT SPONSORED, but based on my genuine personal experience. Spontaneous opinions, positive and negative, shareable or not, that I hope will help to live better travel experiences. My advice is a guide to lead you through world explorations, but the real journey, you build it!
