In Lech-Zug, the remotest hamlet of the municipality of Lech am Arlberg, stands a little wooden house dating from 1780. But what makes the former school remarkable is not its age and atmospheric rooms — it is its culinary merits: Max Natmessnig’s modern Alpine cooking, the ever-fitting drinks pairings of his wife Bekah Roberts Natmessnig and the unique hospitality of host Joschi Walch. Walch was once so taken with the Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare that he poached its owner César Ramirez’s best man and rebuilt the old schoolhouse back home on the New York model.
In its fifth year, the Rote Wand Chef’s Table — with 18.5 Gault-Millau and 98 Falstaff points — has long been one of the biggest fish in Austrian fine dining. Only the stars are missing, and that is solely because the «Guide Michelin» no longer devotes an edition to Austria, rating only Vienna and Salzburg. The missing Michelin plaque does nothing to diminish the joy of what Natmessnig and his brigade create in the open kitchen upstairs.
The sensory journey begins on the ground floor: with a glass of champagne and fantastic little bites, including two house classics — the horseradish macaron with tartare of mountain trout from the neighbouring pond, and the airy potato cake with sour cream and trout caviar. While guests enjoy the amuses-bouches, the chef already presents the ingredients of the 19-course menu, displayed as appetisingly as at Frantzén in Stockholm, the house’s second model.
After the aperitif we go up one floor, to a horseshoe-shaped counter with a perfect view of the open kitchen. Natmessnig first impresses with a lightly tempered oyster beneath a miso foam, crowned with a quenelle of floral, nutty N25 caviar. Down-to-earth yet world-class is the bread course that follows: perfect sourdough with a sturdy crust and matured raw-milk butter. Then come highlights from char in kombu broth to langoustines with satay and XO sauce, buttery mackerel with aguachile, and saddle of fawn with puntarelle.
Despite the flood of dishes, you never get bored. The cooking is marked by a playful lightness known in Switzerland only from Andreas Caminada or Sven Wassmer; never does Natmessnig give in to the temptation of force over finesse. Last but not least, Bekah Roberts-Natmessnig’s drinks pairing is among the very best — with as sure a feel for wine, champagne and sake as for alcohol-free creations like cucumber–mangetout–horseradish or pepper–gooseberry–yuzu.
It goes without saying that after such a blissful culinary experience you want to stretch out like a well-fed cat in the sun — which the cosy Alpine-style rooms and the spacious spa make possible. The heated outdoor pool offers a spectacular view of the surrounding peaks, including the 2,704-metre Rote Wand that gave the hotel its name. Anyone wanting to take a piece of this magical place home can buy the «Rote Wand cookbook», written by the Viennese author Christian Seiler.
This article appeared in MEN issue 1/21 (November 2021).
