With a total of six restaurants and two bars, the Arosa Kulm Hotel & Alpin Spa offers an idyllic retreat in the Swiss Alps with a diverse array of dining options. From its façade, you would never guess that this grand hotel first started welcoming guests in 1882. After many renovations and changes over the years, inside the hotel you can still find souvenirs of its long history. This includes the oldest bar in Arosa, as well as a Thai restaurant in homage to the former King of Thailand. He used to stay at the hotel when he was learning to ski in the 1930s.

During my two-night stay as a guest of the Arosa Kulm, I met with Executive Chef Florian Mainzger. Since 2018, he has been managing all the restaurants and bars at the hotel, as well as his own restaurant, the Muntanella. I talked with him about the dining options at the hotel and his individual style of modern alpine cuisine at his signature restaurant.

6 Restaurants & 2 Bars at the Arosa Kulm

With 119 rooms, the Arosa Kulm has a total of six different restaurants and two drinking establishments. When you stay at this 5-star hotel, here is a summary of your dining options:

• 1882 – Start your day with a generous breakfast buffet featuring specialties from the canton of Graubünden, such as Birnbrot (dried pear bread) and Bündnerfleish (air-dried beef).
  

• Taverne – Casual dining with pizza and steaks, as well as a mini bowling alley and a children’s playroom.
  
• Ahaan Thai – To date, the spiciest Thai food I have eaten in Switzerland. The three chefs fly in from Bangkok for the winter season. Don’t miss the photo of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej from when he used to stay at the hotel.
  
• Stüva Cuolm – Italian food, including pizzas from a wood-fired oven, on a sunny terrace at the foot of the ski slopes. Open for lunch and dinner.
  
• Piz Kulm – The former sun terrace at the hotel, perched high above the hotel is the Piz Kulm, a small restaurant for fondue and raclette dinners during the winter season.
  
• Muntanella – Executive Chef Florian Mainzger’s signature restaurant, open for lunch and dinner, with indoor and outdoor seating.

• K. Lounge – In the lobby of the hotel, you can enjoy a slice of cake or a cocktail before dinner by the warmth of the fireplace.
  
• Nosti Bar – A cozy little bar with wood-paneled walls, the Nosti Bar has the honor of being the oldest bar in Arosa.

Chef Mainzger’s Alpine Comfort Food

When Chef Florian Mainzger took over the Arosa Kulm’s main restaurant, he worked with the hotel’s new managers to change its focus. Instead of fine dining, he wanted to create a menu featuring dishes representative of the alpine setting. The name of the restaurant, Muntanella, means “marmot” in Romansh, Switzerland’s fourth national language.

In consultation with Swiss author and alpine food scout Dominik Flammer, Chef Mainzger reached out to Swiss producers to source local ingredients. You will find a map highlighting these various producers on the back of the menu. When I toured the kitchen, he showed me photos of the people who make these products that he has taped to the wall. He wants his team to remember the people behind these products when they use them in the kitchen.

Chef Mainzger told me that he wants to have an “uncomplicated style” when it comes to his cooking. It’s all about the taste. He said, “I want to have a restaurant where people who stay here for the weekend can come three times and every time they eat something different and every time they say, ‘Wow I had a great meal there.'”

Dinner at the Muntanella Restaurant

Chef Mainzger’s menu has what I can best describe as Swiss comfort food. If you stay at the hotel, you can go eat there every night and have something different and always delicious. The food represents his modern interpretation of alpine cuisine. Main courses ranged from CHF 26 for Florian’s Schlutzkrapfen (Tyrol-style ravioli) to CHF 53 for lamb with pureed pumpkin, king oyster mushrooms and air-dried beef from nearby Parpan.

When I dined at the restaurant, I had the opportunity to try eight different dishes from the menu. Fresh perch filets from Switzerland receive a beer batter coating with a local Arosa beer. I had them served over a Graubünden barley risotto tinted with beetroot. Organic chicken from Malans with a pumpkin seed breading were served with a creamy camelina oil mayonnaise. The slow-roasted beef shoulder had a Malanser red wine jus with sweet plums, celery and oyster mushrooms. A frothy, flavorful cream-hued soup was made with hay grown on the hillside below the hotel. The tender pork belly came with smoked chestnuts, mustards seeds and organic onions from Biohof Dusch.

For dessert, I opted for the Muntanella chocolate cake. It has multiple thin layers of dark chocolate cake, jam from Tschiertschen, marzipan and coffee flavors. This ‘opera’-style cake also had a shiny chocolate mirror glaze and a bit of gold leaf placed on top. I am still thinking about this delicious cake.

I would order everything I tried again—you cannot not like this food. These handmade dishes have their roots in home cooking and take time to make. Chef Mainzger elevates these traditional dishes with innovative ingredients and pairings, focusing on high-quality ingredients from the alpine region.

Arosa Kulm Hotel & Alpin Spa, Innere Poststrasse 269, 7050 Arosa, Switzerland
+41 (0)81 378 88 88, info@arosakulm.ch

Please note: I stayed at the Arosa Kulm Hotel & Alpin Spa as a guest of this hotel. As always, the thoughts and opinions expressed in this article are purely my own.