MOO, Chamonix
So. Here's how it goes. You're in Grindelwald, Switzerland. Early morning. Leaving for Chamonix, France. But there is no direct route by train to Chamonix. So you ride a number of trains back the way you came in order to get to larger stations, catching more popular lines before heading west toward Chamonix, changing trains no fewer than 5 times, each train getting smaller, less populated, until you're on the narrow-gauge number from Martigny, clinging to a steep path, climbing up along cliffs, looking down into the valley's abyss just beside you, emerging from tunnels to even higher climes, to find...Chamonix.
It's how you get there.
And when you emerge from the Chamonix-Mont Blanc train station, you move away from the loud American voices clanging with the flat accents that have made you cringe for some hours. You can be excused if you give in -- even when asked directions: "Oh! Je suis desole. Je ne parle pas anglais." To you anyway.... You shrug, aching for a quiet lunch, and....
Head down the street from the station. There are the usual tourist restaurants just here, there. You can see the crowds of tourists clamoring. But further on -- there. Yes. Those are locals.
I don't usually discuss food in any detail in this blog, but in Chamonix, there's this: MOO. If the huts high in Switzerland offer some unexpectedly solid country fare to hikers, MOO departs from what any ski-town pub offers and delivers real cuisine.
What drew us to MOO? Those locals. Sure -- a few tourists are at lunch, but mostly locals who dine there daily. What's special about it? The cuisine (and I don't mean "food"). They have three or so real chefs whose imaginative plates and refined skills you would never expect in a ski-town pub but also in a place just down the street from the train station.
Don't ask for a burger for lunch; sensibly, they won't do it and you will learn something. The lunch menus, plats du jour, are different each day. This is not pre-packaged, re-heated pub-grub. Their plates are all created from local sources.
So. Lunch: you have three options which are each unique -- say, a meat plate (that may be a curry, an Asian twist, or a French original), a fish dish (supreme, gentle), and a vegetarian dish (which even a meat lover would relish). As we ate lunch there daily, we tried over a week of innovative dishes that one might expect to find in good restaurants in Paris or Reims. There is brilliant consistency in the quality even with the daily variety. And...if you need, they are quite conscious of dietary allergies.
But even before you begin the main, there are likewise innovative salads laid out: you serve ourself from the thoughtful options that are also made in-house, but include a generous and -- did I say "innovative"? -- world: potato salads (including one surprising sweet-potato salad hinting of ginger), pasta salads, carrot salads, beet salads, lentil salads, and, of course, various fresh greens and crisply blanched and dressed vegetables, as well as sliced brie and other cheeses, bread, and nuts. Not only may you try them all, but you may return for more! Amazing. The offerings here change daily, as do the mains, but as with everything they serve, it is REAL food, not processed, packaged, or dare I say, "American."
Yes, and after lunch, desserts. Real, created, traditional as well as innovative offerings -- even if it may be an after-lunch moment of imbibing (the espresso martini is balanced, not the over-sweet, foo-foo thing they tend to be in America).
Hot and Cold: Chocolat Chaud et Espresso Tini. C'est Magnifique.
As for their burgers (again...not to be ordered at lunch), I don't know -- we unfortunately never went there in the evening to eat. They can only be as fine as the menu hints (real variety) as with their lunches. But look at the offerings: MOO Burgers/Evening.
Et combien? And how much? All this is astoundingly reasonable -- even economical. How do they do it?!
The staff: of course, they are locals, and are invested in MOO. They care and you can see it. MOO's motto is Walk in, Dance out." You do! The staff are central to that: they are delightful and will take time to talk a moment. In less-busy moments, you get to know something of these people's lives. Some are from the area (Seline, who has climbed one of the needles above Chamonix, and has a very bright, artistic son who, himself, is a rising climber), some from Sweden (from whence the owners hail -- ), and from England, like Ellie (who is also a professional in kinesiology). They are talented, professional, and solidly genuine people with great senses of humor.
Moo is simply a marvelously humane haven. I'm going to have to go back for an evening burger.
MOO? The name is from the first initials of the owners. And Susuanna:
Susanna
Well, an owner will have to tell you that story and why her head is on the wall.
Hej så länge, kompis....
