Restaurant Alexandre
Zermatt

The Experience

Restaurant Alexandre is the signature dining room at the Riffelalp Resort 2222m — Europe's highest five-star hotel, reached by a short ride on the Gornergrat cogwheel railway from Zermatt. If After Seven is the village's intellectual pinnacle and Chez Vrony its emotional high point, Alexandre is its classical benchmark: wood-panelled alpine grandeur, white tablecloths, Chef Luigi Lafranco at the pass, and the kind of multi-course menu that reminds you why European hotel dining exists in the first place.

The room is set in the Riffelalp Resort, with wood-panelled walls that exude alpine romanticism — a phrase the hotel uses itself, and which for once is precisely accurate. Candlelight, heavy silver, and a staff that operates at the pace of a classical Swiss house all combine into something that feels like a film set for a story about Europe before the wars. Through the windows, weather permitting, the north face of the Matterhorn. It is not a room that encourages casual dining.

Chef Lafranco's menu bridges Mediterranean and Alpine traditions with real discipline. Fresh fish from salt water, lakes and alpine streams; meat from the Riffelalp's own cows; vegetables from Valais producers; a dedicated vegan menu that is considered as carefully as the primary tasting. During winter, the kitchen runs a nightly Live Cooking programme — counter-style interaction with the team — that brings some of the theatre of a starred city room without breaking the classical frame.

The Menu

The flagship offering is a four- to seven-course tasting menu that rotates seasonally. In a typical winter service, expect a seared scallop with alpine citrus and trout roe, a hand-cut pasta with Riffelalp mushrooms, a signature fish course (often char from a Valais stream), a slow-cooked beef loin from the resort's cattle, a transition cheese course from the Valais valleys, and a dessert anchored in seasonal fruit. Pairings come from a wine list deep in Valais whites, French Burgundy, and well-aged Italian reds.

Prices reflect the altitude and the hotel's five-star positioning: the tasting menu runs CHF 180–260 per person before wine. This is not a value pick — it is a special-occasion, signal-sending spend. What you buy at that price is a dining room that few hotels in Europe can match, a chef's menu executed with classical precision, and the rare experience of a five-star meal at 2,222 metres above sea level.

Best for Closing a Deal

Restaurant Alexandre is for the deal that requires ceremony. The setting signals seriousness — five stars, a mountain cogwheel train to reach it, wood-panelled grandeur, a three-hour pacing that allows the conversation to move in phases. The menu is substantial enough to reward attention without overwhelming it. The wine list has enough depth to flatter a European counter-party without seeming to try. If you need to move a deal from principle to term sheet over dinner, this is the Zermatt setting for it. For a senior close-a-deal dinner in Zermatt, the Riffelalp's altitude is its advantage.