Le Gruyérien is a restaurant situated in a small village of Morlon, just next to districts’ capital – Bulle. Run by Elisabeth Yerly it is a place where you need to stop by when in Gruyère. Must eat for all the hashtag foodporn lovers.
It wasn’t our first visit and for sure not the last one. Once we ate there for birthday from my boyfriend, once we were invited to a birthday party (and yes hashtag foodporn), and once I took my ex boss there when she came to visit. All the time superb. Chase, fish soup, fish,asparagus with ham, mushroom delicousness – was always perfect.
Since chase is a big thing in Switzerland and when the season starts all the restaurants adapt their menus to what they buy from hunters – it would be a sin not to go and eat out. So we did it and we do it quite frequently from September until mid November.
Le Gruyérien run by Elisabeth Yerly has its oldschool charm. It’s not a ‘fancy’ restaurant but the service is and it is not easy to find a restaurant where you will be served like that.
This time for out starters we took: foie gras with cornucopias and chef’s terrine with pistachio. I am a fan of cold foie gras and this one made my mouth water. For our mains we ordered: roe civet (it is like a ragout but made with blood) and deer fillet accompanied with spätzli (a kind of soft egg noodle), local pear ( poire à Botzi ), peach with chestnut mousse, red cabbage, brussel sprouts. Sauces were delicious. The thing that makes this restaurant a bit special is service. Your dinner arrives on a big silver plate, which is left on a table on the side that is heated all the time. Waitress arrives and serves you 3 times (if you still have enough space – we did!). It’s a bit of a leftover of service in Russian style which was brought to France in 19th century by Russian Ambassador Alexander Kurakin. Charming and impressive.
Le Gruyérien in Morlon as I wrote before is a must eat when in the region. Elisabeth Yerly walks around the restaurant and helps her staff, greating and talking with the guests in between. Service is just top and food from heaven. We ate it all, although we couldn’t almost move later. It was that good. I wanted to try the dessert but just couldn’t eat anymore. We will be back for sure and I will start with a dessert this time.
Practical information:
Address: Clos d’Amont 2
1638 Morlon
Website: Le Gruyérien
Tips: Book your table. Go hungry and you might have space for a dessert.
Text: Agnieszka Wajs