La Gruyère: The Cheese AND the City - A Travel Recommendation

As you know, we were recently in the land of cheese, Switzerland. While we were there, we had some amazing... yes.. cheese! And other meals that were for the most part, based around cheese.

The first night, we ate in Les Evouettes, where our B&B was. We found an AMAZING restaurant. Yes, it was Switzerland, so it was expensive, but well worth it. We started off with some local wine and bread. The chef brought out a 'wish from the kitchen' which was a delicious mini piece of quiche. Then we ordered the Fromage plate. This is a dessert for the Frenchies, but we were in the land of cheese, so we had to taste them, and not AFTER our meal (this is just not something I can get used to culturally). The amazingly delicious fromage plate was followed by fish with potatoes and vegetables. My fish was served in hollandaise sauce. A's was with Béarnaise. He claims to have never had either. I know I have had both, but these renditions were exceptional. For the life of me, I cannot remember OR find the restaurant name online, which is a shame because I would certainly recommend it to all (these Euros are a bit behind with their websites). What I do know is that it was in Les Evouettes along the main road, Route Cantonale. It is in an old house, right on the road, has a sign outside with the (French) name and says Cafe, Terrasse, Restarant, as well. I CAN find it on Google Maps, but still can't read the sign (someone needs an advertiser, ahem).

The next night, after biking 20 miles, we decided to sit on our terrace and have some bread with local wine and cheese before dinner. What a delicious mistake? We were both so full we didn't eat dinner, but the cheese and bread was delicious! We hit up a local restaurant anyways and just had some wine.

The last day, on our way home, we stopped in the town of La Gruyère. We saw signs for it on our drive to the Lake Geneva area and decided to wanted to see it. We left with plenty of time to stop for a tour around the city and a meal. We drove TO the city (but not in - not allowed) which was so picturesque. Surrounded by Alps, the medieval city is built up on a massive hill with almost fake looking green grass surrounding. There is a cheese museum and restaurant below which we wound up spending all of our time at. Most were dining on Swiss Fondue, but we had a potato, cheese, pear melt. MMMM.


The Town...

La Gruyère


La Gruyère


So fresh and Green


...And the Food...

FROMAGE plate. Always a winner. Always. Yes, the French (and French-Swiss) eat it for dessert. Not us. Come on now, a cheese plate is an appetizer. So, we take on the stares, have no shame, and eat it FIRST, as an appetizer.. and with BREAD!


My dinner on the first night. FIsh w/Hollandaise sauce...delicious Frenchy meal!


A's dinner the first night. Fish (can't remember what kind now) w/ Béarnaise sauce.. we were in the French speaking part of Switzerland!


A stop in La Gruyère for cheese and beer, of course!


The original Pear/Gruyère/Potato Goodness that we had in La Gruyère. AMAZING. Bad service. Good food.


La Gruyère Fondue. We brought home a block of (expensive) Gruyère and had a fondue dinner with friends. It was DELICIOUS!! I'd totally do it again except that we ate all the cheese... of course!


A's Re-Creation of the Pear/Potato/Gruyere Goodness... Good, but not Swiss good!



Also, FYI, Gruyère is a STINKY CHEESE - Pepe la Peyuh bad, but man does it taste absolutely A-mazing! Also, the name of the cheese (and town) is Greyerz in German.. I've since bought the cheese at the local market, it's THAT good.