Sankt Kassian, South Tyrol, Italy (Gastrosofie). Around Sankt Kassian there are one or two three-thousand-meter peaks, but in Sankt Kassian there is only one three-star chef. His name is Norbert Niederkofler and he cooks in the St. Hubertus restaurant.
Sankt Kassian or Ladin San Ćiascian is a place with less than a thousand inhabitants in the middle of the Fanes group. The Cunturiness peak comes to 3,064 meters. The Marmolada with 3,343 m is also not far away. Sankt Kassian is 1,537 meters above sea level and is surrounded by the mountains of the Hochabtei ski area, Alta Badia in Ladin in the South Tyrolean Dolomites.
Norbert Niederkofler, who was born in Luttach in the Ahrntal in South Tyrol in 1961, has been cooking there since 1994, when he took over the restaurant area in the five-star Hotel Rosa Alpina and opened the St. Hubertus restaurant in 1996. The first Michelin star was awarded in 2000, the second in 2007 and the third in 2018.
By the way, since 2011 it has also been called “Cook The Mountain”, an idea that he developed with Hugo Pizzinini to “give South Tyrol a new culinary identity”. Incidentally, the Pizzinini family owns the Rosa Alpina. No longer goods from all over the world for gourmet cuisine, but traditionality, regionality and seasonality with a view to nature and sustainability.
No wonder that “fresh dairy products, local meat and local freshwater fish” appear in the menu. It starts with „Satalt from the garden“ and continues with „Tartare from the whitefish“. „Glazed eel & smoked consommé,“ Ravioli with mountain cheese, onion & chicory coffee „follow. Then it continues with a „wild garlic risotto, kefir & sheep“. “Forelle Müllerin Art” should not be missing. “Sweetbreads and larch cones” are on the table and plates such as “Carrot BBY”, “Zwerchfell”, “Mushroom” and “Chestnut blossoms”. Well got it!
All of this is currently on offer for 280 euros without drinks, with cheese for 310 euros. The accompanying wine (eight glasses) costs 190 euros. With 500 euros, a person is good at it in one evening.
Travel there once and enjoy the synergies between contemporary agriculture and natural science as well as gastrosophic history. In the St. Hubertus “the products of the region would be used”. Niederkofler and the other chefs would “work together with the local producers and farmers on a daily basis”. That not only sounds good, it is good and tastes good at one of the ten tables – if you are lucky – in winter right by the crackling fire of the open fireplace amid lots of hunting trophies.
St. Hubertus
Address: Strada Micurà de Rü, 20, 39036 Sankt Kassian, San Cassiano BZ, South Tyrol, Italy
Contact: Phone: +390471849500
Web: https://www.st-hubertus.it
Opening times: From 11 June 2021 it will be open again in the evening from 7 p.m. except on the rest days, which are Mondays and Tuesdays.
