On the sunny slopes above the hamlet of Lech, skiers cruise the dreamy pistes, hungry for adventure, soon to be hungry for lunch. There’s a certain way of doing things in Austria’s Ski Arlberg resort, and it seems to work. Sustenance is usually taken in mountain lodge restaurants, where energy-sapped skiers are plied with carb-loaded comfort food like käsespäetzle (a cheesy egg noodle dish), or traditional meaty staples, replenishing fat stores for the afternoon ahead.
Today I’ve traded downhill skis for the touring variety. Instead of screaming down a black run I’m gliding beside the River Lech, following a cross country trail that meanders through a silent fir forest to the village of Zug. Murmurs of a gastronomical uprising have led me to meet a young couple doing daring things to diversify dining in The Arlberg. Jakob Zeller and Ethel Hoon met while working as chefs at Sweden’s famous Nordic restaurant Faviken. A chance encounter with Zug hotelier Gerold Schneider lured them to Zug, and in 2019 they took over the running of his Klosterle restaurant, inside a monastery built in 1640. The outsiders’ arrival turned a few heads.
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