10 October 2026.
Sitting down to a dinner that the hotel has chosen for you is a delightful surprise. The night we arrived at AlpenHotel Panorama we had no idea what the menu would be since we arrived only a couple of hours before it was served. Our first evening this was the menu:
Gala Dinner
Aperitif
Homemade whole-grain bread
Amouse Bouche
Porcini mushroom “cappuccino”
Pumpkin Risotto with Amarettini and “Coppa”
Beef sirloin steak with Celery cream and Courgette
“Baumkuchen” roll with Amarena cheery ice cream
It was scrumptious. Every sip and every bite, although we substituted vanilla ice cream with warm raspberries for dessert. They started with an aperitif on the patio in the astronomical twilight: a glass of wine from the Alto Adige and small nibbles from the kitchen. It was dark enough that I could not tell exactly what I nibbled; it was all delicious. But then we’d not had lunch…
Moving indoors, the amuse bouche was served (and eaten before I thought to photograph it) and our personally selected wine was opened, followed shortly by a cappuccino: not the coffee beverage but a doppelganger made from porcini.
Cappuccino of porcini soup.
Each portion is small so eating each is not a hardship. A tiny portion of risotto is followed by a modest serving of perfectly cooked sirloin. And yes, celery cream is delicious.
Sirloin on a bed of celery cream with zucchini
And so we made it to dessert, polishing off our excellent of local Blauburgunder (aka Pinot Noir). We were satisfied, not stuffed. We slept well.
Each night is different. While we tend to go with the daily chef’s menu, there are options that appeal to different palates. There is an ala carte menu where Pasta al’Pomodoro (pasta with tomato sauce) is usually offered, which is a good choice for a fussy child or someone with a gimpy tummy. Or for the die hard fan of Tyrolean cuisine, there is usually Weiner Schnitzel. One night there was lasagna, and usually there is a dessert substitution as well as an alternate first course, occasionally an alternative main.
Other than the “Gala Dinner” the first night, they always start with a massive salad and appetizer buffet. This is usually our opportunity to get in a reasonable number of vegetables as they are few and far between when dining in a mountain hut at lunch!
Cream of pumpkin/coconut soup; Pork fillet with mustard sauce and rice; Cheeseburger and fries: the daily specials at Laurinhütte, Alpe di Siusi. Very “veggie lite.”
My antipasto plate with salad, marinated mushrooms, caprese and more.
One night the menu left on our table was in German. The hotel prints the menu daily in three languages. I speak Speisekarte (menu) Deutsch so it wasn’t a problem figuring out Rotkrautcreme (Red Cabbage Reduction) or Kartoffelrösti (Roasted Potatoes) but the translations into English can be tough to decipher. For example, another night there was a vegetarian menu with options for meatier courses. All three languages used the term “TIrtl” for one of the choices on the carnivore menu. It is a thin, round dough pocket filled with chestnut deep fried to crispy. Not exactly translatable.
Wednesday night was carvery night. Tyrolean specialties on the cold buffet were complimented by a selection of grilled pork, veal, lamb, and deer sausage served by a chef in the Zirmstube a kind of gathering room separate from the dining room. I’ve never had a better pork chop: a small roasted bone-in pork tenderloin cut to order into individual chops. Ric had deer sausage. Of course there were potatoes, sauerkraut, and more vegetables on the side. Our Italian table-neighbors are vegetarian and the chef accommodated them with a lovely looking polenta dish with gobs of cheese.
A chef serves grilled meat from a vast selection of cuts. No poultry. This is beef, pork and game territory.
The dessert buffet with three kinds of strudel plus assorted other tidbits and vats of vanilla cream sauce and raspberries. We did not skip dessert this night!
We have had half-pension at two hotels this trip and we were very happy with both. It relieves you of having to look for a place to eat. Good thing as there are few-to-NO-options outside your hotel in the evening when staying in the Alpe di Siusi. It is remote from the valley towns and the gondola serving the valley closes down at 17:00. An included dinner also lets you avoid the task of choosing from a restaurant menu that looks frighteningly like a dozen menus you’ve seen in the past few weeks.
Our final night there was choice between a vegetarian menu and a true carnivore one. I chose veggie and Ric went full meat-eater although we both started with salads. This is a great example of how the hotel made sure there were choice even though some elements are fixed. Here are the three menus we could pick-and-choose from at no extra charge.
Chef’s Menu
Salads and Cold Starters from the Buffet
Bouillon with Herb Fritters
Gnocchetti (mini gnocchi) with Cherry Tomatoes, Courgettes, and Pecorino
Strudel or Philo Pastry, Aubergine, Tomato Sauce & Pesto
Cheese from the Buffet
Buckwheat Cream with Caramelized Hazelnuts and Apple Ragout
Forest and Wildlife Menu
Venison Tartare with Pickled Vegetables and “Vinschgerle” (a type of bread)
Wild Essence (a consommé) with a “Tirtl”
Wild Boar Loin, Beans with Bacon, Sauerkraut Cannolo
The Alacarte menu this evening had a further five choices of entrees and two more desserts!
My gnocchi and strudel were to die for! Beautifully presented but tasted even better. Ric loved his venison tartare and the wild boar was a work of art. “Beans with Bacon” turned out to be green beans in a small bundle wrapped in speck the Tyrolean prosciutto. The “Cannolo” was highly inventive: a crepe wrapped around a puree of sauerkraut and potato.
Ric’s plate: “Beans with Bacon,” the “Sauerkraut Cannolo,” and tender wild boar.
I can hardly describe how good the Buckwheat Cream dessert was: a pudding made with buckwheat, formed into a perfect wreath decorated with caramelized hazelnuts, finely diced apple compote and other tiny pleasures. If I had seen it on a restaurant menu I would have dismissed it as weird. Now I want another one.
After five glorious nights of half-pension (BTW the breakfasts are quite lovely with a buffet of cold options and eggs cooked to order) we are ready for some simpler suppers. We transferred to Ortisei and a self-catering apartment where I will make simple dinners and focus on fresh vegetables but leave room in the dining-out plan for excellent pizza and Italian specialties.
A few years ago I wrote about Road Food https://girovaga.com/2019/10/29/road-food/ and what I prepare in self-catering accommodations when we are on an extended stay. Not much has changed although a few simple sheet-pan dinners are among our favorites (thanks to New York Times Cooking).
I would kill for some American bacon about now, though.
