Magdalena

Schwyz is a canton (state) in Switzerland that, at least in German, sounds almost the same as the country in which it is located. I’ve always felt, as a result, that it should be the most Swiss place of all.

In this most Swiss of all places, in the small village of Rickenbach, Magdalena seems rather un-Swiss: fully vegetarian, modern, informal, with a young and enthusiastic team focused on showcasing the best of the local vegetables. The whole setup feels almost Nordic, if it weren’t for the gorgeous view of the Swiss mountains.

The service makes me feel instantly at home. A single set menu (CHF 195) means no choices, so we swiftly start with a set of four snacks.

A hasselback potato, chive cream, and tonburi reminds me strongly of the (disappointing) main course of my meal at Eleven Madison Park earlier this year. This rendition is much more enjoyable: crispy, a little creamy, and, as a one-bite snack, still quite light. (7/10)

The second snack I try is a croustade filled with a light soft cheese cream, peas, and mint. This classic flavour profile is made more interesting by a light citrusy jelly. Expertly made, the tart shell is impossibly thin, the peas are superb, the cheese is light and creamy, the mint is well judged. (8+/10)

A pickled radish filled with a basil cream is interesting, but a little too acidic for my liking. (7+/10)

The final snack is a beautiful carrot tartlet with a kimchi sphere. This is simply superb, with a delicious carrot flavour and a liquid “kimchi” that adds just the right amount of acidity and spice. (9/10)

Next comes an amuse of kohlrabi, cucumber, and yoghurt. This is cool and refreshing, but the acidity is a little overpowering so that the kohlrabi and cucumber are hard to taste. (7-/10)

A nice touch are the table cards that accompany each course with a detailed list of ingredients. The friendly service still gives brief explanations of the dishes, but I’m thankful that I don’t have try to note down all the ingredients during their explanation.

The restaurant has its own bakery on the ground floor, which naturally also supplies the bread for restaurant. The bread is very good and the butter, from a farmer down the road, is superb. Unfortunately half of the butter has an overly floral syrup on it, which detracts from the quality of the butter and adds a little too much sweetness at this stage of the meal. So once I have finished the non-syrup half, I simply ask for another non-syrup butter, which they happily supply. (7/10)

The next dish revolves around tomato. A baked beefsteak tomato forms the base of a kind of tartare with some tiny raw tomatoes inside and cedar nuts and rapeseed on top. This is paired with a tomato broth, frozen raspberries, and tomato sorbet. The deep rich tomato flavour of the beefsteak tomato contrasts nicely with the sweet cherry tomatoes. The broth and sorbet add yet more aspects of tomato flavour. A delicious dish that showcases tomato in all its forms. Perfect. (10/10)

Each course is centered around one vegetable, and lettuce is next. Perhaps not the most exciting of vegetables, it comes as a sort of roulade with glazed spring onion, pecan, and some dairy, sitting atop a watercress veloute, pecans. This is again very excellent, but also continues the heavy use of acidity, this time in the veloute. If you get a spoonful with more lettuce and onion and less veloute it’s superb, but it’s easy to get a bite that’s overpowered by the veloute. Nonetheless very good. (8-/10)

We move on to bell pepper as our vegetable, which comes as a dumpling of sorts filled with sweet potato, fermented peach, and walnut. It’s served in a light bell pepper soup. Everything here is excellent. There’s a slight spiciness to the soup, the sweet potato is surprisingly rich and flavourful, as is the pepper. All the flavours meld together and while it doesn’t have the complexity of the tomato dish, the result is, quite simply, very tasty. (8+/10)

Fennel is next, and I love fennel! Here it comes braised and pickled, with hazelnut and a finger lime beurre blanc. The conception of the dish and the sauce are excellent, but unfortunately the central piece of fennel is a bit of a letdown with a very muted fennel flavour. With a great piece of fennel at the center this could have been a 10/10. As it stands, it’s still an excellent dish carried more by the excellent sauce and base of hazelnut than its central protagonist. (8/10)

The next dish is announced as the main course, but is indistinguishable in portion size and single-vegetable focus to the previous courses. This one is focused on broccoli, which comes as a confit on an almond eggplant cream with a black garlic and lingonberry sauce. Unfortunately the piece of broccoli is tiny compared both to my remaining appetite and, more importantly, the sauce, which is on the sweet and cloying side. It’s still a very good dish, but a step or two below the very high level of the previous courses. (7/10)

The menu concludes with two desserts. To be honest, my hopes aren’t high: everything so far was excellent, but also quite modern. This, in my experience, doesn’t bode well for desserts, where I’m admittedly quite the traditionalist. The description confirms my fears: Cherries and panna cotta (good start) are paired with pickled beetroot (uh oh). To my surprise, it’s a complete success. The panna cotta provides richness, as does a cacao juice ice cream; the cherries are excellent and the beetroot adds an earthy note without turning everything savoury. I’m surprised and genuinely impressed. (10/10)

The final dessert features apricot in various forms, paired with a Madesuss (a local plant) mousse and spelt ice cream. The most interesting part of this is the spelt ice cream, which manages to capture all the toasty grainy notes of spelt without any flouriness. The other elements are excellent too, except for the Madesuss mousse, which has a strangely stabilised texture. Still, overall excellent, though no match for the previous dessert. (8/10)

A few well-made petit fours end the meal. My favourite by far is a brownie-filled Luftbrot (a sort of puffed up micro-pita). Overall (7+/10).

Magdalena offers some of the most interesting and impressive vegetable cookery I have ever encountered. Every dish was interesting, most were delicious, and some, most notably the tomato and the beetroot dessert were spectacular. There is, however, room for improvement in how the dishes come together as a menu: the focus on very light, often quite acidic dishes can become somewhat repetitive. A single, more comforting and substantial main course, perhaps incorporating local cheese or starches, would have provided for an even more satisfying experience as a whole. Nonetheless, the outstanding individual courses combined with the relaxed service and beautiful location make this a must-visit on any Switzerland trip.

Rating 8/10