Erhart

We have just returned from Solden after a week at this lovely hotel in the Oztal valley. We went to ski and relax and had read some reviews about the hotel's food and wine but this didn't prepare us for the absolute feast we were treated to each day. A breakfast buffet offered a varied and plentiful selection of local produce including some organic yoghurts. There were loose leaf teas and an organic herbal selection alongside a coffee machine which made decent coffee and hot chocolate. The milk was delicious and they soaked their own muesli overnight. Avocados, passion fruits, figs, plums, lychees, dried fruits and nuts the list goes on. A machine to fresh juice oranges or cucumber or carrots, all provided. On Sunday there was prosecco to have, what a shame we were going off skiing and didn't want to chance drinking on our first day on the slopes. A hot selection of bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages and a boiler to boil your own eggs. A tray of meats and cheeses plus bread, a toaster, rolls, croissants plus jams, a wide variety of honey - even a whole honeycomb, dripping in beautiful nectar. Amazing. If I could have had some fresh decaffeinated coffee I would have been in heaven. On the Tuesday morning there was special local farm products to choose from from the Oztal Farmers Market - flat bread, different meats and cheeses, fruit juices and cordials, honey and butter. Eppas Guets is the name of this farmers produce collection. The hotel has it's own wine cellar and there was more choice from all over Austria, the south Tyrol, Europe and beyond, plus an extensive cocktails, mocktails and other drinks menu. Our fist meal was a gala dinner with some beautifully cooked food. Mushroom soup which contained porcini mushrooms delicately topped with a foam. A sorbet in sparkling wine, a warm and cold started and the star main of beef as tender as a tornado steak, served on white and green asparagus. The rest of the week we choose our evening meal at breakfast, from a selection of three cold starters, a warm starter, a help yourself salad buffet, a choice of three mains, cheese or dessert. They had four draws for the cheese which contained a many varieties, blue cheeses in one draw, goats cheeses in another, sheep cheeses and other soft cheeses, local specialty cheeses, mountain cheeses - so many different ones it was hard to try them all. The chef has sommelier qualifications in cheese as well as wine and he also made all the deserts. The photos posted here don't do justice and the Italian night was just amazing, the chef cooking scallops, prawns, salmon and gratin mussels, cold meats that he sliced, pizza, pasta meatballs in basil and the most delicious buffalo mozzarella. Our thanks to Alberta, her son the chef Benjamin plus all the lovely staff. Our room was very comfortable, the sauna hot and everywhere clean. We've had a lovely week with you, it was delightful in so many ways. I should like to return and spend some time with you in the summer as I have heard host BBQ s and I believe they will be amazing. Good health to you all.