Norbert Niederkofler

Higher Val Badia, a land famous for its skiing and superb mountain climbing, is also an exceptional corner for enthusiasts of Italian cuisine, due to the many venues in friendly competition with each other. The long time 3-starred St. Hubertus restaurant serves as a stage for Chef Norbert Niederkofler, the culinary “brain” of the Rosa Alpina hotel, the Pizzinini family’s relais & château on the main road of a cosy hamlet.
Now there isn’t the Pizzeria because the St.Hubertus has been expanded, but there are the Limonaia (seafood), the Fondue Stube (fondues of cheese or meat) and the Wine Bar & Grill with meat and grilled vegetables. But it is clear that Norbet leaves his fingerprints more noticeable in St. Hubertus.

A south Tyrolean from the Aurina Valley, a valley that climbs to the north from Brunico in the opposite direction to the Badia valley, the thing that strikes one most about Niederkofler’s cuisine is not so much the knowledge of raw ingredients and the mastery of techniques (which, it must be clear, is often an optional in Italy), as much as the light-heartedness and grace of the presentations, and at times, the irony with which he overturns certainties as well. Let’s take the "Vitello Tonnato St. Hubertus” (Veal in tuna sauce). If a skilled chef adds inverted commas and the name of his restaurant to a well-known dish it is to show the client that it will not be the traditional “vitel tonne” of fond Piedmontese memory. Here we are witness to the overthrowing of the well known, which always marks his way of cooking: to start with, morsels that resemble sushi because of their shape and not the traditional sliced meat layered with tuna sauce; instead the roast veal is creamed and wrapped in thin slices of raw tuna. Ingenious but at the same time sensual mouthfuls. And then again, “Composizione di fegato grasso d'oca” (Fois gras arrangement). Last four intriguing ideas: A lightly fried slice of foie gras with an apple and balsamic crème brulee, a cosmic use of sweet but never sugary, slightly salty tones for the foie gras but also for the apple. And further, “Mugo pine Risotto” served with smoked guinea fowl, Bresse pigeon and glazed sweetbreads; roast Val Badia lamb.

A collection of great dishes that have been widened and enrichened with social awareness on 2013, when Niederkofler started applying his Cook the mountain philosophy: a project of promotion and valorisation of mountain gastronomy and all its spin-offs