Why does the Berghotel Sexten rely so much on organic and regional food?

Because the food is better and much more sustainable and healthier. You can find all info about regional food here

Why are organic foods better?

Because less chemicals are used to produce them and because this is also controlled by an independent body and not just based on self-declarations or round table discussions. Here you can find more info

Why is regional before organic in the Berghotel in case of doubt?

Because a regional potato from Bruneck from integrated cultivation generates less traffic than a Dutch potato - even if you try to combine as much regio as possible with organic, it usually succeeds, but not always because the quantity is simply not always available. You can find all info here

How is the selection of food suppliers made?

This takes place primarily according to the principle of origin. The closer the better. This is a long-term process that has taken years and is nowhere near complete. They are often small farmers or producers where the products are not always available and it takes a lot more work and effort than ordering from a grocery wholesaler where food is delivered, no matter where and in what quality. More info about the culinary at the Berghotel can be found here

Which foods are the most difficult to obtain?

This is clear with meat and especially with poultry and pork. It is very important to us not to have „Tönnies meat“, i.e. industrial meat, in the Berghotel. We only use meat from animals where we know the origin, almost exclusively in organic quality. The animals were kept in a species-appropriate manner and were either slaughtered on the farm or in small slaughterhouses. In some cases we are already able to ensure that the animals were born, lived and slaughtered in Sexten. Learn more about regional food here

Are organic & regio foods more expensive and how does that affect the pension price in the Berghotel?

Such groceries are more expensive across the board, also considerable, because better, because not industrially produced, but also much healthier. We obviously have to pass on the higher price, but we don't throw away any groceries because our guests tell us what they're eating the day before and we keep the portions smaller (everyone can ask for more - but this rarely happens). This puts the higher price into perspective! You can find more interesting facts about the regional food here

Sustainable and regional cuisine in the Dolomites

The kitchen at the Berghotel:
more than organic – regional & organic!

Groceries for us are more than simple goods - we want to know where our food comes from. Groceries is trust because eating bad things can't be good - that's why we like to spent more money for eating :-)

Our Berghotel pension contains a beautiful bio breakfast with homemade mueslis, fresh fruits, honey from local beekeepers, omelettes and other egg dishes prepared in front of you, a big choice of different teas, fair trade coffee, bread from Sexten, jam from Braies, juices from local farms and much more.

In the afternoon homemade cakes and the famous Berghotel apple strudel.

In the evening salads, antipasti, real farmer's speck from Sesto, various soups and a wonderful menu of the best foods - regional & organic - and finally changing desserts and selected cheeses with homemade chutneys …

Our products Slow Food Berghotel recipes Frequently asked questions

What do we do ourselves?

Some of our producers:

Matthias Happacher from the Happacher Bakery

Bakery Happacher in Sexten/Moos

Matthias Happacher
the best bread far and wide
long fermentation times, the best flour and water
craftsmanship at its best, also organic

Sennerei Dairy Sexten

more than 40 farmers of Sexten supply their milk, 1/4 organic
a lot of good things are made from it, from butter to cheese
it couldn't be closer and more sustainable

Alois Villgrater

Butchery Villgrater in Sesto

Alois Villgrater
supplies us with local meat (with certificate of origin!) from his own slaughter and with his Speck and sausages
trust connects

Sonja Villgrater

Farm cheese dairy Unteroltlhof

Andreas & Sonja Villgrater
cheese from raw sheep, goat & cow milk
high level quality products

Maso Unteradamer

Farmsteas Unteradamer Hof

Florian Innerkofler
homemade sausages and speck from the organic farm
Duroc pigs concieved, born, lived and butchered in Sexten

Hildegard Ortner

Chicken farm Santerhof

Hildegard Ortner
Keeping free-range chicken
Preparation of the fresh egg dishes at breakfest

Eating healthy and natural - where does our food come from?

Chicken & poultry only biological and depending on availibility from the region f.e. from the Hintersteurerhof near Brixen or from the farmers of Wippland
Meat, veal, fawn and lamb from farms in Sexten and Südtirol with certificates from the specific farm named in the menu - meat and veal mostly from the butcher Villgrater in Sexten, Lamb from Wippland
Porc from regional circuits trough butcher Villgrater from the Puster valley, from the Unteradamerhof in Sexten and in case from the near Austria with the AMA certificate
Speck, ham, most cheeses, milk, jogurt, bread, vegetables... directly from the valley, from the Puster valley, as the eggs (0 and 1) only from animals grown in a natural environment - butcher Villgrater Sexten, dairy Sexten ORGANIC, dairy Bdè in Casamazzagno Comelico ORGANIC, dairy Unteroltl farm Sexten, bakery Happacher Sexten, vegetables Brunico , speck and smoked sausages from the Unteradamer farm in Sexten from Duroc pigs (concieved, born, lived and butchered in Sexten!)
Grey cheese and butter from the Veider farm Vierschach
Venison and sausages from regional woods from the butcher Doch in Santo Stefano - huntingground Auronzo
Honey from the beekeeper Watschinger from Vierschach and De Martin Padola, Bio honey Romana Schuster from the Vinschgau, Bio jams from the Pragser Beeren ORGANIC
Herbs & vegetables in summer from our garden and Vogelsang farm in Brixen
Chutneys, ketchup, herboils, Zirmschnaps ... mostly home made
Mustard, vinegar from the Kandlwaal farm Vinschgau ORGANIC, Plunhof in Siusi, Vogelsanghof Organic Bressanone
Tea from the herbsfarm Fasui ORGANIC and Kräuterrebellen Vinschgau ORGANIC or fair trade Altromercato ORGANIC
Wines mainly local, many biodynamic and PIWI
Apples, apple juice and grapes juice from Santer farm in Mühlbach ORGANIC and Wasserer farm in Völs, Sirups from the Partschiller farm in Völs ORGANIC
Pustertaler beer from Niederdorf
Products, they have to come from far - like coffee, cacao, tees,... we buy fair trade (partial ORGANIC)

Maybe how understood that at the Berghotel we really care what kind of food we buy, especially the quality of the ground product. On that we can become pedantic - for this is responsable our cooks Andrea and Hubert, our Sommelier Stefan and last but not least the boss Walter Holzer

Map with our suppliers

> 85% of our food comes from South Tyrol and Italy

Expectations exceeded

Everything lived up to - if not exceeded - expectations. The kindness and professionalism of all the staff and the kitchen which prefers organic and zero km products deserve praise. Delicious and always different desserts (even for those with food intolerances). Variety of local products for both breakfast and dinner.

Serena G.

More than bio – bio from here.

There is no Fast Food at the Berghotel, your bio hotel in the Dolomites. Also, no Convenience Food and ready to go dishes. We use local and biological products and support small regional circuits with consequence.

We are sustainable | environmentally conscious | resource-saving | think and evaluate in long periods of time, buy and consume regionally and seasonally and, if possible, organically, in short “healthy food” – nothing from global food players. We know many of the farmers who produce the food for us. We don't just talk, we measure, count, weigh and compare and have no intention of stopping. We have now reached > 85% food from South Tyrol and Italy. Tea, coffee… we buy fair trade. The organic content is still too low, but if it is not available or in doubt, the short routes have priority! We don't want to waste and pollute! This means that we buy Italian kiwis, for example, which are more expensive than New Zealand ones - the same applies to most foods, or at least to many where cost truth in transport has not yet arrived - but that is a different story. This means that there is only freshly squeezed orange juice in winter, no pineapples, bananas and mangos, seasonal fruits with their own taste.

We try to do our part for biodiversity, soil health and the air. We try to offer our customers and ourselves healthy food in a healthy environment. This concept means that the customer is forced to make some compromises and sacrifices - but, and this is much more important for us, we make a contribution every day so that our world can function for us and for our children and grandchildren in the future.

Slow Food Hotel in South Tyrol

What is Slow Food?

Slow Food is dedicated to regional foods, old varieties, forgotten products such as: the gray cheese, old animal breeds such as the Pustertaler Sprinze and this way of thinking and doing brings with it wonderful regional products that we are all too happy to use in our Berghotel (if we are able to get them!)

The “slow food” at the Berghotel

The opportunity to take as much time as you want to eat - very long (and a lot) or shorter (and less)! not specified by the menu or courses. We do not use Wi-Fi in the dining room so that you can concentrate on your food and the people around you.

Slow Food products ar the Berghotel

The following South Tyrolean Presidi are used in our Berghotel: the gray cheese from Veiderhof, Pustertaler Sprinzen and many more.

Nose to tail philosophy – we use the whole animal!

... as proposed by Fergus Henderson

We've been trying to use whole animals for some time now, because beef doesn't just consist of fillet and roast beef, but also other high-quality parts. This means we are able to use cattle, sheep and goats from the valley or the surrounding area - the whole animal is used and given its dignity. Nothing is thrown away and we are lucky to have a wonderful partner in the butcher Villgratter to be able to implement this philosophy. So we are sure that meat is not a commodity, we know where and that it lived well, how long it was allowed to hang out and we can guarantee that we will not have to be responsible for any undignified animal transport.

Michelin 2019 - what's it all about?

Guide Michelin is the only restaurant guide that sends its own employees for (anonymous and unannounced) testing. All other guides, whether offline or online, are based on reviews from hobby testers or are paid for and should therefore be treated with extreme caution.

Chef De Betta Andrea

Is in his early 40s and lives in the Comelico just behind the Kreuzberg Pass - in addition to his passion for the kitchen, Andrea has a special focus on the basic product and the origin of the product. Having to cook with poor products is not his thing, nor is it his thing having to make compromises when it comes to freshness, quality and origin. In the same moment he is absolutely agains any form of waste. Seasonality and in-depth product knowledge are his passions. But he is also aware that he can only be as good as his team allows him to be and that is not the only reason why he is a team player and the captain of a team that has had the same players for many years.

The goodness and savouriness of our dinner is difficult to describe - main thing is the ground product, here we make no compromises, it remains little space for show

Gourmet menu from the mediterrean and tirolean cuisine – we use fresh & healty products and mainly from regional farmers depending on the season and cultivate table culture
Many salads and vegetables with different vinegars & balsamicos, different olive oils and flavoured oils
Choise of antipasti
Buffet of desserts and sweets and a big choice of local cheeses with different mustards
Different evenings with farmers dishes, antipasti buffet ect.

Example of a normal menu - half board:

This is an example of a normal menu how it could happen every day at the Berghotel - to choose from or to eat all! and different antipasti startes and a daily changing vegeterian plate:

Big choice of salads, soups, antipasti and vegetables
from the buffet with a choice of different olive oils and vinegars and salad dressings

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Parmesan cheese panna cotta |
organic pumpkin cream | baconpouder

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Mushroom roulade | organic haygrappasauce |
organic grapes

Hemp-Tagliolini (pasta) | grey cheese |
apple-raspberry vinegar

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Veal filet (Pretz farm) | black truffle crust |
organic potato gratin | king oyster mushrooms

Our fishsoup |
garlic bread

Seitan | roasted organic vegetables |
fruit chutney

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Rosmary creme brûleé | Gin ice-cream

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Choice of local cheeses with homemade chutneys

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Different choice of desserts and sweets from the buffet

Our wine recommandation:

White wine:
Kukuck from the Vogelsanghof at Bressanone - Extraordinary fruit, aromatic and with a complex acidity
(Solaris and Muscaris - a fungus resistent grape species - Piwi - no chemical plant protection)

Red wine:

St. Magdalena from the Wasserer farm in Völs - light and full-bodied at the same time, velvety, round.

a fresh draught beer Pustertaler Freiheit Lager or Wheat

The Berghotel, your perfect hotel for sustainable holidays in the Dolomites, South Tyrol

6 good reasons for the Berghotel ...

Because you rarely or never find such good food quality in a hotel.
Because the philosophy organic, regional, seasonal, fair and healthy is not only written on paper, but is also consistently implemented.
Because we know a large part of the producers and trust them.
Because there is no industrial meat in the Berghotel and the animals had a good life.
Because for us food is more than just food, namely the foundation for a good life.
Because healthy food, whether eating or drinking, is a matter of course and we don't want to save money to buy bad food.

Recipes from South Tyrol for cooking at home

Cold starters