Beyond Cheese and Chocolate: The 8 Swiss Dishes to Try, Canton by Canton

Bern: Berner Platte

In Bern, you’ll find the Berner Platte, a meat feast featuring pork shoulder (schüfeli), smoked pork loin (rippli), smoked bacon (speck), boiled beef (siedfleisch), pork knuckle (gnagi), smoked beef tongue, and tongue sausage (zungenwurst). Served alongside sauerkraut, beans and potatoes, this dish has celebratory origins, which explains its abundance. On March 5, 1798, the Bernese defeated the French Army at Neuenegg, and this plentiful dish was born of the victory. Each cut of meat is cooked individually to maintain its distinct flavor and presented platter-style, making meat lovers’ hearts skip a beat when served.
 
Where to eat Berner Platte: Kornhauskeller
Kornhausplatz 18, 3011 Bern
 
This striking vaulted cellar restaurant in a baroque building provides the perfect backdrop to your meat feast. Formerly a granary, Kornhauskeller is a cavernous, spacious restaurant, known to locals as “chübu” (bucket), that entices with its architecture and traditional Bernese dishes.