Meticulous, reliable, and creative: together, the "Schatzmann", the "Sonnenhof", the "Torkel", the "Real", and the "Leonardo" attain 79 Gault-Millau points. Each of the five top restaurants reflects the quality and style of its chef.

Klaus Schatzmann doesn't like being a star chef. Even after 20 years and with 17 Gault-Millau points and a Guide Michelin star. The chef in the Schatzmann Hotel in Triesen prefers to create new finesses in the kitchen. "Cooking is a sensual profession, in which creativity develops an incredible dynamic of its own", the self-taught chef explains.

Classical and crazy

A chef this exacting has many loyal guests, but must always also be open to innovation. Some guests come especially for his fish with champagne sauce. In addition to the classics, Klaus Schatzmann has begun adding "Crazy dishes of the week" to his menu: the black piglet from the Gascogne and the poussin from a farm in Ticino are products of the highest quality that would cost up to five times the normal price at a retailer. "The highest quality on your plate and in your glass" is the philosophy of a precise kitchen that focuses on what's essential. The top restaurant with an old country dining room, a winter garden, and a garden is linked with a 4-star hotel with 29 rooms. Imagination and a sense for business join together.

Feeling cannot be imitated

The combination of hotel and restaurant has brought the "Park-Hotel Sonnenhof" in Vaduz two awards at once. For his sense of style in the kitchen, top chef Hubertus Real has received 16 points and is already flirting with a 17th. At the same time, the Gault-Millau 2005 considers the 4-star-superior hotel one of the 80 best hotels for gourmets in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Each of the 29 rooms is a world of experiences for all senses. The distinguished vacation and business hotel in the park with a magnificent view of Vaduz, the Rhine Valley, the Hohen Kasten and the Säntis mountains adapts to the market, the times, and the individual. The meeting room in the Sonnenhof mixes a vacation feeling with a gourmet experience.

Not only does the scent of lemon and ginger inspire concentration. Not only is the latest in technology easily accessible by touch panel and can the meeting table be cranked upright. "The feeling in small family businesses for guests and the service cannot be imitated," Hubertus Real is convinced. As a hotelier, his treatment of guests is as talented and uncomplicated as the finesse and elegance of his excellent cuisine. The turbot with chanterelles and oregano oil is purely and perfectly authentic. "Today's cuisine is simpler, finer, and more elegant, just as the great wines from Bordeaux are simple, because they're typical of their type," the scion of the famous Vaduz Real dynasty declares.

Just like home at Mom's

Rolf Berger is an experienced master who has shown the courage to experiment in the Restaurant Torkel for 20 years. With 16 Gault-Millau points, he's one of the best chefs in the region. The chef has also discovered the trend of regional cuisine. "We're a business restaurant, the cafeteria of the banking and trustee community, and our guests are pleased when they can eat minced meat with macaroni or good traditional hashbrowns like their mother serves," Rolf Berger says, happy with the surprising success of his experiment. Since guests are increasingly looking for new experiences in the world of top dining, the Torkel has thought up first class events as another recipe for success: buffets on what is probably the most beautiful terrace in Liechtenstein, asparagus festivals, champagne nights with live music, and banquets under the roof of the garden terrace.

The restaurant in the middle of the Princely "Herawingert" Vineyard belongs to the Foundation of the Prince of Liechtenstein. Rolf Berger is known for his creative freshwater fish cuisine. He's now been awarded the "Golden Fish" and thus officially belongs to the best fish chefs of Switzerland. The chef buys many of his ingredients himself from farmers in the Rhine Valley. He obtains zander (pike-perch), trout, and felchen (whitefish) from the Swiss lakes and bakes them without fat on the so-called Gridelplatte. As light as a whisper and yet baked in the oven, his saibling (lake trout) filet on tomato slices with basil sauce is a treat. But even with champagne and lobster, the Torkel will make you feel just like "home at Mom's".

Pioneer of top cuisine

One address in Vaduz founded the cuisine of finesse in Liechtenstein almost 50 years ago: In the "Real", the master chef of light classical French cuisine, Felix Real, has surprised gourmets from around the world with his own creations. A host from head to toe, the 85-year-old still receives every guest himself, even though his daughter Maria Real Lapp now directs the 15 Gault-Millau point restaurant and 4-star hotel. And the pioneer of Liechtenstein fine dining still controls every plate coming out of the kitchen.

Felix Real leaned to cook in Paris, in the legendary "Chez Maxims", from Monsieur Barth, one of the greatest French chefs of the time. The old master is famous for his lobster on a light champagne sauce. For his classics, he still likes to work in the kitchen himself: the saddle of lamb must be just the right shade of pink on the inside, filled with mushrooms and goose liver cubes. One of the great loves that Felix Real discovered in Paris was wine. The excellent wine connoisseur cultivates rare wines from the best regions in his "Petrus Cellar", including the first Gewürztraminer of Liechtenstein. And he's considered the pioneer of white wine growing in Liechtenstein. The old master has never made compromises and has always worked meticulously and conscientiously.

A strong woman

Actually, she prefers to discover new finesses in the kitchen than deal with points, stars, and chef's hats. The Liechtenstein gourmet scene is home to Gabriella Cecchellero, a strong woman who wanted everything except 15 Gault-Millau points. She used to work in the Kurbad Bad Ragaz for a noble five-star audience; now she wants to reach a broader clientele in the "Leonardo" in Balzers. The chef's kitchen is a magnet for friends of Italian cuisine, which Gabrielle Cecchellero combines with a shot of classical and French-inspired cuisine. The wine cellar is also a gourmet's paradise, offering almost all the top wines of Italy's vineyards.