The Grand Hotel des Bains Kempinski has occupied its commanding position on Via Mezdi since 1864. It is one of the oldest and most continuously distinguished hotels in the Engadin — the sort of address where generations of the same family return season after season, where the concierge knows your name before you arrive, and where the dining room has always been considered one of the most serious in the resort. Ca d'Oro, the hotel's flagship restaurant, received its first Michelin star from the Swiss Guide in 2023 and has retained it consistently since, adding 17 Gault Millau points under the leadership of Chef Leopold Ott.
Ott's philosophy is deceptively simple: an honest, creative interpretation of Alpine cuisine. The menu builds from the resources of the Engadin and the surrounding region — local herbs, wild game, mountain streams, high-altitude dairy — and subjects them to the precision and intelligence of a kitchen with genuine technique. This is not Alpine cuisine as rustic comfort food, nor as ironic urban reinterpretation. It is Alpine cuisine as the foundation of a modern culinary identity, confident in its geography and unflinching about its ambitions. The Gault Millau judges described it as "one of Switzerland's most exciting young kitchens."
The room is smartly casual rather than formally intimidating — the Kempinski has made a deliberate choice to prioritise a relaxed atmosphere over the stiffness that can calcify hotel fine dining. Matre Raffaele Rispoli leads the front-of-house team with the Italian warmth that the name Ca d'Oro (Venetian for House of Gold) implies. The wine list offers considerable depth in Swiss and Austrian wines alongside the expected French and Italian sections. The private dining facilities at the Kempinski accommodate smaller groups in full discretion.
For impressing clients who know their restaurants, Ca d'Oro offers the specific validation of a Michelin star without the theatrical difficulty of securing a table at IGNIV or Da Vittorio. The Kempinski address communicates permanent substance; the food confirms it.