La Chavallera means "the trading merchant" in Romansh — the ancient language of the Engadin — and there is something of the rare and sought-after commodity about the restaurant itself. Chef James Baron previously ran the kitchen at Amber in Hong Kong, a restaurant that held a Michelin star for eleven consecutive years and was considered one of Asia's finest French kitchens. He and his wife Natacha did not relocate to the Swiss Alps for comfort. La Chavallera, which opened in 2022 in a beautifully renovated 16th-century building in the small village of La Punt-Chamues-ch — ten minutes from St. Moritz along the Inn Valley — received its Michelin star three months after opening. That timeline is almost without precedent.
The concept Baron has built here is exact and personal: precise, pared-back cooking made with top-quality ingredients that reflect the kitchen's deep connection to the Engadin region. The menu changes with the seasons and the market, but the sensibility is consistent — a French-influenced intelligence applied to Alpine ingredients with genuine curiosity about what the mountains can provide. The Swiss stone pine that lines the entire dining room is not a design choice but a material statement: this is a kitchen that intends to be here, rooted in place, building something that lasts. The cutlery is made by a local blacksmith.
In addition to the four-, six-, or nine-course tasting menus, a seasonal à la carte selection is available. The wine list leans into Swiss, Austrian, and alpine appellations alongside the expected European classics. Modern Alpine-style guestrooms allow those who want the full La Chavallera experience — dinner, wine, breakfast, and a walk along the Inn in the morning — to commit entirely. The journey from St. Moritz takes ten minutes by car along the valley road, passing the Inn river and the characteristic Engadin farmhouses. It is worth doing in both directions.
For a proposal, La Chavallera offers the single most considered setting in the region: a Michelin-starred kitchen in a centuries-old building in one of Europe's most beautiful valleys. The intimacy of the stone pine room, the quality of the cooking, and the relative privacy — away from the resort's constant parade — create conditions for a moment that has no parallel in St. Moritz. For solo dining, the chef's counter offers direct access to Baron's kitchen and the kind of focused conversation that a table of one rarely finds in this part of the world.