Myoko
Zermatt

The Experience

Myoko is not what you expect to find in Zermatt. Descend the stairs from the Hotel Schweizerhof lobby and you walk into a room that could be lifted from Aoyama or the quieter side of Ginza — dark stone, pale wood, a 12-seat teppanyaki counter, a glass-fronted sushi bar, and the quiet authority of a kitchen team that trained in Japan and transferred, uncompromised, to the bottom of the Matterhorn.

With 13 GaultMillau points to its name, Myoko is the premier Japanese restaurant in Zermatt and one of the most serious in the Swiss Alps. The 85-seat dining room is arranged so that almost every table can see craft happening: sashimi sliced at the bar, dashi reducing on the teppan, a master chef flaming wagyu with a flick of the wrist. The theatre is real, but the food would stand on its own plated in a white box.

The kitchen works from an uncompromising premise — fly-in fresh fish, a Japanese technique-first approach, and zero concession to alpine expectations. There is no fusion nod to fondue or Valais cheese. The sushi rice is seasoned correctly. The tempura is lifted from the oil at exactly the right second. The omakase menu changes nightly. For a certain kind of diner — the traveller who has eaten well in Tokyo and needs a similar register at altitude — Myoko is the only real answer in the Zermatt valley.

The Menu

The move, if you have never eaten here, is to sit at the teppan counter and order the chef's menu. Expect a progression of small plates — edamame, crisp vegetable tempura, a sashimi course, a signature teppan wagyu with smoked butter and alpine mushrooms, and a finishing bowl of rice cooked with the pan fat. If you prefer quiet precision to fire, the sushi bar offers an omakase format that is equally controlled and possibly the finer piece of technique.

The wine and sake programme is thoughtful — a tight sake list with proper guidance, a small but intelligent selection of white Burgundies and Valais whites that pair with the raw fish, and Champagnes that earn their place. Dinner for two with sake and the teppan menu runs CHF 340–480, which is a Zermatt price, not a Tokyo price. The value calibration reflects the altitude.

Best for Solo Dining

Myoko's teppan counter and sushi bar were designed for the solo diner. A seat at the bar offers a front-row view of the chefs, a conversation partner in the Japanese team, a pace controlled by you rather than a table, and a dining experience that does not require a companion to make sense. For the business traveller with a night in Zermatt — or the serious eater who prefers food over company — it is the best solo dining in Zermatt and one of the better solo seats anywhere in the Alps. Book the last seat at the teppan counter at 9 pm, order the full menu, and let the room do the rest.