My neighorhood, Ouchy, is jammed with Italian restaurants, really all of Switzerland is which is fun, but I don’t fully understand it. Either way, recently I tried to both email and pop in at opening to the Croix d’Ouchy which has a good reputation and pretty patio. They wouldn’t respond to my email or let one solo diner sneak into their mostly empty resto and totally empty patio…so I landed at Osteria Balsamico, which on a rainy Tuesday was also empty, naturally, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

This restaurant was READY for COVID. No germs up in here. I sat in the cozy confines of my plexiglass prison and enjoyed this amuse buche, of I’m not sure what, but was a nice touch.

I crave simple green salads all the time and don’t always win- see my last post about salads made of cheese and/or potatoes. This one was a winner!

A sucker for homemade pasta, I chose just that. Ravioli stuffed with an eggplant mixture and topped with blistered tomatoes. Super simple, but very tasty.

Since the meal was going so well, I thought why not try dessert? Their profiteroles are coated in some sort of chocolate mousse which was A LOT. The choux was a bit dry, so I probably won’t go this route again, but a fun twist on the traditional profiterole nonetheless.

If I were staying in Ouchy, I would certainly keep Osteria Balsamico in rotation. It’s good Italian, not life changing, but very good and with great service and Covid precautions. Also, if you book on The Fork, they give you 20% off the entire bill, so how can you not like that?