Cuisine and products

Chef Rafael Rodriguez looks at nature and at the products inquisitively and in a mischievous way in order to create surprising dishes, always gourmand (delicious) and elegant. Verjuice marinated féra, suckling pig in chasselas wine, walnut wine beef tenderloin or an alpine mojito and the encounter of double cream and white chocolate: these emblematic recipes from the restaurant de l’Auberge de l’Abbaye de Montheron tell the story of landscapes and moments.

Rafael and his team seek new equilibriums and always choose products with care from the rich terroir of the Vaud and Romandy regions. They gather herbs and fruits from the forest and get vegetables from the permaculture garden of their partner restaurant the Auberge du Chalet-des-Enfants, playfully using a combination of yesterday’s and today’s cooking techniques.

Every day before entering the kitchen, the team meets with neighboring artisans and farmers who supply the majority of the fresh quality products used: Vegetables (Hess family Mont-sur-Lausanne), organic meat (Benoît family in Thierrens), artisan meat (Sévery butcher shop), fish from the lake Léman (Serge Guidoux in Lausanne) and dairy products such as butter, cream, milk and yogurt (Haut-Jorat cheese shop and the Saugealles farm).

Do you have a product from the Romandy and Vaud terroir to suggest, an ingredient, a recipe idea? Please come and share; we love to swap ideas, experiment, discover!

In the kitchen the team cooks, ferments, smokes, dries, dresses and combines startling flavors. The daily and seasonally conception of dishes happens with a constant exchange with the front of the house operations led by David Donneaud.

The wine cellar offers a rare journey in the past of the Abbaye de Montheron and in the present, with a burgeoning alpine winemaking. The wine list provides encounters with winemakers and wine producers within a radius of 250 kilometers from the restaurant, among them historical chasselas from the city of Lausanne, natural wines, great vintages from the Vaud region, artisan beers, homemade génépi and hypocras and the traditional “goat’s little glass.”

Didn’t you know you could drink goat? Come visit us…