Donatz

Where Engadin Country Cooking Meets a Serious Wine Cellar

Samedan sits in the Upper Engadin at roughly 1,720 metres, a quieter neighbour to the resort apparatus of St. Moritz, four kilometres to the southwest. The village moves at a different pace: older stone buildings, a working airport used mostly by private aircraft, and a local life that continues largely independent of ski-season theatrics. It is in this context that Donatz, on Plazzet 15 at the centre of the village, operates — an elegant rustic room that reads as a local institution rather than a resort satellite. The decor lands somewhere between the traditional Engadin farmhouse and a contemporary wine bar, warm without being precious, which is a tone that takes some doing in a region where Alpine chic can easily tip into parody.

What the Kitchen Sources and Why It Matters

The cooking at Donatz belongs to the category of country cuisine that Swiss dining does particularly well when it commits to regional sourcing rather than generic Alpine styling. The menu here draws on Graubünden produce, and the example most often cited is the salmon from Lostallo, a small community in the Mesolcina valley in the canton's southern reaches. Lostallo salmon is a local aquaculture story worth knowing: the cold, clean water conditions in that valley produce fish with a distinct quality profile, and sourcing from there rather than from a generic European supplier is a deliberate statement about where the kitchen's priorities lie.

That sourcing logic extends across the menu. Veal dishes appear in a classic register — Graubünden veal has a protected status within Swiss agriculture, fed on milk and pasture in small farms across the canton's valleys. The Angus beef offering, described in venue notes as a recurring feature, signals an interest in breed-specific beef at a time when many Alpine restaurants still treat beef as an undifferentiated category. Vegetarian fare rounds out the picture. None of this is the kind of tasting-menu maximalism found at, say, Schloss Schauenstein in Fürstenau or Memories in Bad Ragaz, both operating at three Michelin stars with €€€€ pricing. Donatz sits at €€€ and answers a different question: what does well-sourced, honest country cooking look like when executed with care and served alongside a genuinely considered wine list?

The Wine Program: 550 Labels, 20 by the Glass

The wine side is where Donatz makes its most distinctive claim. A cellar of approximately 550 wines is substantial for any restaurant; in a village the size of Samedan, it is a serious declaration of intent. Star Wine List recognised Donatz as early as December 2021 and has returned with both a #1 and a #2 ranking in 2025, reflecting the program's depth and consistency over time. Twenty wines available by the glass is a number that matters practically: it means the list is accessible across a single course or a whole evening without requiring a full bottle commitment, and it suggests active management of the cellar rather than a static collection.

Owner dedication to the wine program is the kind of detail that shows in service as much as in the list itself. Graubünden has its own wine identity , Pinot Noir from the Bündner Herrschaft, just north of Chur, is among Switzerland's most respected reds , and a cellar of 550 labels presumably covers Swiss regional breadth alongside international depth. For travellers who approach the Engadin primarily through ski or hiking rather than wine, the list at Donatz represents a reason to plan a proper dinner rather than a casual stop. Check the our full Samedan bars guide and our full Samedan wineries guide for what else the area offers in this direction.

Michelin Recognition in Context

The Michelin Plate awarded in 2025 is the Guide's recognition of good cooking without a star , a signal that the kitchen is operating above the noise of the region's many hotel dining rooms but has not yet crossed into the star tier. In Graubünden, starred dining is rare outside the flagship resort circuit. Da Vittorio St. Moritz draws on the Italian-origin Da Vittorio group's Michelin pedigree; the three-star operations in Switzerland are concentrated in other cantons. A Plate in this geography carries more relative weight than it might in a city with a dense concentration of starred tables. It confirms that Donatz is the kind of place that Swiss food critics and Michelin inspectors consider worth flagging for quality-conscious travellers passing through the Engadin.

For those orienting within Switzerland's broader fine-dining geography, the contrast is informative. focus ATELIER in Vitznau and IGNIV Zürich by Andreas Caminada represent the creative, sharing-format end of Swiss dining at two stars and €€€€. Donatz offers a different value proposition , regional country cooking with a credentialed wine list at a price point that does not require a special-occasion justification.

The Hotel and the Village

Donatz operates a hotel alongside the restaurant and wine bar, with guestrooms described as modern and comfortable. Staying on site makes particular sense given the wine list's depth: the Engadin's roads after dark, combined with altitude effects on alcohol, make walking back to a room a more appealing plan than driving. The hotel component also means the kitchen serves a resident audience, which tends to keep a menu honest about value and consistency in a way that a pure destination restaurant sometimes is not.

Samedan itself rewards a night rather than a day visit. The village has the character of a working Engadin community rather than a curated resort, and the surrounding landscape at altitude in either winter or the brief, intense Alpine summer offers a different quality of experience from the busier St. Moritz circuit. See our full Samedan hotels guide for accommodation context and our full Samedan experiences guide for what the area offers beyond the table. Travellers building a broader Graubünden itinerary focused on regional food culture might also look at 21.9 in Piobesi d'Alba and Andrea Monesi at Locanda di Orta as comparable country-cooking references across the border in northern Italy.

Planning a Visit

Donatz is at Plazzet 15 in central Samedan. The Engadin is most easily reached by train via Chur to the St. Moritz line, with Samedan station a short walk from the village centre. Given the wine program's depth and the hotel's presence on site, an overnight stay paired with dinner is the natural format. The Google rating of 4.6 across 104 reviews reflects consistent satisfaction rather than viral excitement, which is the kind of score that holds up across seasons and different guest types. For the broader restaurant picture in the area, our full Samedan restaurants guide covers the wider options.