Wine and Food

Top Mountain Crosspoint, Restaurant, Hochgurgl, Austria

5 points

Another Pizza review! Since only this winter you can find one of probably most unique pizza restaurant at Ötztaler Alps very close to the skiing resource Hochgurgl / Obergurgl. The name is bad and without any soul: Top Mountain Crosspoint.

During summer you can drive from Austria to Italy respectively the other direction via the Timmelsjoch (Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstrasse), a wonderful pass between Ötztal (Austria) and Passeier (Italy). Driving this pass is possible only during summer. It is a wonderful visual experience of nature and mountains. Rich of curves it is also very popular for bikers.

As for many other passes you need to pay some toll (Maut). In past years at the former toll-station (on the Austrian side the pass belonged to the state) there was always also a small skiing t-bar lift (Schlepper) – really nostalgic. During last summer the location experience a huge change: after the street became privatized, a big constructing appeared which combines a new toll-station, a brand new ski gondola, a restaurant with a large and sunny terrace and last but not least a motorcycle museum. Architectural it became an impressive, dynamic and futuristic multifunctional building out of concrete and wood.  The size of the building is generous (many Alpinists would say much too big), the form elegant and the idea of a motorcycle museum on a height of 2000m (I can image that the museum will become the highest in Austria even perhaps in all Europe) is aspiring. The idea of running a restaurant is obviously also very smart as it will be visited not only during skiing season but also while summer. It should get an attractive breakpoint on your way up or down – depending where you are coming from.

High sealing of the restaurant, the spacious entries, large room of sitting and the exclusive interior – all expresses a modern Alpine visualization of skiing, motorcycling and being high in the mountains: like only elements of mountains are used as wood and natural stone – always with a wonderful view through huge panorama windows. Quite a cool place to sit down for lunch.

Enough compliments. As the restaurants is built for some hundred guests at the same time – in particular during winter season – I was curious if offered food could meet high expectations. They offer home – made pizza – baked in a real pizza oven! First: they offer only three selections (Margherita, Salami and Capricciosa.) which I thought is great because this means all ingredients are fresh. Second: fresh duff, really hand-made and simply speaking delicious. Pizza in the most of the cases at any skiing stations or inns is bad because it is deep frozen (of course much easier and people pay the same as it would be a fresh one). Considering this, I have to add one compliment to my text: I would like to recommend the pizza!

The proprietor – including the Austrain part of the street – is a real entrepreneurial family propelled by the Scheiber brothers which owes almost the entire skiing resource of Hochgurgl (lifts, restaurants and one large hotel), too. Unhumbled as they probably are the connection of mentioned name is their hotel calls Top Hochgurgl and further huts and inns like Top Mountain Star etc. I once heard the funny story of some young man who came from western valley Pitztal: “Ötztal is only so wide because all taken loans of those families like Scheibers press the valley apart – in contrast to the Pitztal which is narrow and poorer but without debts.”. The allotment and continues development of skiing areas and touristic hot spots in the Alps is critical. This does apply for Hochgurgl as well. I admit, twenty years ago I would have said: “Pizza on 2000m in the alps – this is unreasonable.”. Last time I was there, I enjoyed it.

There is a promotioal video I found in the internet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhEgpZjJTTA.

Further reviews related to Hochgurgl see here (the best restaurant in this area) : https://avdwineandfood.net/2015/03/26/angerer-alm-restaurant-hochgurgl-tirol-austria/.

Adding in June 2016: In meanwhile there was an article at German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung about the museum: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/auto/top-mountain-motorcycle-museum-auf-dem-gipfel-warten-motorrad-schaetze-1.3025815