Lucerne is not renowned for its cuisine. In and around the old town are many restaurants whose principal clients are here-today-gone-tomorrow-forever-tourists not a formula that makes for great meals. Michelin, in fact, confers not a single star on any restaurant. Only the tavern-like Galliker (Schtzenstrasse 1, tel. +41/041/240 10 02) gets a red "Menu" (good food at moderate prices) from Michelin.

Wilden Mann Burgerstube (Editors Choice)
Though it gets its share of tourists, the cozy, beam-ceilinged Burgerstube in the Hotel Wilden Mann also has a strong local following. And for good reason, the traditional Swiss cuisine with adventurous touches here and there is excellent, and the cozy, old-world room, with carved wood wainscoting, decorated ceiling beams and mullioned windows, is the perfect venue for it.

We were fortunate to be served by Sylvia Meier, a 23-year veteran of the Burgerstube who told us she has regulars who have been coming to the restaurant since before her time.

We began with a succulent little "gift of the house" consisting of three tiny slices of duck breast arranged around a dollop of light chicken liver mousse.

After fine mixed salads, we tested a pair of old war horses and were not disappointed. Thinly sliced calves liver sauteed in butter with Swiss fried potatoes (Geschnetzelte Kalbsleber in Butter Sautiert, Rösti) was richly delicious if not American Heart Association-approved. A dish we've had dozens of times, Wienerschnitzel, with French fries and vegetables (Riesenchnitzel Paniert mit Pommes-Frittes und Gemüse), fulfilled every expectation. Each cost CHF 33.

Prices of main dishes in the Burgerstube range from CHF 21 for roasted pork sausage with onion sauce and Rösti, to CHF 42 for sirloin steak. Interesting first courses include oven broiled pears with herbed cheese and salad (CHF 18) and marinated boiled beef carpaccio with grated cheese (CHF 22).

The Burgerstube gets Michelin's "two tire" symbol as offering a midweek "dish of the day" usually lunch at under CHF.

Hotel Wilden Mann, Bahnhofstrasse 30, CH-6000 Luzern, tel. +41/041/2101666, fax 2101629.

• Rating: Quality 15/20, Value 16/20

Restaurant Einhorn
Our experience at this first floor (our second) Italian restaurant is a lesson in how not to do it. First we allowed ourselves to be seated at a bad table and then accepted an English menu. We should have waited for a better table and we've found over the years that quite often that some dishes are not listed on the English menu. That turned out to be true here.

At least the place was popular, at 9:30pm every table was filled and the air hazy with cigarette smoke. Service was slow and impersonal but the food was worse. We couldn't finish the ponderous, heavily-spiced pasta dishes that each cost about $11.

Normally we wouldnt bother with a review of such a bad restaurant but this one is centrally located on a pedestrian-only street and could easily catch the unwary.

Restaurant Einhorn, Hertensteinstrasse 23

• Rating: Quality 5/20, Value 9/20

Other Restaurants