RESTAURANT YUCATAN Part II
The 2025/26 winter season will be YUCI's anniversary season!
From the late 1990s onwards, the Yucatan restaurant increasingly made a name for itself as a party location. Especially during the winter season, the restaurant became the place to be in Engelberg. The conditions were ideal: there were few restrictions on happy hour, alcohol consumption was part of social life and there was no closing time in the monastery village. Combined with Roger's desire to entertain his guests, do everything to ensure an unforgettable evening and, of course, his affinity for music, he hired national and international bands and used every occasion as an excuse for a party.
Legendary theme parties were created. Easter bunny parties, snowstorm parties and beach parties are just a few of them. No expense was spared. Even when the invitations – back then still sent by post – arrived in the letterboxes, there was excitement in the air. Flip-flops were printed, terry towels embroidered and vacuum-packed margaritas sent out. Although that wasn't the best idea: some letterboxes weren't emptied every day and their location on the sunny side led to fermentation after a while. You can probably guess the rest... well, anyway. For the beach parties, tonnes of sand were shovelled into the Yuci, and for the snowstorm party, hay blowers were converted to blow polystyrene balls through the bar.
Fortunately, Roger was able to count on the help of the PussyLovers, the Mosaique de Luxe team and regular guests to implement his wild ideas.
Help and bold ideas were also needed after the storm in August 2005. The Yuci was under a metre of water and when the water receded, it left behind mud and more than 1,000 litres of beer. The help that Engelberg received from the military, civil defence and volunteers after this disaster was enormous. An extraordinary solidarity developed throughout the village – it was wonderful! The ‘leftover’ beer was not to be left to gather dust in the cellar, but was to be given away as an after-work beer for the helpers. The news was spread throughout the village via loudspeakers on vehicles, and the Yuci was packed to the rafters in the evening. Despite the massive efforts of the helpers, the beer could not be conquered. So it was to be served at the opening ceremony of the new bypass road to Engelberg in the spa gardens. Without further ado, Roger and Beppi from Elektro Niederberger organised and built an above-ground beer pipeline from the Yuci to the spa gardens using food-safe hoses. With the help of a huge compressor, the beer was able to cover the distance.
A wonderful example that shows that wonderful things can come from a combination of courage, madness and good friends. #yucifriends...
The latest and fastest information is available via Instagram @restaurantyucatan and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/yucatan.musicbar/ or on the anniversary website.
