Ein Tag im Zürich

Here's my quick guide to eating and drinking in Zürich. I was taken to most of the places featured in this post by locals so I'd like to think these are the better places in town. Or to put it another way, don't blame me if any of these places are below par! Kicking off with breakfast, I went to Schurter on the edge of the old town for a coffee and a bun. When I told Soft Aussie that my coffee cost nearly SFr 6 (£3.50), he mocked me.

Our offices are in Klusplatz, a short tram ride away from where I was staying in the city centre and sadly I had to work for a few hours before lunch beckoned. Lunch was normally a trip down to a local café for schnitzel and chips but on a couple of occasions, I was treated to an Italian. They really do like their Italian food in Zürich and of the two places I was taken to, Ristorante Aroma had the edge over Pizza Pasta Ciao. Neither place was particularly special but let's put it this way, they're better than the likes of Strada and Pizza Express.

I know I had a moan in a previous post about business dinners but with hindsight, I did my Swiss colleagues a disservice. In terms of looking after me, these guys did it in style and shop talk was kept to a minimum. Before dinner, we went to have a snifter at the Terrasse Bar; sadly it was winter as its lakeside location is ideal for summer drinking.

It's not a bad bar but not as good as the Widder Bar, where we rounded off the evening (I'll discuss our excellent dinner later). This opulent basement bar is located in one of Zürich’s finest hotels, Hotel Widder. I really enjoyed the mojito here but unfortunately the atmosphere was ruined by cigar smoke (smoking isn’t going to be banned in Zürich 'til later this year).

Great as these two bars were, neither holds a candle to Zürich's finest, Bohemia. I love it here although it helps I'm in the company of Soft Aussie who judging by how well he knows the bar staff has adopted this place as his second home. They do several types of mojito and I also liked their capirinha. I've never eaten here although Soft Aussie reckons they do a mean fry-up for weekend brunch. Let's hope its impending refurb doesn't spoil its special ambience. 

Anyway back to the dinner that my Swiss hosts treated me to. After our pre-dinner drinks, we went to Restaurant Lindenhofkeller, which in my opinion is worthy of a Michelin star and is superior to some be-starred places I've eaten in. A classy interior, fine wines, excellent service and a cracking Modern European menu with some Swiss favourites took this restaurant to another level. I'm sure the excellence here resulted in me treating Neumarkt, where I had dinner the following evening, with a degree of indifference.

I kicked off with grilled scallops, lobster tail with a crab, grapefruit & avocado tart followed by a main of grilled monkfish finished off with a warm chocolate cake w/Baileys ice cream. I do regret not taking photos but I didn't want to blow my cover. I can't remember what my hosts ate but we all had an excellent meal. A nice touch was when the chef and owner, Rene Hofer came out to have a little chat about the meal.

One thing I missed out on during this visit to Switzerland were noodles, be they the local favourite spätzli, or my favoured oriental noodles. In the case of the former, these are widely available and I've previously sampled them at the stunning Restaurant Sonnenberg. For oriental noodles, Nooba is the place to go – it's nearby Bohemia – and is similar to concept to Wagamama but don't let that put you off.

It's unlikely I'll be returning to Zürich anytime soon, which is a bit of a shame as there are worse cities to visit on business. That said never say never; so do let me know if you have any tips for this picturesque city.

Dinner @ Neumarkt (Swiss), Zürich

I know I'm going to come across as whiny and spoilt but eating out on business trips can be hard work. Dinner alone with a book is something I can cope with as a one-off but really it isn't much fun. Sometimes, the local office take you out for dinner but even if your host is uber-convivial, there's a fair amount of shop talk and you can't quite escape the feeling that you’re still at work.

Anyway, I'm very lucky that my mate, Soft Aussie calls Zürich home so at least on one of the nights, I could relax. Joining us was Mr X, Soft Aussie’s mate who's also based out in Switzerland. Over a quick snifter, we mulled over the dinner options. Having briefly considered Chinese, we decided to search for spätzli, the German noodle that is also hugely popular in Switzerland.

We started our search in the Old Town and we searched and we searched but the weather was crap. So in the end, we decided to dive into Neumarkt on the basis that it looked like the kind of place that might serve spätzli. Sadly they didn't but they did have a mix of traditional and modern Swiss dishes on offer.

The Swiss love their bread and it seems every restaurant you go to, it's pretty good and Neumarkt was no exception. For our starters, the guys boringly went for salads (another Swiss fave, especially with lambs lettuce), whilst I had the chicken liver mousse (photo at top). Just what is it with pâté type things; you just never get enough toast. It was decent but what else can I say.

Onto the mains and being a Swiss restaurant, I couldn't get overly excited about these. I ordered roast shoulder of veal w/mash & carrots. The veal was very tender and whilst the dish was a bit rich and heavy, it suited the mood I was in. Swiss Aussie went for a lamb burger w/chips and Mr X, sliced veal w/potato gratiné & carrots. All the dishes were tasty but none set the pulse racing.

However, for all the ordinariness of the food, we all enjoyed dining here. Not least, due to the elegant dining room and in my opinion the star of the evening, a rather fine bottle of red. I don't usually write about wine but I thought the Dôle La Liaudisaz (2008) was a real star; this blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay was fresh, fruity, fragrant, and given how well it went down, silky smooth. So it was a bit of a shame, the wine glasses provided were sub-standard (I'm learning a thing or two from Mr. Wine).

The puzzle was where did this wine originate? Initially, I thought it might be France until I remembered that the French never mix Pinot Noir with Gamay. {Correction - that last sentence is incorrect. the French do mix these two kinds of grape in Bourgogne Passe-Tout-Grains. Big thanks to Londonchinese - I guess I really ought to stick to writing about noodles!}. The label was a bit trendy but it gave no clues as to the origins and nor did the wine list. I didn't think to ask at the time and it's only when I returned home that I had a yearning to find out more about this wine.

Then it dawned on me, could it be Swiss? My research reveals that both Pinot Noir and Gamay, are grown in Switzerland. I did some more research and I found the website of the producer, Marie-Thérèse Chappaz. I felt a bit of a fool when I discovered that Dôle in the name Dôle La Liaudisaz refers to a type of Swiss wine consisting of a blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay. Our bottle was a 60% Pinot Noir/40% Gamay blend – the high Gamay content may have explained why it seemed a bit lighter than Burgundy. I'm looking to track down a bottle of this stuff in blighty!

The only minor blemish on the evening was the service as our waiter was a bit crap. Every other table seemed to be served by someone efficient and charming but we ended up with a slightly slow inelegant chap. He particularly hacked me off with his nonchalant attitude towards wine drips. To avoid further conflict, I assumed wine pouring duty.

Zürich isn't a cheap city but being a bit off the main Old Town drag, Neumarkt isn't a tourist trap. Two courses here cost roughly SFr50 or £30/head, which is reasonable for Zürich although I wouldn't pay more than £20 for the equivalent standard of food in London. The wine was actually one of the cheaper bottles and cost SFr54 (£34), which I thought was reasonable until I found out that it retails for around SFr19 (£12).