Switzerland Guide
Geneva
Eating
1 
Bains des Pâquis 30 Quai du Mont-Blanc Excellent and very popular café-bar attached to the lakefront swimming areas, renowned for some of the best people-watching in the city – atmospheric, colourful and cool. Opening time: Summer only
2 Bookworm 5 Rue Sismondi Mini teashop within a crammed second-hand English bookshop, with tootling Thirties music and a faultless "pot of tea for two with biscuits". Opening time: Closed Mon & Tues
3 Buvette des Cropettes Place Gruet, off Rue de Montbrillant Tiny atmospheric six-table wood-floor café-bar tucked behind the station, opposite the sunny Cropettes park. Opening time: Closed Sun & Mon
4 Café Arts 17 Rue des Pâquis Bright café-bar with a young, excited clientele. A pleasant slice of sleaze-free Pâquis. Opening time: Daily 5pm– midnight
5 Café de Paris 26 Rue du Mont-Blanc 
www.cafe-de-paris.ch Very central café that does one meal only, but does it spectacularly well – entrecôte steak in a special herb-and-butter sauce with golden chips and salad, for Fr.37. Otherwise, it's a perfect place for down-time, seconds from the station.
6 Alhambar 10 Rue Rôtisserie www.alhambar.com Relaxed glittery bar behind a Rues-Basses cinema, with a yuppyish tone, plenty of tapas and evening DJs. Sunday's laid-back piano-brunch is worth checking out.
7 Café des Forces Motrices Place des Volontaires This is one of the best options in a buzzing area, not grand or trendy, but just calm, friendly, attractive and welcoming.
8 Café Gallay 42 Boulevard St-Georges Friendly neighbourhood café-bar opposite Plainpalais cemetery, attracting an arty young crowd of students and theatre people. Good, inexpensive food and shared tables add to the appeal. Opening time: Closed Sun
9 Chocolaterie du Rhône 3 Rue de la Confédération. Outlet for fine handmade chocolates, with a small tearoom in the back serving heavenly cakes and confections to accompany tea and coffee. Opening time: Closed Sun
10 Le Pain Quotidien 21 Boulevard Helvétique No-nonsense café ("Daily Bread") with a well-deserved reputation for superb breakfasts (Fr.8–13) and, especially, weekend brunches of smoked salmon, salads, pastries, eggs, warm bread and fresh-squeezed juices (Fr.30). Seating is on benches at long wooden tables. Opening time: Daily except Tues eve
11 Moloko In L'Usine squat, Place des Volontaires Graffitied upstairs bar-café that once sported a rough-edged clientele puffing clouds of sweet smoke to a background of heavy noise. These days, it's been cleaned up a bit, but is still a good place to access the city's underground. Solid meals for Fr.13 or so.
12 Café des Amis 23 Rue Ancienne. Oldest of the traditional cafés on Ancienne, full of atmosphere from an age now past. Join the locals for a trip down memory lane.
13 Martel Tea Room 4 Rue du Marché Perfect spot to punctuate an afternoon walk around Carouge, founded in 1818 and still offering exquisite chocolates and pastries as well as good, inexpensive meals. Opening time: Tues-Sun
14 Al-Amir 12 Rue des Alpes Excellent Lebanese place, its stool-and-counter area favoured by falafel-munching locals over the sit-down table section. Quality range of mezze (Fr.8–14 each), plus chicken or lamb shwarmas (Fr.10). Top choice of the many Pâquis kebab dens.
15 Le Diwane 6 Rue de Zurich 
022 732 73 91 Excellent, authentically prepared Arabic cuisine. A meal of classy mezze is about Fr.25, or you can blowout and order the entire menu for Fr.170 – either way, don't miss the delicious maamoul rose-scented cookies afterwards. Opening time: July– Sept daily; rest of year closed Sat lunch & Sun
16 Le Dodo 20 Rue de Montbrillant 022 734 39 57 www.ledodo.ch Much-loved Mauritian restaurant, with a dodo on the bar and an intriguing menu full of dishes that blend seafood and Indian-style spicing to perfection. Under Fr.20 for lunch; double that in the evenings. Opening time: Mon-Sat
17 El Mektoub 5 Rue Chaponnière 022 738 70 31 www.elmektoub.com Discreet central hideaway for quality North African cooking in a pleasant ambience. Excellent couscous and a wealth of tajines are Fr.30–35, with a handful of veggie options too. Opening time: Mon-Sat
18 Jeck's Place 14 Rue de Neuchâtel 022 731 33 03 www.jecksplace.ch Excellent Thai restaurant, with nice wood-and-rattan decor and superb, authentic food that is surprisingly affordable (around Fr.30, or half that at lunch). House speciality is a range of Singaporean dishes, mixing influences from Malaysia, China and India. Opening time: Daily except Sat lunch
19 Manora 4 Rue de Cornavin Excellent, down-to-earth self-service nosh at this huge outlet of the Swiss chain. With such a fast customer turnover, its food is very fresh as well as rock-bottom cheap: you can easily stuff yourself for Fr.13.
20 Au Petit Chalet 6 Rue Chaponnière Unpretentious city-centre Swiss place for fondues, rösti and pizza (Fr.20–25) in a refreshingly untouristic dark-wood setting. Opening time: Tues-Sun
21 Teranga 38bis Rue de Zurich 022 731 15 22 Tiny backstreet Senegalese place, attractively decorated, with good service and great food, including plantains, yassa (braised chicken in onion sauce) and fresh ginger juice. Around Fr.25. Opening time: Mon-Sat, except Sat lunch
22 Zara 25 Rue de Lausanne Simple little Eritrean/Ethiopian café-restaurant near the station, with uncomplicated menus (meat and vegetarian) for Fr.20–25 and, unusually, weekend breakfasts from 5am.
23 Les Armures 1 Rue du Puits-St-Pierre 022 310 34 42 www.hotel-les-armures.ch Traditional stone-floored Old Town institution on three storeys, refreshingly kitsch-free and once graced by Bill Clinton and family (with a plaque by the door to prove it). A full range of perfectly prepared Swiss dishes cost from Fr.30.
24 Café du Centre 5 Place du Molard 022 311 85 86 www.cafeducentre.ch A very handy Rues-Basses pitstop with terrace seating in summer. The smell of the sea hits you as you push the door and that's really what this plain, very popular café-restaurant is all about, offering everything from 100g of periwinkles up to a dozen fresh oysters, aided by a huge wine list. Not cheap for dining, at Fr.30–50, but worth a coffee just to sample the old-style atmosphere.
25 Cave Valaisanne/Chalet Suisse Place du Cirque www.chaletswiss.ch Touristically minded place for those seeking that authentic fondue experience. The chalet side is all dim lights, dark wood-beamed interior and endless Swiss kitsch; the cave side less contrived and so slightly less grating. The food is fine at both, and affordable (Fr.20 or so), but neither is what you might call heart-warming.
26 La Favola 15 Rue Jean Calvin 022 311 74 37 www.lafavola.com Charming little family-run restaurant on a cobbled Old Town alley, with a small menu of choice Ticinese specialities to dally over in an atmospheric setting. A romantic evening tête-à-tête could touch Fr.45 each; lunches much less. Opening time: Mon-Fri
27 Hang Zhou 19 Rue de la Coulouvrenière 022 781 41 47 Excellent inexpensive Chinese, with a full vegetarian menu and dim sum galore (Fr.15–25). Opening time: Mon-Sat
28 Le Pied de Cochon 4 Place du Bourg-de-Four 022 310 47 97 www.pied-de-cochon.ch Bow-tied waiters bustle their way between the tinkling cutlery of one of Geneva's best-loved bistros, serving meaty Genevois and Lyonnais gutliners (Fr.35), including the namesake grilled pigs' trotters, to a clientele not short of a centime or two.
29 Taverne de la Madeleine 20 Rue Toutes-Âmes Quite possibly the oldest restaurant in the city, now an alcohol-free café-bistro, serving only lunches – unreconstructed home-made fare (Fr.15) – in a tiny old dining room below the Old Town. Opening time: Mon-Sat
30 Vesuvio 7 Rue Cherbuliez 022 736 30 40 Eaux-Vives has many Italian restaurants, but this is one of the best (also known as Da Gabriele), boasting fresh-made pasta, a wood-fired pizza oven, relaxed open decor and friendly service. Meals are not expensive, mostly under Fr.20. Opening time: Tues-Sat, except Sat lunch
31 La Bourse 7 Place du Marché, Carouge 022 342 04 66 Celebrated nineteenth-century café-brasserie in the heart of Carouge, with a wide, heavily fishy menu, taking in moules and huitres as well as a protein-packed marmite du pêcheur (Fisherman's Pot). Fondue, salads and steak help out less briny diners, and a quality lunch menu can be had for around Fr.15. The cellar doubles as a pizzeria. Opening time: Tues-Sat
32 La Cuccagna Place du Temple Quality among Carouge's high-class cuisine that won't break the bank, with simple, delicious pizza and pasta dishes for Fr.25 or so.
33 Sawasdee 24 Avenue Cardinal Mermillod 022 300 08 42 Best Thai in Geneva, with calm, attentive service, simply exquisite food and a bill at the end of it to lighten your spirits: a mere Fr.15–18 for lunch, twice that in the evening. Definitely worth the tram ride.
34 Domaine de Châteauvieux 16 Rue Châteauvieux, Peney-Dessus, Satigny 022 753 15 11 www.chateauvieux.ch An atmospheric château a short drive west of the city, in the heart of Geneva's wine region, complete with a cobbled approach, ancient beams, old stones and a giant open fireplace dominating the dining room (or, in summer, views from the terrace over the vineyards). The fine, traditional cuisine with some innovative modern touches, emphasizing simplicity and seasonal, local ingredients, is highly acclaimed – not least by Michelin, who give the place two stars. Opening time: Tues-Sat
35 L'Esquisse 7 Rue du Lac 022 786 50 44 Gourmet French cuisine – priced lower than elsewhere – in the unlikely surroundings of an Eaux-Vives backstreet. The pleasant decor and respectful service aids peaceful digestion of the foie gras and filet mignon de veau. Lunch is Fr.40, evening menus around Fr.85. Opening time: Mon-Sat, except Sat lunch
36 Miyako 11 Rue de Chantepoulet 022 738 01 20 www.miyako.ch Superb Japanese restaurant, calm, modern and attractive, with three separate areas. The sushi and sashimi bar is first as you walk in, downstairs is a quiet dining room, with low tables and traditional seating, but the best location is the lively main teppan yaki area in the rear, ranged at counters around several open hotplates, where chefs expertly slice, dice, toss and sauté your meal in front of you. Quality is outstanding, with everything melt-in-the-mouth fresh. Servers will talk you through the long menu, which includes several options of set meals ("Menu Sushi", "Menu Sashimi" etc) for around Fr.50. Leave space for the exquisite glace au thé vert (green-tea ice cream). Expect around Fr.75 a head. Opening time: Mon-Sat
37 Vieux-Bois 12 Avenue de la Paix 022 919 24 26 www.vieux-bois.ch High-quality showcase of the world-famous catering school L'École Hôtelière de Genève: all the chefs and waiting staff are students, which means you'll get sharp, attentive service and an haute cuisine lunch – French, with light, inventive touches and veggie options – for a fraction of prices elsewhere. Scoff a four-course meal for as little as Fr.47, or choose from the daily specials for half that, and then retire to the garden for coffee. Opening time: Mon– Sat noon–2.30pm only; garden May– Sept Mon– Sat noon–6pm. Closed Easter, mid-July to mid-Aug, Christmas & New Year