Switzerland Guide
Zürich
Eating
1 Altstadt Kirchgasse 4 
www.hotel-altstadt.ch Cool jazzy café-bar, open from breakfast time onwards, that's gaining a reputation as an old-town meeting point away from the sleaze.
2 Odeon Limmatquai 2 www.odeon.ch Compact café-bar on Bellevue, where Lenin once sat and watched the world go by. There's little sign of revolutionary activity these days – although the bar prices would spark a popular uprising anywhere other than Zürich.
3 Rathaus In the Rathaus on Limmatquai Pleasant place with an outside terrace alongside the old Town Hall, sandwiched neatly between the river and the Limmatquai trams.
4 Schlauch Münstergasse 20 (upstairs) Quiet, friendly and relaxed diner-bar, perfect to catch your breath from the Niederdorf scrum. Sizeable plates of health-conscious food (veggie and not), and a snooker hall adjacent attract a young, vaguely alternative crowd. Opening time: Weds-Sun
5 
Schober Napfgasse 4 A memorable old confectioner's and café that's straight out of Mary Poppins – a riot of frothy white lace, flowers and choice treats. Head through to the capacious interior for quite simply the best mug of hot chocolate (with whipped cream) you will ever have tasted. It's almost a shame to spoil it with a slice of homemade apple strudel.
6 Zähringer Spitalgasse at Zähringerplatz Long-standing cooperative-run bastion of Zürcher counterculture, attracting an alternative clientele for snacks, herbal teas and beer. Opening time: Mon 6pm– midnight, Tues– Sun 8am– midnight, Fri-Sat 8am-12.30am
7 Amsterdam Schwanengasse 4 Tiny, colourful old town café for fresh juices and healthy snacks. Opening time: Tues-Sat
8 Mövenpick Paradeplatz 4 Perfect people-watching café, with a great selection of teas and coffees from around the world, plus snacks and full meals all day long.
9 No Kuttelgasse 7 Purportedly Japanese teahouse (although little more than a standard café done up with some paper screens and a tinkling miniature water-garden), nonetheless cool and relaxing, conveniently located in the alleys just off Bahnhofstrasse. Offers a good range of refreshments and light lunches.
10 Sprüngli Bahnhofstrasse 21 www.confiserie-spruengli.ch Main branch of the world-famous confectioner's, in this location since 1859, displaying cabinets full of the most exquisite chocolates and cakes imaginable, plus their own speciality, Luxemburgerli, cream-filled pastry bites that are truly drool-worthy. Enjoy it all in the upstairs café-patisserie overlooking Paradeplatz, the city's most atmospheric tearoom, where Zürich's ladies come to gossip discreetly over coffee and cake. Free choc with every espresso.
11 Adler's Swiss Chuchi Rosengasse 10 
044 266 96 96 www.hotel-adler.ch Landmark Swiss restaurant freshly renovated in bright, modern style (although it's located on a particularly sleazy section of Niederdorfstrasse). Good-value fondue or raclette (Fr.25–30) are what to go for; the bargain lunch specials have a careful, home-cooked touch as well, but cheese is the thing – you'll sniff the place before you see it.
12 Ban Song Thai Kirchgasse 6 044 252 33 31 www.bansongthai.ch One of the city's better Thais, small and pleasant with a varied menu. Lunch specials start from Fr.15, evening meals more than twice that. Opening time: Mon-Sat
13 Blinde Kuh (literally "Blind Cow", German for Blind Man's Buff), Mühlebachstrasse 148 044 421 50 50, www.blindekuh.ch Remarkable restaurant offering a unique experience. The food is excellent, down-to-earth cuisine that gains acres of new depth by being served in absolute darkness: after the foyer (there are lights here and in the toilets), you're led into the pitch-dark, smoke-free dining room where you can't see a thing, not even your hand in front of your face. The restaurant – a small place, seating 48 at eight tables – is run as a way for sighted folk to sample the experience of losing their sight for a couple of hours. The menus (one meat, one fish and one vegetarian, all moderately priced) change each week. The waiters are blind or partially sighted; the head chef is sighted, but the sous chef is blind. It's a very popular place: you'll need to book several weeks ahead. Opening time: Daily evenings, Tues– Fri lunch
14 Bodega Española Münstergasse 15 044 251 23 10 Small, dark-wood place dripping with atmosphere that's been here since 1892, concealed from the street behind its attached wine shop. Upstairs is the restaurant, with a long menu ranging from tortilla catalana to an unmissable paella (around Fr.40 for two). The buzzing tapas bar downstairs is also outstanding, with a huge range from Fr.5.
15 Le Dézaley Römergasse 7 044 251 61 29 www.le-dezaley.ch Excellent Swiss-French restaurant nestling in a quiet alley at the foot of the Grossmünster's north tower. House specialities are pricey Vaudois dishes such as fondue bourguignonne (with a cellarful of Vaudois wines to boot), but there are many inexpensive options available. Interior decor is attractive, and there's also a lovely little courtyard garden. Opening time: Mon-Sat
16 Kantorei Neumarkt 2 044 252 27 27 www.restaurant-kantorei.ch Warm and pleasant, award-winning young restaurant, occupying a 600-year-old building in a little-visited part of the Old Town and serving unpretentious, but excellently prepared, modern Swiss cuisine. Doubles as a tranquil café between mealtimes.
17 Mère Catherine Nägelihof 3 044 250 59 40 www.commercio.ch Pleasant little place in a hard-to-find courtyard below the Grossmünster, brightly done up and touting itself as "un peu provençal" – salads and seafood are the main draw, with especially good bouillabaisse. Menus change monthly.
18 Santa Lucia Marktgasse 21 044 262 36 26 www.santalucia.ch Simple Niederdorf Italian with a wide selection of good-value pasta and pizza, plus the bonus of late-night service until 2am.
19 Spaghetti Factory Niederdorfstrasse 5 www.spaghettifactory.ch Straightforward pasta restaurant in the heart of the Niederdorf buzz, good and cheap. Daily until 2.30am. Also at Schifflände 6, behind Hechtplatz, and Theaterstrasse 1, south of Bellevue.
20 Weisser Wind Oberdorfstrasse 20 044 251 18 45 www.weisserwind.ch Comfortable, traditional setting for Italian and Swiss specialities, with plenty of vegetarian options, for around Fr.20–30. A beerhall in all but name. Opening time: Mon-Sat
21 Bona Dea Bahnhofplatz 15 044 217 15 15 www.bahnhofbuffet.ch Excellent, no-smoking vegetarian buffet restaurant attached to the train station, with loads of choice. Note that, despite the location, this is a dainty, upmarket kind of place (and, at Fr.35 a head, priced accordingly).
22 Hiltl Sihlstrasse 28 044 227 70 00 www.hiltl.ch Top-quality vegetarian restaurant, a city institution since 1898 but now completely renovated with bright decor, calm, friendly service and excellent fare. Sample the à la carte options, or plump for the expansive and great-value hot and cold buffet.
23 Kropf In Gassen 16 044 221 18 05 An atmospheric listed building, boasting a frescoed interior which dates from its conversion into a restaurant in 1888, and which stands a little askance with the solid bürgerliche cooking on offer: Bacchic revels may be erupting all around, but only in picture form on the ceiling. Meat, potatoes and dumplings in various forms, along with tripe, are staples, and yet standards are high and the food is never dull. Opening time: Mon-Sat
24 Zeughauskeller Bahnhofstrasse 28a at Paradeplatz 044 211 26 90 www.zeughauskeller.ch A wood-ceilinged room dating from the fifteenth century that's now the city's top beerhall, a sometimes chaotic place serving hearty meat dishes and plenty of the amber nectar. One of the most extensive sausage menus around – over a dozen different varieties, served with onion sauce and fresh potato salad – is crowned by a one-metre giant (around Fr.80) that should keep four people occupied for some time. Although the menu is in English (and ten other languages), this place is still very popular with Zürchers of a certain bank balance – a long way from the rough-and-ready beerhalls of Niederdorf.
25 El Parador Luisenstrasse 43 043 366 88 85 www.elparador.ch Acclaimed Spanish restaurant, on the quiet corner with Heinrichstrasse, with a small, select menu of authentic dishes. Food is expertly prepared – the paella and crema catalana are both sublime – but don't expect to pay less than about Fr.50 a head. Opening time: Closed Sat lunch & Sun
26 Lily's Stomach Supply Langstrasse197 044 440 18 85 wwww.lilys.ch Clean, modern place in the heart of the Langstrasse district, always busy, churning out authentic Asian dishes fresh-cooked in the open kitchen – anything from Tamil chicken curry or Pakistani panji renga to Japanese yaki soba, Thai noodles or hong shao tofu, washed down with Filipino beer. Seating is at long, communal tables with benches. The German menu marks dishes that are extra-spicy !!! and those that are an acquired taste ***. Phone ahead for a takeaway. Opening time: Mon– Thurs 11am– midnight, Fri & Sat 11am–1am, Sun 3pm– midnight
27 Reithalle Gessnerallee 8 044 212 07 66 www.restaurant-reithalle.ch Formerly the military riding school, this complex of buildings along the Sihl has been turned into a theatre and centre for performing arts, with one long, stone-floored hall serving as a combination bar and restaurant. It attracts a lively and eclectic crowd of twenty-somethings with a varied menu of light, modern dishes (many vegetarian), and a relaxed, share-a-table attitude. Saturday nights they crank up the music for late-night dancing.
28 Santa Lucia Luisenstrasse 31, corner Josefstrasse 044 272 58 93 www.santalucia.ch Bright, airy Italian on a quiet residential street, with a wood-fired pizza oven and excellent fresh pasta. The friendly, accommodating service makes it popular with the locals. Opening time: Daily until midnight
29 Haus zum Rüden Limmatquai 42 044 261 95 66 www.hauszumrueden.ch Splendid thirteenth-century riverside Zunfthaus (guildhall), complete with vaulted ceiling and late-Gothic decor; book in advance for a window table. The food covers most of the standard Zürich bases – plenty of meat and rich sauces, including the famous Züri Gschnetzlets (Fr.52), prepared with care and skill. Price: Fr.80 a head Opening time: Mon-Fri
30 Hummerbar In Hotel St Gotthard, Bahnhofstrasse 87 044 227 77 00 www.hotelstgotthard.ch A wonderfully romantic place for hummer (lobster) and a host of other seafood (including Iranian caviar), all flown in fresh daily and prepared in pristine style for consumption amidst a formal, fin-de-siècle setting. Prices are reasonable, but who's counting when you're contemplating fresh oysters? Lobster and seafood speciality mains are around Fr.70–80, or plump for the menu of oysters in butter followed by clam chowder, a half-lobster in Champagne sauce and dessert, for Fr.80.
31 Kronenhalle Rämistrasse 4 044 262 99 00 www.kronenhalle.com Despite the impressive array of the twentieth century's great and good who've licked their chops appreciatively here, the ambience of this classically grand place, bedecked with original Picassos, Matisses and Braques, remains amiable rather than stiff. (With at least one hors d'oeuvre on the menu over Fr.100, they can afford to be amiable.) The cuisine is outstanding but undramatic – there's little on the menu that you won't have seen before – but where the place scores is in its down-to-earth attitude to those who decide to spurn the champagne and truffles in favour of enjoying the atmosphere over a sausage and a glass of beer instead. A classic Zürich restaurant: discreet and hearty.
32 LaSalle In Schiffbau building, off Hardstrasse 044 258 70 71 www.lasalle-restaurant.ch Amazing place set within a huge glass cube on the factory floor of the old Schiffbau; you eat beneath a giant glowing Murano chandelier suspended on high. It's far from downmarket, though – all white tablecloths and silver service – and is a breath of fresh air after the stuffiness of traditional city-centre restaurants. The modern European cuisine is outstanding, but the surroundings are just as alluring as the food. Unmissable, whether you come to gawp or dine. Opening time: Closed Sat & Sun lunchPrice: Fr.50 per head
33 Petermann's Kunststuben Seestrasse 160, Küsnacht 044 910 07 15 www.petermanns.grandestables.ch Universally acclaimed as one of Switzerland's top five restaurants, replete with two Michelin stars, several international awards (including the title "Best Restaurant in Europe", as assessed by 8250 diners for Zagat) and pages of gushing reportage from foodie journalists. To cut to the chase: if you're prepared to invest Fr.125 per head for lunch, or twice that in the evening – plus the cost of getting to and from Küsnacht, 8km south of town – then you'll get a meal to remember for years to come. The dining-room setting is classy, sophisticated with a light, arty touch, and chef Horst Petermann is constantly at work refining his menu. You'll need to book several weeks ahead. Opening time: Closed Sun & Mon, also early Sept and late Feb
34 Sala of Tokyo Limmatstrasse 29 044 271 52 90 www.sala-of-tokyo.ch You'd never know it, but this dowdy, anonymous building at the station end of a busy traffic street hides one of Switzerland's best Japanese restaurants. Prices are very high, but the quality of the traditional cuisine, using the freshest of ingredients, is outstanding. Opening time: Closed Sat lunch, Sun & Mon; also late July to early Aug Opening time: Lunch Fr.80, dinner Fr.130
35 Zunfthaus zur Schmiden Marktgasse 20 044 250 58 48 www.zunfthausschmiden.ch The guildhall of the smiths, dating from 1520, and now a splendid setting in the heart of Niederdorf in which to linger over the richest of Swiss-German cuisine, meat-heavy platters and top Zürcher specialities such as geschnetzeltes Kalbfleisch (veal in a white wine and cream sauce), everything in mighty portions. Opening time: Closed Sat & Sun; also closed mid-July to mid-Aug