GO SWITZERLAND : Already renowned for its chocolate, the Swiss city is fast building a reputation as a culinary capital, with a panoply of intercultural eating houses offering Thai, Indian, French, American and local cuisine, writes MARIE-CLAIRE DIGBY
FOR MOST PEOPLE, chocolate bars are primarily either milk, dark or white, but for Rudolf Zehnder, general manager of the Ambassador hotel in Zurich, there are seasonal variations. “I have an autumn chocolate, but it gets too hard when I go hiking in winter; in general I like a dark, crisp chocolate in summer and milk chocolate in winter,” he says.
They take their chocolate very seriously here in this most picture-perfect of Swiss cities, which lies on the river Limmat as it flows into Lake Zurich, with the majestic Uetliberg mountain as a backdrop.
The first ever 100 per cent Swiss chocolate was produced at Zurich Zoo last year, using beans grown in the zoo’s Madagascar rain forest exhibit. The plants took six years to bear fruit and the harvest was tiny.
Just 150 premier cru Madagascar pralines were made, and they sold for CHF200 (€165) each, with the profits supporting the preservation of the Indian Ocean island’s Masoala National Park.
On another scale altogether, the giant Lindt chocolate factory perfumes the air in a most delicious way from its lakeside location at Kilchberg, a few miles outside the city, while in town, you’re never more than a few paces from some superlative chocolate.
You can sip a molten hot chocolate while listening to classical favourites being played on the grand piano in the gloriously decadent red velvet salon of Conditorei Schober, the city’s oldest coffee house. Or treat yourself to a Luxemburgerli, Zurich’s answer to the French macaron, at Confiserie Café Sprüngli, on the city’s main shopping street, Bahnhofstrasse.
These tiny meringues, smaller than the French macaron, glow like jewels in the chocolate-scented boutique, and some – the champagne variety – are even painted with gold lustre. They got their name, according to local lore, because the modest, puritanical Zurichers couldn’t bring themselves to call them by the original name, “baiser de mousse” or foam kiss, so they asked instead for the cakes made by the Luxembourg confectioner. This was Camille Studer, who brought the recipe to Zurich when employed by Richard Sprüngli.
BUT EVEN ZURICHERS cannot live on chocolate alone, and it comes as quite a surprise to find that this most conservative Swiss city has a vast panoply of intercultural eating houses, from meat- and cream-rich traditional menus in the city’s ornate Guild houses, to Asian buffets and French brasseries, Spanish tapas and – bet you weren’t anticipating this one – a Chinese takeaway served in an ornate temple garden gifted to Zurich by its twin city of Kunming in south west China in thanks for technical assistance in setting up the city’s drinking water supply.
Chinagarten is one of 11 catering outlets run by Kramer Gastronomie that also includes Thai, Indian, French, American, and traditional Swiss restaurants. Which is why I’m not altogether surprised to find myself sipping delicious mango juice flavoured with cardamom and cooking Indian food early on a Sunday morning in Europe’s oldest vegetarian restaurant . . . and yes, I’m still in Zurich.
Hiltl is a Zurich institution, occupying a prime corner site just steps from the dizzying parade of luxury brand boutiques on the Hauptbahnhof. It has been open since 1898, and Rolf Hiltl is the fourth generation of his family to run the business, which includes a 440-seat restaurant, catering company, and coffee bar and lounge that morphs into a nightclub several nights a week, when the departing stragglers bump into chefs coming in for the early shift.
It’s all very hip and cool, with lots of concrete, wood, glass and steel, and the restaurant’s live Twitter feed is projected on one wall. The nerve centre is a giant buffet table groaning with all manner of dishes, so varied that you’re never tempted to ask, “Where’s the beef?” There’s a camera trained on the buffet, so kitchen staff can keep an eye on what needs replacing.
Once you’ve made your selection your plate is weighed and you’re charged for what you’ve taken. It’s a clever concept, and you can try it out a little nearer to home at the London outpost of Tibits, a spin-off of Hiltl, with branches across Switzerland as well as in Heddon Street, near Regent Street in W1.
But before we can sample Switzerland’s most celebrated vegetarian food, we must assemble in the company’s bright and airy Cooking Atelier, where chef Anna Schlatter demonstrates patience levels worthy of beatification as she takes us through a hands-on session during which we make samosas with ginger raita, karahi paneer with chapatis, and for dessert, a curd cheese, saffron and garam masala concoction called Shrikhand.
It is all incredibly tasty, and quick to put together. By the time we’re finishing lunch, we’re sharing the cooking studio with brunch guests, obediently arriving for their very Swiss-like reservation times. Table for four, 12.55pm, reads the sign on an adjacent table.
Hiltl cooking classes run on a regular basis, often in English, with dates and details available at hiltl.ch. Like most things in Switzerland, it’s not cheap; the next English language class, on October 30th, will be a four-hour one at which a six-course menu will be prepared and the cost is CHF 200 (€165), including the class, dinner, drinks, wine and service.
But, like most things in this most elegant and sophisticated city, you really do get what you pay for.
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