Zurich Cuisine

About Zurich Cuisine

By the ULTIMATE Zurich Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

What to order in Zurich, from the Kronenhalle’s Geschnetzeltes to a box of Luxemburgerli on the Paradeplatz: our guide to the dishes of the city.

Zurich cuisine

Zurich eats like a city that likes its comforts. Its cooking is the cooking of German-speaking Switzerland, made with cream and butter, potatoes and veal, and finished, more often than not, with something from a confiserie. Zurich Tourism names three specialities every visitor should try at least once: Zürcher Geschnetzeltes, Bircher muesli and Luxemburgerli. Around them sit a sausage named after a city quarter, honey biscuits pressed with the city’s history, and a gin made with lime blossom from the Lindenhof.

Zürcher Geschnetzeltes

The city’s signature dish is veal, cut into thin strips and finished in a cream sauce, usually with mushrooms, and served with Rösti. Zurich Tourism sends you to the Kronenhalle at Bellevue for it, where it has been on the menu among original works by Chagall, Picasso and Miró since the restaurant opened in 1924. Order it as the Zurich classic it is: a plate for a cold evening, with a glass of white wine.

Veal in cream with golden Rösti, a breakfast of Bircher muesli and a box of Luxemburgerli from the Paradeplatz: the table of Zurich.

Rösti

Rösti is the potato dish of German-speaking Switzerland: potatoes grated and fried in butter into a golden cake, crisp outside and soft within. In Zurich it is the natural partner of Geschnetzeltes, and you will find it on the menus of the guild houses and the classic restaurants of the Old Town.

Bircher muesli

Zurich’s breakfast is Bircher muesli, oats soaked and mixed with fruit and nuts. Zurich Tourism recommends trying it at the Café Honold on the Rennweg, and Sprüngli serves it in its café on the Paradeplatz.

Luxemburgerli

The Luxemburgerli are Sprüngli’s small, light macarons, sold by weight from the shop on the ground floor of the Sprüngli house on the Paradeplatz, where the confiserie has stood since 1859. Buy a mixed box for the journey home, and eat them within a few days: they are made to be fresh.

Tirggel and Offleten

Tirggel are Zurich’s thin, crisp biscuits of honey, flour and spices, pressed with pictures and often handed out at public festivals; Zurich Tourism notes that you can buy them at Globus. Offleten, made in Zurich since 1869, are even thinner wafer biscuits decorated with traditional patterns, once made by the city’s guilds, and eaten sweet or savoury.

The Wiedikerli, and a gin from the Lindenhof

The Wiedikerli is a grilled pork bratwurst named after the Wiedikon quarter, the best-known product of the Keller family firm, in Zurich Tourism’s words. Turicum Gin is made with ingredients from the city: lime blossom from the Lindenhof and pine tips from the forests nearby.

Cheese: fondue and raclette

Switzerland’s great cheese dishes are on every winter menu in Zurich. In the cold months Frau Gerolds Garten opens a fondue room in its winter garden, and the Christmas markets, from the Werdmühleplatz to the Bellevue, have their fondue chalets.

Where to taste it

For Geschnetzeltes, the Kronenhalle and the guild houses on the Limmat, among them Haus zum Rüden; for Luxemburgerli and Bircher muesli, Sprüngli on the Paradeplatz; for pastries and Pain de Gênes, Confiserie Honold, in its temporary pavilion on the Rennweg until its house reopens; for hot chocolate, the Café & Conditorei 1842 in the Niederdorf; for vegetarian food, Hiltl, which Zurich Tourism calls probably the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the world.

Our advice: eat Geschnetzeltes at lunch, when the classic restaurants are calmer, and keep the evening for one of the city’s starred tables.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Zurich Cuisine before you go.