Michelin & the Street: Zurich

ZURICH You’re definitely in Switzerland when your first evening catching up with friends involves fondue and schnapps. The nature of fondue means schnapps is necessary: to burn a ‘Norman hole’ through all the congealing cheese in your stomach, and it works very well I think. Also makes for interesting English-Swiss conversation! So that was fondue number one, a hearty meal on top of the heart-stopper we’d had earlier in a beer hall.

The beer hall we stumbled into after pouring off our overnight train was no steins-on –the-wall-and-cowbells piece, but a serious den for alcoholics. I think we were on the verge of being chucked out when we asked for mineral water rather than beer, and opted to share a heaving plate of rosti, cheese and bacon, rather than attempt one each. Good move. This was the kind of food that either kills you or makes you stronger. We redeemed ourselves only a little with the waitress (who looked like she carried a rolling pin behind her apron for use on the hall’s patrons) when we ordered our coffee topped up with bitter herbal liquor – no name for it, it was ‘house’. Though we were in one of the richest cities in Europe, we’d stumbled on the bottom-end’s pub.

Cheese is of course synonymous with Switzerland. Especially the big wheels of ‘Swiss’ cheese in all its holey glory. There are many surprises however for anyone willing to try something other than emmental or gruyère. A Swiss meal other than fondue that celebrates the cheese board is boiled potatoes (kept warm in a special padded bag unique to that purpose) served with a selection of cheeses and salads. I adored the Rostiger Ritter (‘rusty knight’) cheese, and not just for its name as it has great smooth texture flecked with tartaric crystals. Also L’Etivaz is a remarkable cheese, named after our good Swiss friend’s ancestral village. Apparently it’s made the way gruyère was 100 years ago, only from the milk of cows on summer pasture and made by hand by our friend’s grandparents. Similar to gruyère it’s creamier and subtler. Another I particularly enjoyed was the white cheese bärlauch, which is soft and flavoured with a centre of wild garlic – quite pronounced and quite delicious, especially smeared on warm potatoes.

And then there’s the charcuterie. As we poked around Swiss sites, at every opportunity a very hospitable friend of our friends would duck into an aromatic shop only to emerge with yet another of his favourite sausages for us to try. Paired with beer, local wine, local schnapps, crisps or whatever, invariably the Swiss Army Knife would come out of his pocket and slice and dice as soon as we sat down for a break amidst our wanders.