Zurich, Switzerland

My expectation of Zurich was that it would feel industrial. I was more than pleased to find that I was wrong. The part of the city I stayed in was delightful. There were winding and hilly cobblestone walkways lined with shops and restaurants that lead to the riverfront. Yes, there were more modern business district areas, but I spent my time in the aforementioned area. 

My first meal was a traditional restaurant were I tasted veal liver with Rosti potatoes. This tasted exactly as one would anticipate, slightly pungent mineral flavor to the liver, but tender, which was complimented by the crispy and richly fried potatoes. Simple and hearty. 

I did not tire of walking past the river running through Zurich. Each time of day and each angle afforded a slightly different gorgeous view. 

I ate at a less traditional restaurant in the city as well. I had a roasted corn salad with smoked ricotta and mole, to be eaten like a taco from cabbage leaf. I also enjoyed a glass of Swiss made orange wine that was reminiscent of an Aperol spritz with intense bitter notes. 

I walked much of the city on one of the days that I was in Zurich, getting to some planned stops including local coffee roasters and foodie stores, but most of the day was my personally curated "Chocolate tour". I had delineated a number of chocolate makers that I wanted to visit while in the city. Honestly, the prior cities I had been to were disappointing to me regarding their chocolate options. They all had prominent storefronts for large producers, which I knew to have lesser quality products overall. In this way, Zurich did not disappoint.  

During my chocolate explorations, I found a number of bean-to-bar producers with the highest quality chocolate bars, denoted by three simple ingredients: organic single origin chocolate, sugar, and cocoa butter.

Some of the shops I went to included: Oro, Max Chocolatier, and Moon, a newly awarded vegan dessert shop. I selected a chocolate bar with miso pumpkin filling. 

Another day, I had the happy incident of discovering locally made liquors from rare wild foraged fruits, which the store owners said is unusual to everyone, even locals. The products are small production, as the maker forages and makes the liquors based on what she finds, so it is ever changing. Also at that store, I found the most delicious hazelnut liquor, Studor Nussknacker. It literally tasted like toasted hazelnuts, but was not sweet. Decadent and delicate and rich and intense, but without being cloying as it was not sweet. Highly memorable! In conversations at that store, I also learned about a foodie restaurant that I had not discovered on my own.

The restaurant was Opelchammer. It is a historic restaurant, but was also recently awarded best food in Zurich, 2021. While there, I had their veal, a phenomenal interpretation of the traditional food I had had prior. This version had a sweet, slightly smoky flavor. It was accompanied by a trout sauce, as well as apples, radish, and pickled onions. 

Next, I immensely enjoyed an onion tart with broccoli and port wine cooked shallots. The shallots were peppery and the tart was a light egg texture with a very thin pastry. The sauce was rustic, as it was slightly textured rather than smooth with a mild sweet flavor. I decided that there must be nuts in the sauce and learned that it was pumpkin seeds! 

Before leaving the city, I also stumbled upon a chocolate shop that curated only bean to bar chocolate from around the world. I carefully selected a number of chocolate bars of european origin that I have not found easily in the United States, in addition to some that were Swiss made. 

What a find and definitely one of my favorite stops of the entire trip! While there, I learned about a pepper with which I was not familiar, called a Timut pepper from Nepal. I was able to purchase some at a nearby shop. This is why I love my explorations! I learned something entirely unexpected from chatting with a stranger in a foreign country.