Swiss Food -- From Haute to Wholesome

By Margaret M. Johnson

Colorfully decorated with frescoes, Pfistern is a Zurich restaurant serving traditional Swiss specialties
Colorfully decorated with frescoes
Pfistern Zurich Restaurant

Nestled between France, Italy, Austria, Germany and tiny Liechtenstein, Switzerland has a reputation in the European foodie world for being as conversant with cuisines as it is with languages. With four distinct regions, each with its own culture and language, Swiss chefs move freely from ravioli to spatzle and saucisson to foie gras. Switzerland's traditional cuisine is characterized by a kind of rustic freshness -- farmers digging into rosti and raclette, hikers nursing a good beer at the end of a day -- so visitors can go from haute to wholesome in the blink of an eye. When you add more than 350 different types of sausages, 450 varieties of cheese, 50 grape varieties, and countless brands of chocolates to this mix, you will indeed be impressed with the Swiss culinary landscape (and the scenery's not so bad either!)

We started in French-speaking Geneva, situated around the shores of Lake Geneva (Lac Leman) with the postcard setting of Mont Blanc in the background. Our first visit a few years ago was a rushed affair, so this time we enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the Vielle Ville (Old Town), with its narrow cobbled streets, some 16th-century homes and shops, and delightful bistros and outdoor cafes, especially at Place Bourg-de-Four, the oldest public square in the city.

Lucky for us our guide just happened to know master chocolate maker Jean-Pascal Serignant at Chocolatier Du Rhone (www.du-rhone.ch), so we were treated to a firsthand look at how great Swiss chocolate is made. Whether it's milk (which the Swiss invented), dark, white, or fondant, the transformation of cocoa into chocolate lies somewhere between science and magic, and most "maitres chocolatiers" like Serignant are willing to show but not tell their personal secrets.

The Geneva region is also home to some of the country's famous cheese dishes -- bubbling fondue and melting raclette -- meant to be enjoyed with local wines from the Lavaux. Terraced vineyards planted on steep hillsides above the shores of Lake Geneva between Lausanne and Montreux/Vevey have been a prominent feature of the Lavaux for more than 800 years, and they produce excellent wines, particularly whites made from the Chasselas grape.

Geneva's Restaurant La Saviese (Rue de Paquet 20), a rustic neighborhood auberge, specializes in wholesome foods from the Valais region, east of Geneva, and we found its assiette Valaissane (raclette served with the requisite boiled potatoes, pickles, and onions along with air dried meats) irresistible. A modest wine list offers two or three reds and whites from both Lavaux and Valais, like subtle-but-flavorful Dole du Valais and freshly scented Fendant Dame de Sion.

For a Swiss meal with an Italian twist, nearby Sapori in Le Richemond Hotel (www.roccofortecollection.com) offers simple but inventive cuisine from Chef Pietro Amato -- Milano style risotto, Sardinian gnocchetti with squid, and tonno grigliato (grilled tuna with pan-fried chicory) are some specialties. To finish, try il cuore de cioccolata, which needs no translation here!

Our next stop was Bern, the Swiss capital and likely starting place for excursions to the Bernese Oberland and Emmental Valley, where I was introduced to classic cheese making. Visitors could easily visit Switzerland by hopping from one dairy to the next, and when you consider the incredible number of cheeses make from one raw material, good Swiss milk, it's definitely food for thought. From smooth and creamy Vacherin to sharp Appelzeller, tangy Sbrinz, world-famous Gruyere, distinctive Tete de Moine, and nutty Emmentaler (the one with the holes), the choices are overwhelming.

We were lucky to connect with Manuela Sonderegger, a marketing exec for Switzerland Cheese (www.switzerland-cheese.com), who drove us from Bern to the Glauser Kaserei in Oberhunigen, deep in the Emme Valley. She insisted we be ready [practically] at the crack of dawn since -- as cheese makers will attest -- the milk waits for no one! When we arrived, the first stages of production were already underway, but cheese maker Christophe Glauser talked as he worked and guided us through the steps in the production of his Emmentaler AOC (Appellation d'Origine Controlee), a cheese that's been produced here since the thirteenth century. At last, I found out how the holes get in there!

Without benefit of a personal guide, you can visit the Emmental Schaukaserei, a show dairy/visitor attraction in Affoltern (www.showdairy.ch), where the secret is revealed -- the holes appear during the fermentation process and vary in size between that of a cherry and a walnut.

In nearby Interlaken, one of Switzerland's oldest and most popular resorts, we found the Victoria-Jungfrau Hotel (www.victoria-jungfrau.ch) a fabulous place to call it a night. Deep in the heart of German-speaking Switzerland now, our culinary attention turned from raclette to rosti, a fried potato cake made with everything from onions and cheese to apples and pears. While it's eaten throughout the country, we loved the fact that it was the standard accompaniment to the "klassiker" meals at the Jungfrau Brasserie, where all the meat, fish, poultry, cheese, and wine is exclusively Swiss-sourced.

Like many major Swiss cities, Lucerne, our next stop, enjoys a lakeside location on the River Reuss and Lake Lucerne the capital of the canton of Luzern (the German spelling). For sampling local cuisine in German-speaking cities, look for a wirsthaus, gasthaus, or stübli like Wursthaus Taube (www.taube-luzern.ch), where they serve Alplermagronen (a completely decadent combination of macaroni, cheese, and boiled potatoes topped with apples) in tins that looks like milking buckets. Lozarner Chugelipastete (a puff pastry shell filled with diced veal and mushrooms in a creamy sauce) is also a winner, and Luzern pear bread is a terrific complement to a cheese plate.

Last but not least, Zurich is probably more renowned as a center of finance than of fun, but anyone's who's visited quickly discovers that once the "gnomes" (the affectionate term for bankers and insurance execs) come out of their offices, the city really comes alive. Arriving by train into Zurich Hauptbahnhof, we felt compelled to do some window-only shopping along Bahnhofstrasse, the city's famous "station road." If your sweet tooth suddenly kicks in, you're in the right place when you reach Paradeplatz, where you'll find Confiserie Sprungli (www.spruengli.ch), the country's most famous chocolatier.

Have lunch in the Sprungli tearoom, or for heartier fare in a hofbrauhaus (beer hall) setting, cross the tram tracks and head to Restaurant Zeughauskeller (www.zeughskeller.ch) housed in what was once an ancient arsenal. Sausages and the traditional veal specialty "Zurcher Geschnetzeltes" are a "must." Loosely translated as "cut meat Zurich style," it's made with shredded veal, mushrooms, and white wine and uses many typical Germanic flavors like parsley and lemon zest. Enjoy the big basket of bread on the table, a cold Swiss beer like Cardinal original draft, or a Zurich-made pinot noir like Pankraz.

For a chic finale to our Swiss romp, we checked in to the art-filled, tech-smart Park Hyatt (www.zurich.park.hyatt.com) in the heart of Zurich's financial center. Built on the site of a former parking garage, the hotel is in every sense larger than life -- a 10-metre high reception area is large enough to house its own bamboo garden, the Onyx bar serves "club style" oversized drinks, and its parkhuus (yes, lower case) restaurant, set within floor-to-ceiling glass on three sides, houses a show kitchen and two-story, 3,000 bottle wine library.

We loved its build-your-own-meal menu style where we got to choose the meat, poultry, or fish we wanted, its size, whether we wanted it wood grilled or roasted, hot or cold sauce, and vegetables from a long, long list. The provenance of all ingredients is shown on the menu, and a lovely touch to the meal is that side dishes are served to-be-shared in the center of the table on stainless steel warmers.

We finished, naturally, with a cheese course that included, among others, an exclusive Swiss Brie, Appenzeller, Forester, and one of "Tina's mountain cheeses." Tina, by the way, and 34 colleagues are "leased" by the hotel to supply milk to cheese makers. The lucky cows get to graze freely on a mountain slope near Gstaad for about 80 days during the summer, nibbling happily on more than 150 different kinds of herbs and grasses that ultimately influence the taste of the cheese. In autumn, Park Hyatt is entitled to a portion of that cheese. Yum!

(Margaret M. Johnson has been writing about food and travel for more than 20 years. She is also the author of many Irish cookbooks, including "Irish Puddings, Tarts, Crumbles and Fools," a desserts cookbook published by Chronicle Books, San Francisco.)

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© Margaret M. Johnson Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Vacation Travel - Swiss Food -- From Haute to Wholesome