Basel

May 5-8, 2016

Michael and I have reunited in Basel, sharing a long weekend with some old friends who've been living in Switzerland for a decade. It was especially warm and sunny so we went on walks, visited museums, played games in parks and indoors with cards. We ate barbecued vegetables, breads and cheeses and ice creams.

We also ate out a few times - here are the cafes and restaurants we tried.

____________

While the kids had swimming lessons, Michael and I roamed the town, taking in the markets, the architecture, and a youth choir festival running events in numerous nooks. We stopped strategically for lunch at Tibits, a chain of vegetarian restaurants with outlets all over Switzerland, plus one in London. Most of the food is buffet style and many labels included English translations on the back. It wasn't too daunting to pick up a plate, serve ourselves what appealed, and pay by weight at the counter.

I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of fresh, colourful vegetables available, having eaten some very yellow meals in years gone by. Grain salads, pomegranate seeds and hummus have made it big, and there's still room for more traditional quiches and mock-meatballs. Our highlight was the crumbed and cream cheese-stuffed jalapeno poppers. Meals don't come cheap in this part of Europe, however - we paid AU$47.40 for these two plates.

____________

With a babysitter arranged, the four adults booked in a fancy meal at Cantina Don Camillo in the repurposed Warteck Brewery. The 2nd floor courtyard was summery and contemporary, and the menu prides itself on international and vegan cuisine. With English menu translations available, it was easy to pick through the dedicated plant-based menu sections; even so, Michael just went with the set 3-course vegan meal (CHF55 ~ AU$77).

Entrees were light and fresh (pictured top row, left to right): a frothy broccoli mousse with grapefruit segments and candied peel for Michael, and a savoury celery cannelloni for me (CHF16 ~ AU$22). The mains (our pictured bottom row, left to right) tended to use carbohydrates rather than protein for bulk, with minor exception of Michael's nut roast in spicy sauce. My filo pyramid (CHF27 ~ AU$38) had the stand-out presentation, and flavour to back it up - inside was a filling of curried leeks, a cairn of steamed veges and all around was a creamy potato sauce.

I still had an appetite for the dessert sampler (CHF19 ~ AU$27), picking my way through (clockwise from top left) a chocolate brownie square, vanilla icecream garnished with chocolate, baklava, chocolate icecream, passionfruit coconut cream catalan and ginger icecream. While everything was lovely the seasonal specials, passionfruit catalan and ginger icecream, came through as table favourites.

_____________

The kids joined us for our final expedition, a brunch at frühling. It was trendy but relaxed, and a nice spot to bring children. Though the setting would sit as well in Melbourne as it does in Basel, the menu is devoid of our typical poached eggs, avo on toast and pancakes. Instead there's a more low-key list of muesli, pastries and breads served with spreads, cheeses, meats and a boiled egg at a stretch. 

We muddled our way through the drinks menu, finding a good coffee for Michael and a pot of rooibos tea for me. Luckily for us, the menu included a page in English as well as German.

We happily settled on the vegetarian breakfast for two (CHF29.50 ~ AU$41), and with surprise saw it served in tiers like a high tea. It was a pleasure to work slowly through the layers of light and dark bread slices, soft and mature cheese, hummus and chutney, butter and jam, honey, chocolate spread and spiced candied nuts.

____________

Eating out in Switzerland is such a rare treat. Obviously distance is our greatest barrier to the wonderful baked goods, cheeses and chocolates but restaurants are also very costly. We loved splashing out with dear friends but would have to keep a tighter hold on our wallets if we were to stick around longer.

Pot Au Vert

June 11, 2012

On Monday morning we had a few hours left in Zurich and only enough francs left for one meal. We'd spotted a vegetarian restaurant, Pot Au Vert, that opened at 11:30 so we skipped breakfast and wandered around the old town until it was ready for us.

   

   

   

   

   

Pot Au Vert is located on the first floor of a hotel and has a traditional, not-too-flashy feel about it. The head waiter conversed confidently with us in English and helped us through the menu, though the other staff member exchanged only German and kindly kept it basic.

   

There is a print copy of the menu in misspelt but completely readable English. It covers a range of cuisines - linguine and penne to falafel, curry and fried tofu - and it's unclear how much, if any, is vegan.

   

There's also a salad bar, although it's much more modest than the famous buffet at Hiltl - no more than a dozen bowls with a focus on fresh unadorned vegetables, then three lovely tangy dressings at the end. I scored a small plate as part of my order. We were also treated to some of the region's excellent bread. Seriously - a typical pre-meal slice in a casual restaurant in Switzerland is a worthy competitor to what many high-end Australian restaurants offer.

   

Michael chose the sliced quorn in a mushroom cream sauce with red cabbage and dumplings (24.50 CHF ~ AU$25.80). Don't be fooled by the angle of this photo; I'm pretty sure that plateful was way bigger than Michael's head. I could barely believe that he ate it all, though having had a taste I could understand trying! The dumplings had been fried in butter and seasoned perfectly, the quorn had a lovely sauce (albeit not quite as sophisticated as my Hiltl one) and the cabbage offered the right sour contrast.

   

I took a punt on a seasonal special, white asparagus covered in hollandaise sauce and served with parsley potatoes (20.80 CHF ~ $21.90). Michael had a good laugh at the overwhelming yellowness of this dish - he'd been eating a lot of yellow, carb-heavy food in Norway - but it was saved from flavour monotony by an excellent hollandaise. It sure gives simple steamed vegetables a kick!

Pot Au Vert is a comfortable and comforting venue for vegetarians in a fairly meat-focused city. It was a nice glimpse of homely Swiss food without the veal and sausage, and lined our stomachs well for the journey ahead.

____________

I was only able to find other blog accounts of Pot Au Vert on Goatless and The real picky gourmet.

____________

Pot Au Vert
Limmatquai 142 CH-8001 Zürich
044 267 60 40
lunch 8.50-24.50 CHF (~AU$9-26)
http://www.limmathof.com/frameinhalt/menupot/wochenkarte.htm

Accessibility: Pot Au Vert is up a full flight of stairs and I did not notice any lift access. Within the restaurant tables are quite close together and the salad bar is at medium height. There's full table service and some of the staff are proficient in English.

Hiltl

June 10, 2012

   

Cindy and I are off on a month-long jaunt through Europe. I started early and took the camera with me to Stavanger, Norway to document all the wonderful vegetarian food on offer there. Sadly, the one vegetarian place in town closed down a few weeks before I arrived and I was left (with my fellow vegetarian conference buddies) to scrounge up some fairly mediocre offerings around the place. But then, nobody really goes to Stavanger for the food.

   

   

   

   

It's a beautiful, beautiful place, and I can't recommend the hike up to Pulpit Rock enough - one of the most beautiful walks I've ever done.

But you're here for the food! After finishing up in Stavanger, I met up with Cindy and some old friends of ours in Zurich, where we headed to Hiltl. It's been running for more than a century, making it Europe's oldest vegetarian restaurant (albeit in fancy new digs).

   

Hiltl is incredibly popular - our plan to visit for brunch was foiled (the first open table was something like 3pm) so we booked in for the evening meal. Downstairs is a bustling bar area, while the tables upstairs are a little quieter and more suited to the long relaxed meal we had planned.

   

There are two basic ordering options: the buffet (where you pay by weight) or a la carte. We took one of each, with Cindy ordering the Zuri Geschnetzeltes, a traditional Zurich dish done here with mushrooms and seitan (rather than veal) in a creamy white wine sauce and served with a massive rosti (32.50 CHF ~ AU$34).

   

I only snuck a few bites of this - the seitan was done in thin little slices, leaving the mushrooms to provide the bulk of the dish. The sauce was rich and tasty, and the roesti soaked it up perfectly. Yum.

I couldn't resist the buffet - it's got a massive range of hot dishes and salads, with a heavily Indian theme (although there are other bits and pieces as well - the picture below is less than half of it!).

   

You pay by weight, which means that I know that I picked up a tiny bit under 700g of food (for about 38 CHF ~ AU$40).

   

All of the curries were excellent - particularly the spicy cauliflower curry and the chana masala - while the fried bits and bobs were a bit of a mix. The onion rings left me a bit disappointed, while the battered jalapeno chilli popper really hit the spot. There are so many options that you're sure to find something that takes your fancy - it's all prepared pretty well and they don't fall into the trap of churning out bland inoffensive curries that are all interchangeable.

Even with 700g of goodness for dinner, I agreed with Cindy that we should sample the dessert menu. We shared two dishes: firstly the brownie with vanilla icecream, hot chocolate sauce and cream (8.50 CHF ~ AU$9).

   

The icecream was super rich and creamy, which worked well with the slightly dry brownie. The sauce came in a cute little pastry bowl, which looked nice but made eating it a bit awkward. Still, not a bad dessert.

We combined it with the ice cappuccino (mocha ice cream with coffee sauce, cashews and cream, 8.50 CHF ~ AU$9).

   

Similarly, this was good without being amazing - there was a nice strong coffee flavour in the sauce, and the cashews and fruit added a bit of texture and tang, but the cream and the ice cream didn't really sparkle. Although we both quite enjoyed these dishes, we were hoping for a little more from the dessert range.

Our Hiltl experience was pretty satisfactory - service was friendly and helpful: they quickly provided us with English versions of the menu, took some happy snaps for us and were generally around when we needed them. The food was pretty damn good - although like all food in Zurich it doesn't come cheap - vegans will probably be a bit disappointed by how much of the menu isn't aimed at them, but will be happy to see how comprehensively labelled everything is. Zurich is not a vegetarian paradise, so vegos who visit will almost certainly find themselves at Hiltl. Based on our experience, they won't be disappointed.

____________

An uncomprehensive poke around the web finds pretty positive reviews - La Cuisine de Sarah, The Apprentice Foodie, MyKugelHopf, All Things Delicious, Adityaajmera's Weblog, My Food Sirens, One Big Yodel and The Real Picky Gourmet all thought it was pretty good, while Vegan Dublin was a bit annoyed by the lack of vegan options.

____________

Hiltl
Sihlstrasse 28  8001 Zurich, Switzerland
044 227 70 00
mains 24.50-32.50 CHF (~AU$26-34), weight-based buffet ~ 40 CHF (~AU$42) for a very full plate, desserts 8.50 CHF (~AU$9)
http://www.hiltl.ch/
 

Accessibility: There are a couple of small steps at all the entrances to the restaurant (although this isn't a problem if you use the outside tables). The upstairs dining area is up a flight of stairs, but there are some tables on the lower level. The self-service buffet is at medium height. Ordering and payment takes place at the table.