The Geschnetzeltes Pilgrimage

Tender sliced veal in a creamy white-wine and mushroom sauce, with a golden disc of rösti to soak up every drop. Zurich's most civilised lunch.

Example Extreme Day Trip:🛫 From London Heathrow💰 From £38 return⏱ 1h 45m flightShare to WhatsApp

Why this dish?

Zürcher Geschnetzeltes is thin strips of veal (traditionally with kidney) quickly sautéed and bathed in a sauce of white wine, cream, stock and mushrooms. It's served with rösti - grated potato pressed and fried into a crisp golden cake - whose job is to mop the sauce. Comforting, refined and quietly luxurious, it's the dish Zurich quietly perfected.

This is the polished, prosperous side of Swiss cooking - less rustic than fondue, more dinner-jacket. The veal is delicate, the sauce is rich, the rösti is the kind of thing you'll dream about. Eaten in a wood-panelled Zurich Zunfthaus or guildhall restaurant, looking out at the lake and the Alps beyond, it's a lunch that justifies the airfare on its own.

Our Picks

Kronenhalle

Address: Rämistrasse 4, Zurich
What to order: Zürcher Geschnetzeltes with rösti; a Swiss Pinot Noir alongside.
Book ahead: Yes - it's iconic and busy; book.
Pro tip: Have a drink in the famous bar even if you only eat in the restaurant - the room is a piece of Zurich history, with Chagall and Picasso on the walls.

Zeughauskeller

Bahnhofstrasse 28a, Zurich

A vast, lively former arsenal near Paradeplatz, more casual and great value - long tables, big plates, local beer.

What to order: Geschnetzeltes with rösti, or a classic Swiss sausage platter, with a local beer.

Good to know

Zurich is one of Europe's priciest cities - the flight may cost less than lunch. The dish is sometimes made with veal kidney (Nierli); ask if you'd prefer it without. Trams are excellent and you can be lakeside minutes after landing.

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