Restaurant Helvetia Eat like a God in Switzerland

Have you ever sometimes wished you could go for delicious food without having to sit in a Deux-Piece - a stiff environment, sitting rigid at the table? Then I have found the right restaurant for you. In Helvetia it's all about the relaxing ambience and the food, largely owing to star chef Françoise Wicki, which is simply brilliant!

But one thing after another - first of all let's leave the busy working day behind us and rightly begin with a glass of white wine to toast our meal. The bar is open weekdays from 6pm, when it fills up quickly, where one can discuss, laugh and flirt. Soon, my stomach calls and my companion and I climb the stairs to the first floor, where we can continue to observe the hustle and bustle of the bar from our table for two.

Françoise Wicki, previously head chef of Rotisserie des Rois in Hotel Drei Könige, Basel, and accredited with 15 Gault Millau points for Restaurant Helvetia in 2009, serves us, as a greeting, her homemade duck liver terrine with caramelized apple and onion confit. Accompanied with a glass of 2014 Riesling from Fritz Haag. Following that, despite my preference to order the delicious terrine a second time, I opt for "Fränzi's lobster bisque" and the braised Black Angus beef cheeks with polenta and cabbage. My date orders the Chèvre Chaud with Frisée salad, acacia honey and crispy bacon, with truffle oil au gratin, followed by the "Helvetia" meatloaf with mashed potatoes and fresh wild mushrooms, bacon julienne and veal jus for the main course. Recommended is an organic Argentinian red wine, 2013 Mendoza Puro Corte d'Oro, by Dieter Meier.

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The food is to die for, time passes much too quickly, and we feel the cozy ambience akin to being at home with friends. Our fellow diners were not serious faced with jackets and ties, but convivial groups of women and men, and two couples. Which brings me to the idea that Helvetia would be ideal for a first date. First one gets acquainted with a glass of wine at the bar and if the conversation is going rather well, one could dine a floor up. And if your companion is just as elated about the excellent cuisine, then you have something very important in common: that you are both gastronomes. The evening at Helvetia remains unforgettable, whether it unfolds into a friendship or a love story.

Contributed by Ana Maria Haldimann, style-expert at Blick-Gruppe.

Ana Maria Haldimann

Guest Author Zurich