Roman Rey (1983)

Image by Ivo Vasella

You want to travel through time and meet eye-witnesses of the last half century? Search no further, the “Outlane” is your place: a mix between bar, museum and private collection of pinball machines and old video games that you can play.

The Outlane is run by two crazy collectors and contains 50 Flippers and about 10 old consoles with ever-changing old video games. The most ancient flippers are from the beginning days in the forties, very simple and sweet (and pretty boring to play), whereas the newest ones have a lot of kick-ass features. All these machines have a story to tell, they reveal things about the time they were made. If you’re interested, drop in and talk to the owners, they like to tell people about their collection.

Being no regular bar, the Outlane is only opened once per month – and it’s almost impossible to find. In the middle of a living quarter, you have to walk down a car garage and ring on an unimposing door. Well, that has it’s charm too, doesn’t it? Check out the comments of this article for a detailed description how to get there.

One last thing: Please consider this place a museum, not a bar to get shit-faced and out of control. You got plenty of opportunities to do that at the Langstrasse.

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Outlane | Art & culture, Bars
Fuchsiastrasse 10 | Kreis 9 Altstetten
Every last Thursday of the month from 20:30

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Image by Lukas Lienhard

This is for the vegetarians and vegans, but not only. Yes, dear Omnivores, at Samses you won’t find any dishes with meat, but I dare say that you won’t miss it. Because here you’ll find delicious, always fresh food, inspired from cuisines from all over the world.

Besides the bill of fare there is a big, daily changing buffet with salads and all kinds of dishes that you can combine. In this buffet everything looks freakin’ tasty, so prepare yourself for some hard decisions.

The place used to be a travel agency, until a few years ago it was turned into what it is now: One of my favourite vegetarian restaurants. The only reason I don’t eat there all the time is because it’s not really cheap and I’m kinda poor. Still, the food is absolutely worth the money.

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Samses | Coffee & tea, Restaurants (Vegetarian)
Langstrasse 231 | Kreis 5 Industrie | +41444401313
Mon – Fri 11:00 – 23:00, Sat 16:00 – 23:00

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Image by Roman Rey

As an avid reader, there’s one thing concerning travelling that I lose sleep over: How many books do I carry with me and what do I do when I’ve read them? If I hit the road for several months, there’s no way I can take along all the books I will read in that time. Feel me? Good.

If you have the same fear as me and like to read in English, you don’t have to worry any more – everything’s gonna be fine: Orel Füssli Bookshop is packed with English books. So if you’re looking for new reading material you won’t have to be content with the inferior stuff (ehm…I mean… limited choice) you find at train stations and airports: A basement full of Sci-Fi and Fantasy-Books, a ground floor with novels, modern and classics, and a first (if you’re American second) floor with all kinds of special interest material will satisfy your needs.

Oh by the way, dear fellow reading addicts. If you’ve finished a book and have a craving for soup, I have a suggestion for you: check out the Limmatlädeli, they do not only offer delicious soup but they have also a take-one-leave-one bookshelve. Maybe you’re lucky and find something you like.

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Orell Füssli: The Bookshop | Shopping
Bahnhofstrasse 70 | Kreis 1 City | +41442110444
Mon – Fri 09:00 – 20:00, Sat 09:00 – 17:00

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Image by Roman Rey

From the outside, the Zähringer looks pretty inconspicuous. There’s not much that indicates that this is not quite an ordinary Café. But this is not quite an ordinary café. Beginning with the ownership: The Zähringer is self-governing, which means everyone who works there is partly owner and has a say in everything that happens. So the girl who serves you coffee there is basically part of the executive board.

The Zähringer is a good place to drink coffee, but also to eat lunch or dinner. If you care about the environment, you’ll like this: All the food is freshly prepared and most of it organic. Most of it because the Zähringer-Collective favors regional products (even if not organic) over products that have traveled around the whole globe. Normally you can choose between a yummy vegetarian, a vegan and a carnivoric (yes, that’s how they call it) meal.

And it’s not just food, there’s culture too. The place originated in the heated eighties and had a lot going on: Concerts, readings, exhibitions and so on. Nowadays it’s a little calmer, but there are still cultural events several times a month. Interested? Stop by, have a homemade ice tea and check out the programme.

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Café Zähringer | Art & culture, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks, Restaurants (Organic)
Zähringerplatz 11 | Kreis 1 City | +41442520500
Mon 18:00 – 00:00, Tue – Sun 08:00 – 00:00

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Image by Roman Rey

I don’t know what it’s like in your hometown, but here most bigger bookshops have a Café where you can sit down and rest from the tiring bookshopping. Now I’ve even seen Starbucks built in Bookstore. That’s just… well, I won’t go there now.

Anyway, the Spheres is kind of like this – except it’s different. Because the Spheres is not a Bookshop with a Café in it, it’s a Café with a Bookshop in it. Or at least both equally.So if you want to have a coffee in an inspiring atmosphere, go to the spheres, order something to drink and take a book to skim through – if you speak German. Unfortunately, you won’t find English books there.

Something I haven’t told you yet: The Café and Bookshop, that’s not all. From time to time, at least once a week, one part of this place turns into a stage for book-readings or discussions where people are invited to take part in. For example in winter there’s a monthly event called “Science Bar” where top-scientists answer burning questions about modern science. No, not a lecture, but an unforced discussion with the guest.

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Spheres | Art & culture, Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Coffee CHF 4.50
Hardturmstrasse 66 | Kreis 5 Industrie | +41444406622
Mon – Fri 08:00 – 00:00, Sat – Sun 09:30 – 19:30

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