Image by Christine Syrad

“Wir arbeiten hier nicht modern, sondern mit Gefühl”. This quote by Ruedi Stäheli on the front page of their website pretty much sums up my experience at this special steak house – it’s certainly not modern but the place emanates emotion from every square inch of its décor. The first time I set foot in there I felt like I’d stepped onto a film set – partially because the waiter serving us had such a peculiar air about him. He was perfectly nice but there was something about his mannerisms that kept having me think, “is this for real?”

It all adds to the experience though and although old school dining scenes are not where I usually feel most at ease, this place has a different edge to it that doesn’t make you feel out of place the way you would if you walked into Chanel wearing sneakers!

The food is exquisite and while it doesn’t look like much when it’s placed in front of you, don’t let that fool you! The Café de Paris sauce my steak was swimming in was sublime and the non-stop supply of pomme allumettes ensured I soaked up every drop.

If you’re on the lookout for a meaty dish but you don’t want the mucho bravado that often comes with steakhouses, then this is your place, well, actually, it’s my special place now, but I’m willing to share!

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La Cote | Restaurants (French) | Whole meal CHF 80
Aemtlerstrasse 26 | Kreis 3 Wiedikon | +41442419191
Mon – Fri 11:00 – 15:00 & 18:00 – 00:00, Sat 18:00 – 00:00

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Image by Christine Syrad

Sunday Brunching is one thing I’ve tried and tested many times here in Zurich and I’ve seen that some places do food better than others while others offer better atmospheres. Piazza is one of the places you go to for the atmosphere, although the food’s not half bad either. Just make sure you book yourself a spot since, as is often the case here in Zurich, brunch tends to be a busy ordeal and there’s nothing more heartbreaking on a Sunday than turning up to your favourite place only to find it’s booked out…again. If you do miss the boat, you can always come back for an afternoon snack or beers in the evening!

What I love about this place is its location – I think it’s safe to say that Idaplatz is still a little bit of a hidden gem buried in a residential part of town. In the summer it boasts a crowd of fun-loving people who happily rest their tight-jean-wearing bums on the benches while sipping on beers bought at the kiosk. When it’s still too early for beers you can sit in one of the charming bars lining the square, Piazza being one of them.

Some people describe the piazza as making you feel like you’re elsewhere in Europe and while I agreed at first, I now think it’s actually very typical of the relaxed side of Zurich visitors to the city tend to oversee because they expect it to be nothing more than a finance hub.

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Piazza | Bars, Coffee & tea, Relaxing | Large brunch CHF 24
Idaplatz 2 | Kreis 3 Wiedikon | +41445589529
Tue – Sat 09:00 – 00:00, Sun 10:00 – 18:00

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Image by Christine Syrad

Since moving to Zurich I find that rather than stick a slice of bread in the toaster I am willing to go the extra mile on the weekends and venture over to a bakery to buy myself some freshly baked gipfeli (the Swiss German word for croissants).

There are three bakeries near my house, the other two being 200m closer to me but I always make a point of going the extra (1/8 of a) mile to this place. The gipfelis are astoundingly good – they’re buttery and extra crispy, which I’m pretty sure has got to be a hard combination to perfect! In addition, since it’s a Greek bakery, they offer an amazing array of Mediterranean looking sweets.

You have to go early though or hope that when you get there they’ve just pulled their latest batch out of the oven because these babies sell out fast!

I have to say, I always used to walk past this place without giving it a second thought as there are bakeries galore in Zurich. It wasn’t until we were out of bread on a Sunday that I discovered it and I’ve never looked back. Yes, that’s right, it’s actually open on a Sunday!

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Artos | Snacks
Bremgartnerstrasse 66 | Kreis 3 Wiedikon
Mon – Fri 06:30 – 18:30, Sat 06:30 – 13:00, Sun 07:00 – 12:00

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Image by Ajuni

Fog, rain, freezing temperatures and the occasional snow are frequent Zurich visitors in winter. And have I mentioned the gray, foggy days that prevail for much of the season? There simply is no better cure for the Zurich winter blues than a steaming hot, hearty pot of soup, and Petit Saigon serves a particularly tasty version.

Vietnamese cuisine probably isn’t quite as well-known as its cousins from China, Thailand and Japan but in Zurich Petit Saigon has gone some way to rectifying this. You can choose from a wide range of curries, spring and summer rolls, rice and noodle dishes to eat in or take away.

I would like to be able to tell you whether the other dishes at Petit Saigon are any good, but unfortunately I have never managed to get past their beef noodle soup. At 19.50 it ain’t cheap, but it’s a perfectly filling large pot of delicious homemade broth, filled to the brink with meat and veg. You get Thai basil, bean sprouts and a lime on a separate plate to add to the soup, and may help yourself to chillies and condiments at your own discretion to suit your palate (and heat tolerance).

You’ll leave Petit Saigon feeling all toasty, full and ready to face whatever the Zurich winter might throw at you next – how about a few dreary days of thick fog?

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Petit Saigon | Snacks, Restaurants (Vietnamese) | Beef noodle soup CHF 19.50
Birmensdorferstrasse 126 | Kreis 3 Wiedikon
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 23:00

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Image by Miltiadis Sarakinos

What comes to mind when you think of Indian food? I personally fantasize about tandoori and curry, chicken and shrimp. I crave those delicious sauces expanding over the basmati rice. The connoisseur would not put too much sauce on the rice, he would try to spread the flavor without softening the rice excessively. And the hedonist would maximize pleasure by ordering the tandoori chicken as appetizer and then the Malay Curry shrimp as a main course.

Only for three of my ten years in Zurich was I lucky to have an office downtown. Back then, King’s Curry was one of the places that made the ritual of lunch break a real pleasure. Lunch buffet (all you can eat) is available on workdays but the best day to go is Friday. For some reason, even an Indian restaurant follows the catholic tradition of serving fish on Fridays. So on Fridays I was sure about savoring my favorite dish. And on Fridays I could afford the less productive afternoon, an inevitable consequence of the excessive food intake.

In any case: to enjoy a buffet, follow the basic rules: Avoid rice, bread and other carbohydrates. Focus on the fish, meat, chicken etc. Do several rounds. Accompany with carbonated water.

Now that distance prohibits a lunch break, the option is dinner. I prefer the summer since there is a nice terrace. The setting is urban, you are facing the Wiedikon train station. The area offers several options for continuing after dinner: maybe a drink?

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King’s Curry | Restaurants (Indian) | Lunch Buffet CHF 28.50
Freyastrasse 3 | Kreis 3 Wiedikon
Mon – Fri 11:30 – 14:00 & 18:00 – 22:30, Sat 18:00 – 22:30

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Image by Ajuni

Caritas runs several charity shops in Zurich where people can donate and buy used clothes, shoes and household items. Three of them are located in Wiedikon, all within a stone’s throw of each other: a clothes store at Birmensdorferstrasse 52, a bargain clothes store and a shop selling bric-a-brac.

It goes without saying that the bargain store Caritas Kleider Netto at Birmensdorferstrasse 38 has the highest fun factor out of them all. Wacky and bold-coloured garments reign supreme here. To make browsing easier, clothes are lined up on racks and sorted by color.

In the yard you can donate your old clothes through a flap lid. This is charity and recycling in one neat little package.

Across the road at Birmensdorferstrasse 53, Kunst & Krempel is the closest you will get to a jumble sale this side of The Channel.

No matter which store you’ll go for, you can shop to your heart’s content at Caritas, safe in the knowledge that with your purchase you support their worthy cause, helping the poor and the needy in Switzerland and abroad.

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Caritas store | Shopping | Secondhand shoes CHF 3.00
Birmensdorferstrasse 38 | Kreis 3 Wiedikon
Tue – Fri 10:00 – 13:00 &14:00 – 18:30, Sat 10:00 – 16:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Zurich

Image by Ajuni

This café bar manages to be very homely, yet when describing it to people it sounds anything but. For a start, Sisu is decorated almost entirely in white, and the large windows let a lot of light in which adds to the brightness. Cars and lorries are constantly whizzing past, as Sisu is situated next to a busy thoroughfare. Some of its clientèle may come across as a little too cool for school.

None of this, however, should deter you from paying a visit here. Despite appearances to the contrary, the place is very friendly and immediately feels familiar, with its decor evoking a living room rather than a sterile operating theatre. Everybody here seems to know each other, albeit in a welcoming rather than a cliquey way.

Sit down on one of the sofas, grab a coffee and just look out the windows all afternoon. There really is nothing more relaxing than watching a constant flow of traffic, having found shelter in a cosy little café bar.

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Sisu | Bars, Coffee & tea | Cup of coffee CHF 4.50
Meinrad-Lienert-Strasse 1 | Kreis 3 Wiedikon
Tue – Fri 09:00 – 00:00, Sat – Sun 10:00 – 18:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Zurich

Image by Ajuni

At this small café / restaurant near Idaplatz, crêpes and galettes are the order of the day. They come in many variations, sweet or savory, and always with fresh, seasonal ingredients that keep changing. Soups and salads, cakes and homemade ice cream are also on the menu, and on Saturdays and Sundays they serve a hearty breakfast at Babette’s. Getting a table straightaway is a lucky streak at weekends, as the place is packed with locals, and you can’t book a table.

It’s a pretty, colorful place. I really like the interior, the old front door and the wooden counter, and the two rugs near the bar add a nice touch of homeliness.

This place takes a little piece of Bretagne straight to Zurich’s Kreis 3 and in the process, it comes across so effortlessly French it should really be called ‘Chez Babette’. All that is missing, really, is people shouting ‘Garçon!’ when trying to get the waiter’s attention.

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Bei Babette | Bars, Restaurants (French) | Savoury crêpe CHF 18.00
Bertastrasse 16 | Kreis 3 Wiedikon | +41433668502
Wed – Sun 10:00 – 00:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Zurich

Image by Ajuni

Although it has been around for four years, Pile of Books is a recent discovery. While gallivanting around the neighbourhood, I happened to notice a small shop front exhibiting English books. The shop itself looks very much like a flat, which is what it probably formerly was.

Pile of Books stocks an excellent range of English-language paperbacks: fiction and non-fiction, new and used, modern and classics. The shop’s small size is deceptive, as a large selection is available in store. Please take note of the somewhat erratic opening hours, or you may find yourself standing in front of a closed door.

What justification is there for a bookshop when there’s a plethora of online stores? For one, I do love the smell of books, and I love being able to take one out of the shelf and skim through it. Also, for all the genius algorithms behind “If you like this you will also like …”, nothing is as valuable as getting recommendations from a bookseller, and the guy at Pile of Books is happy to oblige.

Last but not least, there’s the instant gratification: you buy a book and can start reading it the second you walk out the store and continue your stroll through the neighbourhood.

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Pile of Books | Art & culture, Shopping
Zentralstrasse 16 | Kreis 3 Wiedikon
Tue – Fri 10:00 – 13:00 &15:00 – 19:00, Sat 10:00 – 17:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Zurich

Image by Zum Guten Glück

Zum Guten Glück (which is German for “fortunately” or literally “to the good fortune”) is open daily and offers a tasty range of sweet and savoury pancakes, waffles and freshly made ice-cream. If you’re in a hurry there is also a take-away service. The pancakes are wonderful! Unfortunately they took my favourite – with Bolognese – from the menu so please ask for it to get it back (thank you!).

The venue – a café during the day and a bar at night – is separated into two rooms. When you enter, a huge bar made of pure tin, handcrafted by a local artist, will catch your eye. Since the smoking ban, both rooms are non-smoking. The locale also offers five stylish rooms for a good price.

Zum Guten Glück is situated right at Weststrasse which used to be the motorway connection through the city – so a lot of traffic! Since May 2009, there is now a motorway that leads the traffic around the city and finally, in autumn 2011, the street was turned into a residential road with a maximum speed limit of 30 km/h.

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Zum Guten Glück | Bars, Coffee & tea, Restaurants (Pancakes) | Food CHF 9.00
Stationsstrasse 7 | Kreis 3 Wiedikon | +41435407299
Mon – Sat 09:00 – 00:00, Sun 09:00 – 20:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Zurich