Switzerland is more famous for cheese than for vegetarian specialities, but Zürich has some excellent veggie restaurants. The most famous is the Hiltl, founded over a hundred years ago. Most of the vegetarian restaurants in Zürich serve mainly lacto-ovo-vegetarian food, so vegans should check with the staff for vegan options.
Hiltl and Tibits
Hiltl (Sihlstrasse 28) is Switzerland’s oldest vegetarian restaurant. First opened in 1898, Hiltl is still run by the same family and is one of the most famous vegetarian restaurants in Zürich. The lacto-ovo-vegetarian and vegan foods are high quality and a selection of beers and wines is available. Hiltl serves a breakfast buffet during weekdays, a la carte and buffet all day and a Sunday brunch. Favoured by the rich and the famous, Hiltl is extremely popular. To book tables, call 044 227 70 00. Hiltl also has a cooking school and has published its own cookbook.
Hiltl is also one of the owners of the Tibits chain of vegetarian restaurants, cafés and takeaways. Located on Seefeldstrasse 2, Tibits offers lacto-vegetarian and vegan foods, salads, snacks, fresh juices, coffees and other drinks. You can select from a wide variety of foods from the self-service buffet and pay by weight, and take it out or eat in the café. The range of foods on offer is excellent and so is the quality.
More Veggie Eateries
Pot au Vert (Limmatquai 142, in Hotel Limmathof, 044 267 6040) serves lacto-ovo-vegetarian foods and has a salad bar. Ask for vegan dishes. Pot au Vert is closed on the weekend.
Conveniently located at the Zürich main train station, Restaurant Bona Dea (Bahnhofplatz 15, 044 2171515) offers lacto-ovo-vegetarian and vegan foods from around the world including a wide selection of Asian foods, salads and fruit juices.
Samses (Langstrasse 231, 044 4401313) has vegetarian and vegan friendly foods and serves a buffet as well as an a la carte menu. Takeaways are also available, and there is a good selection of drinks and coffees.
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6 responses to “How to find a Veggie Restaurant in Zurich”
Report an inappropriate commentSeptember 8th, 2010 at 12:15 am
I am not but my hubby is, when we were is Zurich had a very hard time getting food for him, had to survive on cheese and bread and salads for a week, what was funny was as we went around the country and went to places in Lugano and some other places where most people could not speak english and the menu was either in French or Italian we had pantomine our way to make them understand vegetarian means well vegeatarian, no meat, no fish..
September 8th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Speaking english is practical, but not compulsory!
September 8th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
So true Rosa..
Sharmistha, that sounds like a nightmare! Was this recently?
September 8th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
It was in Jan of 2004 predating the time of blackberries, [did venere exist then} etc and since we were on our honeymoon did not think it necessary to lug our laptops. Never occurred to us that there are many parts of Europe where people do not understand English [this was our first ever European trip] Having lived in NY for so many years where language and food is not a problem.
But to be honest although food was a problem for my husband, he is very laid back and did not let that get in the way of our time in Switzerland [I was more unhappy than him].But Europe has also changed in the last couple of years, vegetarian is becoming hip so to speak, so on the most part in our later travels it hasnt been a problem, mostly because we know its not going to be readily available in off the beaten tracks.
Look forward to going back to Zurch and trying these places out
September 9th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
That’s the right spirit Sharmistha! Unfortunately some places are even worse than others when it comes to speaking english, but it’s a problem that goes back to education and culture of these countries…Vegetarian has definitely become more hip, although to some extent it is true that there is more awareness!
December 3rd, 2010 at 6:55 pm
well, if you really want to be healthy, i believe that veggan foods are the best :.,
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