Restaurant of the Month February 2012

Mere Catherine, Im Naegelihof 3, Zurich
http://www.commercio.ch/e/mere-catherine/

This restaurant is hidden away in the French corner of Zurich's old town. It has a Mediterranean atmosphere with its bistro, gallery and salon seating areas and features typical French cuisine at affordable prices. Every lunchtime you can try from two menus of the day plus a vegi menu and a special dish as well as traditional dishes such as moules. In the evening, the atmosphere is more intimate. Good place to try after a film at the nearby Arthouse Movie cinema.

The staff are friendly and welcoming, the seating is not too crowded, and single diners feel as comfortable as larger groups. The house wine list is also quite extensive. A two course lunch with a glass of wine and a coffee costs less than CHF35. They also cater for parties, and in summer you can sit outside.

For a bit of French atmosphere in the German part of Switzerland, the Mere Catherine is very pleasant.

Im Viadukt market in Zurich West is worth a visit

Yesterday I organised a tour for two ZIWA Interest Groups - Discovering Zurich and Switzerland and Dining Around the World, to this market under the railway arches in Josefstrasse, Zuri West, beside Dammweg tram stop (take tram 4, 13 or 17). This unpromising part of town has been transformed by a project which provides subsidised housing as well as a niche shopping arcade and Zurich's first covered food market. 25 ZIWA ladies enjoyed an informative tour of the site from project manager Claudio Fetz, including a bird's eye view over the roof, followed by a cheese tasting with wine provided by the British Cheese stand which has a lucrative site in the food hall. Hot toddy and Godminster Cheddar warmed our cockles after a chiily walkabout. See links on the right.

Underneath the arches is a newly-designed shopping centre

As the PWG project documentation states,

'Year-round market freshness
IM VIADUKT combines the individual resources of more than sixty specialist shops, studios and social and cultural amenities. The heart of this exceptional 500-metre-long building is the city of Zurich’s first market hall. Here around twenty local farmers and grocers bring their fresh produce to market while permanent shops, built under nine of the viaduct arches, have opened their doors to customers. Gone are the days when rain and cold dampened your zest for shopping. Zurich’s first ever market hall holds treats in store for you six days a week. Actually the restaurant at the rear is open daily, all year round.

British Cheese stand in the covered market at Im Viadukt

'Arch after arch stretches from the market hall all the way to the SBB railway tracks. With 39 arches to choose from, variety is inbuilt: IM VIADUKT boasts a cheerful mix of shops, stallholders and traders. Their common denominator is that they serve the highly varied demands of this locality. Under the soaring round arches, shops and studios offer trendy fashion, accessories, furniture, rarities for bookworm and music buff. Vital add-on amenities are a crèche, a restaurant, a coffee bar, a tango club … Everything you need for browsing, shopping, fun, eating and drinking is right here.'


Julia Newton, 20 November 2011, updated 9 June 2012

What's this?

This is my new blog. It will contain tips on what to do and see in Switzerland, how to survive and enjoy life here, what's going on at the moment and lots more. New items are posted at the front; scroll down for older posts.