Geneva
Switzerland’s second largest city after Zurich, Geneva is home to one of the country’s liveliest food and wine cultures. Its fortunate situation on both Lac Léman (the local name for Lake Geneva) and the Rhone River provides spectacular outdoor activities, the freshest local fish, and vineyards that cover most of the lake’s western slopes up to nearby Canton Vaud. Finding a great meal in Geneva is as easy as walking out the door of your hotel (or not even leaving it in some cases), though some fine tables are sprinkled throughout the countryside surrounding the city. The following are all favorites – places I’ve visited repeatedly over the years. Some of the newer suggestions were provided by my friends at Geneva Tourism who have always carefully recommended the best of what their international city has to offer.
Note: All addresses are in the city of Geneva unless otherwise stated.
Elegant Dining in Cologny
Just a little outside the center of Geneva lies the elegant residential suburb of Cologny, home to one of the city’s finest tables, the Lion d’Or. Chefs/owners Tommy Byrne and Gilles Dupont offer a selection of traditional Geneva dishes and international fare (with a slight Asian accent) that has kept Geneva residents and visitors returning for years. Byrne, originally from Ireland, has a humorous approach to his presentations – I remember having a poached fish dish several years ago with perfectly cut (and delicious) rectangles and cubes of vegetables that transformed the plate into a Mondrian-like design. Recent menu items include sweetbreads with sweet corn and hazelnuts, marinated crab and scallops with a lime emulsion, and a quince and almond tart with quince sorbet. This is the perfect place for an important celebration meal during any visit to Geneva
Restaurant du Lion d’Or
Place Pierre-Gautier 5
Cologny-Geneva
Phone: 011 4122 736 4432
E-mail: info@liondor.chwww.liondor.ch 
Hotel Dining
One of Geneva’s finest hotels, the Mandarin Oriental (formerly the Hotel du Rhone), is home to two great restaurants, a Michelin one-star table called Rasoi by Vineet featuring Indian food and Le Sud, with a Mediterranean-inspired menu. Both restaurants sport ultra-contemporary Adam Tihany-designed interiors. Rasoi is guided by Chef Vineet Bhatia, the first to bring a Michelin star to an Indian restaurant. Le Sud is a Paul Bocuse concept, a little more casual than Rasoi, and Chef Remi Vercelli is at the range there. The French incursion here isn’t at all jarring, especially because Geneva and its countryside were once part of Burgundy, the ancient French province in which Bocuse’s first restaurant is located. Both new to me, I can recommend them with full confidence in the perfection of every detail at the hotel where I’ve had the pleasure to stay on several visits to Geneva.
Mandarin Oriental Geneva
Quai Turrettini 1
Phone: 011 4122 909 0000
E-mail: mogva-enquiry@mohg.com www.mandarinoriental.com/geneva/
A Geneva Classic
When Arthur Dupont, proprietor of a brasserie in Geneva, married the daughter of another Geneva restaurateur, she brought with her the unlikely dowry of a recipe for her father’s herb butter to accompany grilled meats. Eventually Dupont decided to cease serving anything but the grilled steak topped with his father-in-law’s invention. Today the entrecote (sirloin steak) and its accompanying sauce have become a worldwide sensation with branches of the restaurant as far afield as Dubai.
Not much choice is necessary when you have lunch or dinner at the Café de Paris – the menu is the same every day, and Geneva residents and visitors alike never seem to tire of it. You start with a tender green salad with a sprightly dressing. Next comes the famous entrecote, grilled to your liking, and generously topped with the aromatic butter. Your waiter sets the patter with the sliced steak and its butter on a tabletop burner and the idea is to baste the pieces of steak as it starts to gently simmer in the melted butter. Don’t worry about the entrecote becoming overdone – they deliberately grill it to a temperature a little less than what you order so it will withstand further heating at the table. Along with the steak comes a platter of exquisitely crisp shoestring potatoes. For dessert, you can choose among apple tart, caramel custard or ice cream. We had a delicate vanilla ice cream with a warm chocolate sauce – just a spoonful was enough after the rich, buttery steak. Don’t miss this one the next time you are in Geneva, it’s really a part of the local gastronomic history.
Café de Paris
Rue du Mont Blanc 26
CH 1201 Geneva
Phone: 011 4122 732 8450www.cafe-de-paris.ch
Casual Geneva
Right across from the Gare des Eaux Vives, a tiny train station on a line that brings commuters in from France, is a jewel of Geneva hospitality. The Café-Restaurant des Voyageurs serves local Geneva specialties in a classic bistro setting. Early twentieth century advertising and travel posters crowd the walls, and in good weather there is also seating on the outdoor terrace. Open from early in the morning (those commuters want their croissants and café au lait) until late in the evening, the restaurant is a little corner of Paris right in Geneva.
Owner Jean-Luc Leroux has been at the restaurant’s helm for fifteen years and he has managed to create a welcoming and casual ambience with no compromises on the quality of the food and wine.
I enjoyed a lovely salad with bits of smoky bacon and meltingly heated Tomme Vaudoise cheese, a specialty you’ll find often in Geneva, but done to absolute perfection here. There are also salads of duck breast with foie gras, crayfish tails with walnut oil, and a bracingly fresh salmon tartare with horseradish dressing. My main course was a superb filet of lamb done with olive oil and herbs and accompanied by potato croquettes and summer vegetables. Other offerings include shredded chicken with morel mushrooms, roast veal with a thyme sauce and local lake perch meuniere. I couldn’t resist the nougat glacé, a frozen confection of meringue, cream and roasted almonds, served with a red berry sauce. Other dessert selections run from orange salad with candied orange zest through a delicious and classic chocolate mousse, to a local specialty, fromage blanc a la crème – a mild white cream cheese served with cream, with a little sugar on the side if you wish to add it.
Swiss and French wines are available by the carafe or by the bottle, and there is also an interesting selection of fruit eaux-de-vie.
Café-Restaurant des Voyageurs, closed Sundays
Avenue de la Gare-des-Eaux-Vives 6
CH-1207 Geneva
Phone: 022 735 5898
Not far from the international district and the center of Geneva is another bistro worth trying. The Café du Soleil is well known for its traditional Geneva specialties as well as for its all-Gruyere fondue with a strong hint of garlic. The menu also features grilled steaks; lake fish (one winter offering is a pike perch with sauerkraut), ramequin, a sort of inside-out toasted cheese sandwich; and Malakoffs, those addictive cheese fritters served with pickled cucumbers and onions. The Soleil has long been a gathering spot for politically-inclined Geneva residents, but none of their discussions have ever marred anyone’s enjoyment of the food in this more than 400 year old establishment. Don’t miss this casual spot the next time you’re in Geneva – it’s almost worth a special trip.
Café du Soleil
Place du Petit Saconnex 6
Phone 011 4122 733 3417
E-mail: info@cafedusoleil.ch (no reservations via e-mail)www.cafedusoleil.ch
If you want a short break between sight seeing and shopping in Geneva, Stop in at Boulevard du Vin, a casual and cheerful wine bar right in the center of the city. Robert and Julien Guelpa have created a perfect place for a glass of crisp Vaudois wine and a little snack at the end of a busy day.
Choose from dozens of wines available by the glass – I sipped a couple of local whites while nibbling on very good saucisson and a bit of cheese. And don’t worry if you don’t know a thing about Swiss wine – the friendly staff will help you make a good selection.
Boulevard du Vin
Boulevard Georges-Favon 1-3
CH-1204 Geneva
Phone: 022 310 9190
Fax: 022 310 9192
E-mail: rguelpa@boulevard-du-vin.chwww.boulevard-du-vin.ch
Outside the City
Besides being a large city, Geneva is also a canton, Switzerland’s equivalent of a state, comprising 45 separate municipalities. Several of them, including Cologny and Carouge, are close to the city.
Magali and Philippe Chevrier are the proprietors of one of my favorite places in the Geneva countryside. Their friendly bistro, the Café des Negociants is in Carouge, a picturesque town of the Geneva countryside founded in 1786 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia, an ancestor of the Savoias, the royal family of Italy.
Chef Sullivan Breton prepares a varied menu of Geneva specialties and bistro favorites including paté of pheasant and foie gras, wild mushrooms with confit of shallots and a rucola salad, casserole of monkfish with artichokes and piquillo peppers, and breast of Barbary duck with a crisp potato cake and baby vegetables. Save room for desserts such as warm chocolate cake with peach sorbet, quince and citrus soup with lemon pound cake, and pear custard with caramel and salted butter ice cream. Try to make it for lunch so you can explore Carouge, sometimes jokingly referred to as the Greenwich Village of Geneva.
Café des Negociants
Rue de la Filature 29
Carouge-Geneva
Phone: 011 4122 300 3130
E-mail: info@negociants.ch (no reservations via e-mail) www.negociants.ch
If you go to Carouge don’t miss Francois Wolfisberg’s prize-winning pastry shop and bread bakery, Boulangerie-Confiserie Wolfisberg. Started by his parents, Francois and Myrtha Wolfisberg in 1961, the shop continues to thrive and now offers thirty-odd varieties of bread as well as a full complement of both individual and larger pastries, desserts and cakes. Young Monsieur Wolfisberg was a winner of the Coupe du Monde de Boulangerie (World Cup of Bread Baking) in 1999 and he continues to enter competitions with his excellent work
Don’t miss the excellent fig bread or another studded with raisins and walnuts. There is also a dried tomato bread and a focaccia with red peppers and another with eggplant topping. There is also a torsade – a white and rye braid; St. Gallen Bread, half white and half whole wheat and an epi (wheat sheaf shape) with sesame and poppy seeds. Add the selection of great desserts and pastries and you’ll only need a piece of cheese and a bottle of wine for the perfect picnic.
Boulangerie-Patisserie Wolfisberg
5 Place du Temple
Carouge-Geneva
Phone: 011 4122 342 3219www.wolfisberg.org
The Best Chocolates in Geneva
Close to 40 years ago Hans Rohr’s wife nagged him to make a unique Geneva specialty. After much thinking, he decided to reproduce the city’s distinctive (and immaculate) refuse bins in chocolate. They are cup-shaped chocolate shells with covers that hide a silky chocolate truffle-like filling, unlike the filling of their namesakes! The actual filling is made from chocolate, sugar, corn syrup, and cream – not bad no matter how you mix it. Les Poubelles de Geneve, as they are called, are an amusing local specialty and will certainly surprise anyone you take them to as a gift. Rohr has two locations in Geneva, so you can take your pick for picking up a few garbage cans to take home.
Chocolats Rohr
Place du Molard 3
CH-1204 Geneva
Phone and fax: 022 311 6303
Also Rue du Rhone 42
Galerie Centrale
CH-1204 Geneva
Phone and fax: 022 311 6876
E-mail: rohr@chocolat.chwww.chocolats-rohr.ch
Wines of Geneva Canton
The Rhone River frames the wine growing area of the Geneva canton up to the Jura mountains on its right bank and down to the Arve River. Long known as an area of fine wines, Geneva’s production concentrates on the use of the Chasselas and Gamay grapes. There is also some use of Chardonnay, Aligoté (both white) and Pinot Noir (red) grapes in the area.
The wine growing area of the canton is divided into three distinct regions:
Mandement: The Right Bank – Largest of the regions, this one produces two-thirds of the canton’s wine.
Entre Arve et Rhone: This area between the two rivers is to the west of the city of Geneva. The flinty soil is host to over twenty separate growing areas.
Entre Arve et Lac: Between the Arve river and Lake Geneva, this area is also dotted with small wheat and other farms. Some of the vineyards actually overlook the city of Geneva.
Geneva’s two official Appelation d’Origine wines (type of wine coupled with the commune of its growth and vinification) are a white and a red:
Perlan is the white and it is made from Chasselas grapes. Dry, floral and slightly sparkling, Perlan makes a great aperitif or an excellent combination with fish or oysters.
Gamay de Geneve is the red and it is made from Gamay grapes. Fruity, refreshing and complex, it is meant to be drunk on the cool side. Great with meats and cheeses, it is also a perfect red wine for warm weather.
Recipe: Ramequin
The name of this recipe can mean several different things, one of the best of which is this baked bread, cheese, and custard dish. It’s a perfect lunch with a green salad and also makes a great brunch dish.
Makes one 1 1/2-quart gratin, about 4 servings
1 small loaf French or Italian bread, sliced about 1/2-inch thick
8 ounces thinly sliced Swiss Gruyere
3 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
Salt, freshly ground pepper, and nutmeg for seasoning
3 tablespoons unsalted butter for topping
One 1 1/2-quart gratin dish or other baking dish, well buttered
- Seat a rack in the upper level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
- Arrange the bread and cheese in alternating overlapping slices in the prepared dish.
- Whisk together the remaining ingredients, except the butter and pour over the bread and cheese.
- Dot with the butter.
- Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the custard is set.
- Serve immediately.
