Zurich

So I'm back from Zurich... with lots of Chocolate, probably gonna take me a few months and a few LBs to consume them all. There are really two things you can call cheap in Zurich: Milk and Chocolate. Milk there tastes better than milk I've had anywhere else, yep, better than what we have in the US of A, no wonder they have world-reknown chocolate and spectacular cheese. Other than that, the cost of living is sky high in the most well-known city of Switzerland. Mercedes Benz are all over the street, except they're taxis for hail. FYI, Zurich is not the Capital of Switzerland. I believe that honor goes to a small town called Bern not far from Zurich. The exchange rate from US dollar to Swiss franc is close to 1:1 (to be specific, we exchanged $400 USD for $396 CHF), but for comparison's sake, let's assume it's 1:1.

 

My palate is truly blessed as I live in New York where there's no shortage of delicious cheap eats. To give you an idea of how expensive things are in Zurich, the $1.25 for 4 pork buns in Flushing near the #7 train will cost you $11 in Zurich. 7 small steamed veggie dumplings (smaller than the $1 for 5 type of fried dumplings in Chinatown or $1.25 for 4 type in Flushing) will set you back another $11. And the pork buns and veggie dumplings aforementioned all come from a small Dim Sum place close to my hotel (I stayed at the Marriott in city center, yuck, expensive) that the locals dubbed it as one of the best cheap eats in Zurich. To me, they don't taste all that good and is certainly far from being cheap. Those who know me, I have an extremely healthy appetite, almost in a scary way. In other words, I can eat, especially on the road. I spent 4 days in Zurich, and I think I had about 10 wursts (Swiss version of sausages) since they're large enough to fill me up and are among the cheapest street-stand food in Zurich (about $7).

 

Of course, I didn't travel across the Atlantic Ocean to skimp on food, I did dine at Zeughauskeller, a place recommended by many on the web that serves up local specialties at affordable prices. Let's see, my order consisted of Hungarian goulash soup, pork shank, and Kalbsgeschnetzeltes (essentially just sliced veal and mushroom in a creamy white wine sauce served with 'Rosti', the menu says it's a must try when in Zurich). So 1 soup and 2 entries, tap water, no complimentary bread basket like what we're used to in the great US of A cost us $80. Not terrible I will say, but my verdict on the food is: too salty, I can do better in NYC. I guess I'm not used to Swiss cuisine, I'll stick to the Chilliwurst at the central train station.

 

On my last day of my stay in Zurich, I decided to load up on food before heading to the airport as I'm not expecting much from the my flight back to NYC. So a brunch consisted of 1 order of pork buns, 1 order of veggie dumplings, 1 order of chilliwurst. Ka-Ching, $29 bucks of food right there. I tried the Dim Sum place mainly because of my curiosity. My interpretation on Dim Sum is really those Morning Tea sessions at a Cantonese restaurant, and should include items such as Har Gow (shrimp dumplings), Siu Mai, congee, chicken feet, etc... It turned out this place only have buns and veggie dumplings, not even tiny juicy buns/soup dumplings, what a big let down. You have to know that after 3 days of wursts, I was really looking forward to some quality Chinese eats. Oh well, it really makes me appreciate the abundance of good tasting cuisines we have in NYC and reminds me again just how spoiled I am to have access to all these foods and still complain there's nothing to eat from time to time. What a Brat! Now I truly understand the pain and feel for all those people who live in the Midwest (or middle of nowhere), especially those with a Chinese (or in this case Asian) stomach.

 

No trip is complete without souvenirs. So what did I bring back? You guessed it! Things you can put in your mouth. In addition to lots of chocolate, extra fine milk and dark as per my momma's request, I also went to the famous Confiserie Sprungli and got some Luxemburgerli and limited edition truffles. Granted, they're pricey, but hey who knows when I'll be back in Zurich.

 

Allah, I did done more than just eating in Zurich. I visited a couple of historic sites, churches, buildings, architectural structures, witnessed a wedding @ lindenhof, toured the shopping district, took a stroll along the Limmat river as well as got on a boat to cruise the Zurich river, even unsuccessfully went to look for a gay bar, yep Zurich has a very sizable gay population. But I'm sure these have been covered by all the touristy guides out there, so I should just limit myself to what I'm most fond about: FOOD! Oh FYI, almost all the stores in Zurich are closed on sundays, but there usually will be some kind of street fairs, I caught myself in one of them.

 

P.S: Oh yeah forgot to mention, public restrooms ain't free in Zurich, it'll cost you $1 to get into the facility and it's super clean. Wow, we need that in China and India. Also, it's weird to see alot of the supermarket cashier ladies are Chinese, interesting... And I do love the curry potato chips I got there, taste different but delish nevertheless. 

                                                                                                     

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