Neighbourhood Fondue /zurAteChäsi

Y (May '23)

SCORE: Suck it and see

Order: Fondue

VALUE: 35 CHF for one with 2 beers

I was feeling an overwhelming sense of FoMo on my Swiss visit this time. Although I wasn't in Gruyere long (just a drive lengthwise through the canton), I missed out on a good cheese fondue. Uetilberg ended up having a closed cheese fondue venue, and tried my first meat fondue. So I wanted to scratch that itch, and right after I checked in at my airport hotel on my way out, I looked for what was a good cheese fondue in the neighbourhood of the Zurich airport

The location was weird in a neighborhood which I couldn't decide if it was their equivalent of "the projects" or not. It's got a main entrance, and a Tavern like area at the front, and a nice little garden terrace in the back. When the weather is good, like it was when I visited, they open up the garden, and they encourage you to sit out back by the grill.


The (summer?) menu has a front page of fondue, and then a bunch of grills and typical swiss mountain options. I was here for one thing and one thing alone... so I ordered the fondue for 2. i mean who can say no to a pot of cheese.

Fondue was exactly as expected, wine-y, gooey, and nicely soaked up by the dry stale bread that it was served with. I learnt two very valuable lessons... first, Do not use fresh warm bread for fondue. It doesn't have the structural integrity to bear the load of a good helping / dipping of cheese. Second, do not put the fondue seasoning directly into the pot. That is horrendously salty, and will ruin your whole pot if you are exhuberant in your seasoning.

They're run by these two lovely ladies, one handling the cooking the other handling the guest interactions and drinking with the guests. You will definitely have a better experience if your party has someone who can speak SchweizzerDeutsch. They are friendly and want to chat, but my pace of reply in German was sorely lacking.

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