More than 1,700 restaurants and bars serve both traditional Zürich and Swiss dishes as well as exotic specialties. The evenings will leave you spoilt for choice: indoors or outdoors, anything is possible as far as the nightlife in Zürich goes.

The bread available in Zürich is generally delicious. Try grilled Bratwurst from street stands, served with a large crusty roll of sourdough bread and optional mustard, or sandwiches made with fresh baked Bretzeln (large, soft pretzels). Common Swiss bread is the Zopf, braided soft bread that is commonly served on Sundays (the other name for it is Sonntagszopf).

The quintessential Zürich dish is Zürigschnätzlets, veal in a cream and wine sauce. Various kinds of grilled Wurst (sausages) are also popular. These are most often accompanied by boiled potatoes, Rösti, a Swiss potato pancake (grated potato, formed into a pancake then pan-fried until crisp in butter or oil) or Spätzle (small noodle dumplings).

Supermarket Chains
Supermarket chains in Switzerland are not usually open on Sundays.

Migros – This chain of supermarkets (in fact a cooperative) provides pretty good price/quality but be aware that Migros does not sell cigarettes or alcoholic beverages. Brand name products are rare as the chain does their own brands (quality is good, so you don’t have to mind). Migros stores can be spotted by a big, orange Helvetica letter “M” sign. The number of “M” letters indicates the size of the store and the different services available – a single “M” is usually a smaller grocery store, a double M (“MM”) may be larger and sells other goods like clothing, and a MMM is a full department store with household goods and possibly electronics and sporting goods.

Coop – Also a cooperative, but a bit more expensive than Migros. Sells all major brands, as well as cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. Come at the end of the day to get half-priced salads and sandwiches. Coop City is usually a department store with a Coop grocery store inside (similar to Super Wal-Mart in the USA, at least in concept).

Coop Pronto – a convenience store branch of Coop, usually open late (at least 20:00) seven days a week.

Denner – another discount grocery store, noticeable for their red signs and store interiors. Relatively low priced.

Pick-Pay – another discount grocery. Yellow logo.

Manor – the Manor department stores often have a grocery store on the underground level.