“The smell of warming cheese and wine, mellowed with the heat, rose languorously toward their faces, and they all found themselves leaning forward, hypnotized by the smell and the soft bubbling below them.” ~Erica Bauermeister, The School of Essential Ingredients
“That’s too much food.” ~our server at Swiss Chuchi in Zurich
“Extra cheese, please.” ~usually, my request for almost anything with cheese
Wow, Erica Bauermeister’s description of fondue is quite beautiful, romantic even. I don’t disagree with her. I didn’t really disagree with our server on Saturday night either. But that didn’t stop us.
After all, I’m usually always about the extra cheese.
Fondue. Truth be told I’ve had it twice before. Once at someone’s house, and once at a trendy popular restaurant chain back home. (I think everyone knows the one.)
Fondue in Switzerland, though? That’s the kind of thing one has food bucket lists for, and so I added it to my own food list when I knew we were coming to Switzerland. One doesn’t have to be a genius to add “have fondue” on the Swiss travel to-do list, of course, but I’m still glad I did think of it, and then indeed write it down.
It was decided that we’d have fondue early on a Saturday night here in Zurich. First reason, the restaurant wouldn’t be crowded and it was easy to make a somewhat last minute reservation (earlier that day), and second—and probably most important—it would be easier to handle since I planned to eat a lot of the stuff! Eating early would give us plenty of time to walk around the city after dinner, but before bed. A good idea when one is full of melted cheese and wine. Again, not exactly a genius move but I’m glad I think of these kinds of things!
We’ve been in Zurich for about a week now, and have been enjoying a great stay at Hotel Adler. One of the great things about the hotel is that Swiss Chuchi, this great fondue and raclette (Raclette! More on that in another post!) restaurant is actually in the same building! Coincidence? I think not. I made the hotel reservation after all.
We’ve been having breakfast in the restaurant each morning, and we knew that we’d eventually be coming back some evening for fondue and/or raceltte. And so early Saturday night would be when our cheese dreams would come true. 5 p.m. really couldn’t happen fast enough for me…
You might not know, but fondue is usually a shared meal, a shared experience. They bring you this big crock of melted cheese—that they add wine to, by the way—a few fondue forks, some bowls of bread, maybe some plates of veggies or meats, and you share the crock with your friends, family or the new mates you just met on the ski slopes. You each take turns dipping your bread cube into the crock and if you drop said bread cube, you either have to buy the next round of drinks or kiss the person next to you. Or something like that. My Swiss mythology is a little rusty, but I had heard this story just the day before while admiring the Alps in Eastern Switzerland.
Fondue, at any rate, is usually at least ordered for two, to share.
Sharing was not on the menu for us on Saturday night. Peter actually wanted raclette, and I of course, had been dreaming of fondue all day. He ordered raclette for two, I ordered fondue for two. I also ordered a nice bowl of onion soup (so good!) as an appetizer, and Peter ordered a charcuterie plate as the same.
Our server, perhaps thinking we were very confused or not quite human and didn’t know what we were doing said, “that’s too much food.” I told her we were sure that’s what we wanted, and then I explained a few other things about why we were each ordering what we ordered. She then just stared at me, and said, “you are not eating fondue by yourself.” I told her I was. She walked away still a bit confused but probably thought that if these crazy Americans want to pay for a meal that is meant for a table, then so be it. So be it.
Peter’s raclette set-up and my fondue essentials barely fit on our small table, but we managed. When there’s a will, there’s a way! Our will paid off, too, because the whole cheese experience was a great one.
Long blog story short, it was a lot of food. Maybe, indeed, even too much food. But hey, you only live once right? You may as well order the extra cheese.
Elda XO
For more information about the wonderful Hotel Adler and their restaurant Swiss Chuchi : https://www.hotel-adler.ch/index.php/de/
