The projects could hardly be more different: One teaches connoisseurs in exclusive cooking courses what she learned at the legendary "Le Cordon Bleu" in Paris. Two others inspire half the city with their cheese sandwich pop-ups, and yet another makes essences from apple blossoms and herbs from her parents' farm that you won't forget in a hurry. What unites the projects? Everywhere there are exciting and successful women behind them.
We present seven food projects by eight women in and around Zurich that you should take note of. Some of them are better known to the public, others work more quietly in the background - now it's time for a few new stories to refresh your food horizons in time for spring.
Linda und Meret, zur Goldige Guttere & iklämmt
Anyone who got a cheese iklämmt back then, in the Olé-Olé-Bar, knows that it wasn't just one of the best sandwiches you've ever eaten. The decoration, the shouting out of the finished order and the homemade iced tea in empty confit glasses were just as much a part of Linda and Meret's pop-up iklämmt. Their love of grandiose gastronomy brought the two together during their studies at the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. The two have been self-employed since January 2021 and recently opened their first restaurant together, Zur Goldige Guttere. Always on the menu: the seasons, which they have packed into preserving jars and now share with their distinguished clientele. The visitors agree: one of the most exciting restaurants in town.
zurgoldigeguttere.ch
Marlene Halter, Metzg
"Meat is our passion" is the motto of Marlene Halter and her team at Restaurant Metzg. This sentence alone is a statement in this day and age, when the trend is moving towards less meat consumption. But they show that this does not have to be a contradiction: "The welfare of animals and the environment is important to us. We don't just trust labels and certificates, but look closely at each individual case," they write. Owner and chef Marlene Halter wanted to create a place for alternative meat culture. She brought the knowledge of how to cut and prepare animals differently from New York to Langstrasse. The trained chef (Alpenrose, Italia, Wirtschaft Ziegelhütte) has worked her way through the butcher's trade and is happy to pass on her knowledge to her customers. In her private life, she dreams of having her own farm with animals, smokehouse, dryer, butcher's shop and garden.
metzg-grill.ch
Tresa Capaul, Kafi Duzis
The homemade chocolate brownies with salt flakes alone are worth a visit to 'Kafi Duzis'. You can also buy fine coffee with beans from 'Miró' and selected crockery and kitchen accessories. The restaurant at Werd is cosily furnished and bright - hygge probably sums it up best - and Tresa Capaul always has a few personal words to say. The woman from Graubünden likes the fact that her Kafi is a small microcosm. "In the smallest space, everything is there: The guest, the employee, the supplier and the manager," she says.
kafiduzis.ch
Theres Bachmann, Weingut Bachmann
The trained master hairdresser only discovered her love of wine at second glance in her career: Theres Bachmann took over the family business in Stäfa with her husband Jonathan. And in the process turned almost everything upside down. Not only the external appearance with label design and a new website, but also the entire structure of the vineyard: at the bottom are the lake wines, followed by mountain wines and at the top, very special and only harvested in exceptional years, the reserve wines. More manual work, limiting yields and gentle processing: This results in top wines that please.
winery-bachmann.ch
Christine Brugger, Aromareich
The scent of apple blossoms and wild herbs has accompanied Christine Brugger from an early age: Her parents run a fruit farm on Lake Constance and have been pioneers with their biodynamic approach for over 40 years. Christine Brugger's passion for plants, scents and flavours led her to her profession as a sensory scientist. She teaches the expression of aroma and taste in seminars and trains sommeliers in a wide variety of orientations. In 2014, she founded the Organic Distillery on her parents' farm. Her essences can be mixed into desserts or vegetable dips or enjoyed as a fine ingredient in drinks and dishes in selected bars and restaurants throughout Switzerland.
aromareich.ch
Susanne Welle, Belvoir Park
Susanne Welle was born in Norway and recently took over the management of the Hotel Management School Belvoirpark (soon to be renamed Hotelfaschshule Zürich - HFZ), which belongs to Gastrosuisse. This is already her second school, as she also heads the École Hôtelière de Genève at the same time. How does that work? She works two to three days in Zurich, the rest in Geneva and the last few months have shown that a lot can be done with video calls, as she tells "GastroJournal". She also relies on flat hierarchies, which she knows from Norway, and a lot of teamwork. That sounds like a breath of fresh air with which she wants to promote the next generation of gastronomes.
belvoirpark.ch
Yuan Yao, Etoile Cooking
"ÉTOILE - L'Atelier des Gourmands" - at this address you can learn from the best in a noble atmosphere. But you don't even have to be a good cook yourself. The founder of the exclusive cooking school, Yuan Yao, makes sure that everyone learns something here. She herself sometimes falls asleep in the middle of cookery books - and has done so since she was a little child. At the age of 31, she studied at "Le Cordon Bleu" in Paris, worked in restaurants around the world, and has had cooking training in almost every other country on earth. This knowledge, which she loves so much and is constantly expanding, she passes on in the courses with a lot of heart and soul.
etoile-cooking.com
