Swiss service

Nobody tips in Switzerland because the service is generally dreadful. I think it's a chicken and egg situation - do diners not tip because the service is bad or do waiters make no effort because they know they won't be rewarded?

Anyway, it didn't really matter last Sunday because Monsieur Gourmand and I had a wonderful lunch at Lacustre in Bellevue despite waiting for what seemed like an eternity for somebody to give us a menu. The view was so glorious that I was only too happy to bask in the bright September sun, watching sailboats whizz along the lake in front of a glistening Mont Blanc.

This was our second visit to Lacustre and it was a vast improvement on the first. One dark, chilly night in early spring we had been seated next to two young couples and their whining offspring while we shared a disappointingly bland Chateaubriand served by a heavy-browed and bequiffed waiter whose apparent drunkenness rendered him incapable of remembering anything.    

Perhaps it was too early in the day for him to hit the bottle as he seemed sober and friendly on this second visit - though still painfully slow. And he wasn't the only thing to have improved - the food was delicious. Tasty and lemony perches du lac meunière were served with a filo basket full of vegetables while the rich and tangy steak tartare was a triumph of taste and presentation, topped off with a lattice of vegetables and accompanied by nutty rice. 

It goes without saying that such a backdrop demanded a cold bottle of rosé and we left feeling a little light-headed, full of food and totally in awe of our scenic surroundings.