Ladies' bite

Geneva is surrounded by scenic beauty, well placed for European road trips and French-speaking, all of which (in my view) make it more attractive than Switzerland’s other significant city. That said, one night up north is all it takes to realise that Zurich is much more hip.

While Geneva is crawling with stuffy bankers and 6ft hookers, Zurich is populated by sexy sophisticates and relaxed arty types mingling among the cool cafés and vintage shops. Even the taxi drivers are more cosmopolitan, driving like maniacs and shouting obscenities at cyclists. 

My California-dwelling friend and I found a fresh and funky design hotel (http://www.greulich.ch), complete with renowned restaurant, rugs for when you get chilly outside, and a cigar room. Nevertheless, we fancied a flavour of the city, so took ourselves off to La Salle where we were thrilled to find high ceilings befitting a former factory and windows criss-crossed with chunky steel beams, all set within a cool complex in an up-and-coming part of town.

After hanging our coats on the self-service rack at the restaurant entrance (how nice not to faff around with cloakroom tokens) we were given a big table and presented with the menu in German, French and English.
 
We both started with octopus – which really should have been served as a simple carpaccio without the slimy savoury jelly – topped with tasty, tangy tomatoes. Despite the best efforts of the flirty front of house host to make us eat horse (I know it’s tasty but we both happen to like horses), my friend went for a delicious looking entrecôte of lamb while I ordered liver. The texture was perhaps a little too liver-like, bordering on the undercooked, but the deep red, umami-influenced sauce was delightful.

Our Mediterranean maître d’ then tried to foist upon us some fiendishly fattening fare for dessert, but we stayed strong and shared a deliciously smooth crema catalana.

We did, however, take his third piece of advice: we hotfooted it upstairs to the bar where we enjoyed an excellent evening of good conversation and Campari.

La Salle, Schiffbaustrasse 4, CH-8005 Zürich
+41 (0)44 258 7071; http://www.lasalle-restaurant.ch

Pricey prawns

As anyone who has been in Switzerland for any length of time will know, businesses here don’t exactly fight tooth and nail to obtain, or retain, your custom.

A friend who tried recently to make a booking at Miyako was surprised to be asked over the phone what she would be eating, to which she surmised that she might want sushi and her husband would probably fancy something sizzling from the Teppanyaki table. In that case, she was told, she had better go somewhere else (the presence of non-Teppanyaki eaters is not appreciated around the hallowed hotplate).

 

Luckily Monsieur Gourmand and I were in a decisive mood when we visited so we knew we wouldn’t fall foul of this petty policy.

Our Teppanyaki chef did a fine job of slicing and dicing, although touristy types might have been disappointed that he didn’t make a grand spectacle of his work, with knives, flames and food flying through the air.

I was surprised to hear Monsieur Gourmand order prawns (he considers them the cockroaches of the sea), but he struck gold with these fresh and juicy crustaceans, which stoked our appetites nicely for the meaty main.

Served with a side of miso soup and not-so-healthy egg fried rice, I savoured every mouthful of my perfectly rare, fat-free fillet steak. It was so tender and tasty that I could have eaten more, but it was refreshing not to feel overly stuffed, as is so often the way with European steaks slathered in buttery sauces.

With superior ingredients and skilled chefs, Miyako managed to redeem itself from my preconceived opinion (albeit with an outrageous bill). Just make sure you eat the same as whoever you’re with, or else one of you might end up stranded at the sushi bar.

Miyako, 11 rue de Chantepoulet, Geneva
+41 (0)22 738 0120; http://www.miyako.ch