Good imitation

How much would a small diner in the Geneva suburbs have to pay Warner Bros. to use the image of one of their cartoon characters, Monsieur Gourmand and I pondered as we chomped into our tasty burgers at Road Runner. Too much, it would seem, as they have created their very own cartoon bird to sit alongside the red neon logo, which, to an untrained eye, looks just the same.

The same philosophy applies to the food: the first bite reveals a juiciness that could be a real, genuine, American burger. It's flavoursome, it comes in a nice sesame bun, there are gherkins and onions, fries on the side and even coleslaw.

Diners can choose from such tempting options as the Texan (cheese and bacon), Mexican (with chilli and nachos), French (with tomato and herbs) or just keep it simple with cheese. There's no New York style low-carb burger wrapped in a lettuce leaf, but I doubt this would catch on in bread-loving Switzerland where everyone is effortlessly thin despite a diet of cheese and chocolate.

The key difference between the burgers here and those at a Stateside burger joint is the size. Monsieur Gourmand was still peckish after his Texan so ate my remaining fries, while I allowed myself a chocolate Mr Whippee after my delicious but not very filling cheese burger. 

But big doesn't necessarily mean good and this is the best burger I've had in Geneva (apart from L'Armoire which no longer exists) and deserves to have survived 40 years. That's got to be nearly as long as the Road Runner himself?

Road Runner, 63 route de Chene, 1208 Geneve
+41 (0)22 735 6420; www.roadrunner-restaurant.ch

Chinese reserve

Much like the cars outside and the ladies of the night inside, the food at Tse Fung, La Reserve's Chinese restaurant, is exotic, ravishing and expensive.

All that's lacking is a little imagination. The menu sticks to a standard formula with classics including sesame prawn toast and spring rolls, crispy duck with hoi sin sauce, followed by chicken, seafood or beef with cashew, Szechuan and sweet and sour sauces. All are expertly prepared and superbly served by a team of charming staff. 

In pricier places, I like them to show you what they do best so we ordered one of the four degustation menus, all named after appropriately expensive gemstones.

Our Emerald option started with some five spice squid, unfortunately served at the same time as the duck roll and steamed dumplings - at the most chichi Chinese in town I would have expected it to have been a bit more drawn out. None of these starters stick in the memory and I've definitely had better dumplings in Paquis.

Moving on to the mains, we were presented with caramelised beef, chicken in black bean sauce and spicy sole fillets. Of these, the fish was the stand-out dish: delicate and flavoursome without being overpowered by the spice.

Something sweet from the dessert menu - chocolate spring rolls perhaps - would have made a fiendish finale but we were both quite stuffed by this point. Besides, they were generous with the petits fours that came with Monsieur Gourmand's espresso.  

With sumptuous surroundings, lavish service and long-legged clientele, Tse Fung is a favourite for special occasions but disappointingly unextraordinary.

Le Tse Fung, La Rserve, 301 route de Lausanne, 1293 Bellevue
+41 (0)22 959 5959; www.lareserve.ch