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Zurich

Lunch & coffee in Zurich: Babu’s Bakery & Coffeehouse

by Elisa on June 28, 2011

in food,The X-pat Files,Zurich

When it comes to eating out, I am as picky about the place as I am about the food.
I don’t like dark, gloomy places, no matter how good the food might be.
I don’t like places with really uncomfortable seats, or where the atmosphere is stiff and formal – both things prevent me from relaxing, and that makes my meal/coffee break a lot less enjoyable.

Truth be told, when I am in Zurich during the day – weather permitting – I grab a salad or a gourmet sandwich and eat it outdoors, sitting by the lake or at the park.

On rainy days, I end up at Starbucks, the only place I know that seems to fit the bill – though of course, much as I may love my Soy Caramel Macchiato, chains tend to be a bit… impersonal.

Ah, if only there was a charming coffee shop with a friendly and relaxed atmosphere that I could use as my new landing base!

Ah, but there is – on June 7th a new place opened up in midtown Zurich: Babu’s Bakery and Coffee House.

As you can guess from the name, behind its doors you can find freshly baked bread (which my discerning Italian palate found irresistibly delicious) and great cappuccinos, but there’s so much you won’t know until you visit this lovely new Zurich spot: for starters, sandwiches made with the fabulous bread they bake fresh daily on the premises, several salads, made with fresh ingredients and also accompanied by a basket filled with a variety of breads to sample (my favorite? the veggie one with fleur de sel) and if you just fancy a nibble, lots of desserts and baked goods to accompany your tea or coffee.

So far, so good – but not so exciting, right? (Yeah, wait until you have sampled that amazing bread.)

Except when you enter Babu’s, the food won’t be the only thing charming you.

There’s the carved wood shelves filled with candles, pottery, burlap totes and so forth, that will no doubt lure you in for at least a few minutes…

there’s the décor, with the antique cabinets and mismatched chairs around tables topped with vases of hydrangeas and roses…

there’s the fireplace in the corner, with two antique armchairs pulled up to it, an intimate corner that’s just calling for a good book and a cup of tea…

and when your grumbling stomach finally reminds you that despite all the lovely things distracting you, it’s food you actually came here for, there’s the vintage china on which your sandwich, salad or scone will be served, that will just make you pause and wonder if you were catapulted in a little family restaurant in the heart of the French Provence or something of the sort.

And if that wasn’t enough, there’s the fact that I was always welcomed with a smile and a friendly attitude, which is especially appreciated in these parts. (Shhhh, that was a subtle dig at the local grumpiness.)

So, is it any surprise that I’ve already been here 4 times since they opened? Or that I am waxing enthusiastic about the place? Or that I am planning on going there again tomorrow?

In fact, if we meet up for lunch, or for a coffee and a chat, there’s a good chance I’ll end up bringing you here. And when I do, I bet you’ll be every bit as charmed as I am.

 

Babu’s Bakery & Coffeehouse
Löwenstrasse 1, Zurich
Map

 

 

 

All images property of  yours truly. My annoying perkiness is all my own and wasn’t due to any sponsoring or payment of any sort by the owners of Babu’s. Though if they like the post and they want to say thank you, I’ll graciously accept some of those gorgeous candles or mugs, or the pink burlap -and-leather tote, thank you very much ;-)

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Exploring Zurich: walking along the Schanzengraben

by Elisa on June 15, 2011

in Switzerland,The X-pat Files,Zurich

When I first moved to Zurich in 1999, it was a time of big changes. For the third time I had moved to a new place where I barely knew anyone, but this time it was a bit different.
Being pregnant and new in a city where you couldn’t ask for directions or understand what the tram/bus conductor was saying was a little daunting, so my exploration efforts were tentative at first, and always in the company of my husband, who knew Zurich well and spoke German.

Hauptbahnhof was one of the very first German words I learned – the Main Station, the transport hub of Zurich, was at the end of the Bahnhofstrasse, the Station Street; I soon learned that jumping on tram number 7, which stopped a few hundred meters from where we lived at the time (Zurich Wollishofen), would take me straight to the center of Zurich, with the shops, and the people, and the big bookstore that also had an English section.
(This was before Orell Füssli opened The English Bookshop.)

Along the route, one specific place caught my eye: a lovely spot between Paradeplatz and the Stockerstrasse tram stop, a narrow canal nestled between buildings, with boats docked along the sides. It just looked so idyllic, and so incongruous in the middle of the city. I resolved to take a better look at a later date. Through the years I passed that spot many times, but never actually ventured across.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, when I went to Rimini with Marisa, and we ended the evening with a lovely walk… which prompted me to find out more. As it turns out, the river that the Rimini/Männerbad is built on is none other than the very same I have been wanting to explore for years: the Schanzengraben, not a river but a canal that was used as the outer moat outside the Zurich city walls starting in 1642.

A map of Zurich from 1705 (colored in for clarity in 2006) showing the city walls (in brown) and the Schanzengraben (blue zigzag connecting the lake and the Limmat). The canal is no longer connected to the Limmat, but to the Sihl.

So on a sunny day last weekend, off we went, for a walk along the Schanzengraben.

We started off just off Bürkliplatz, where the canal connects to the lake:
A walk along the Schanzengraben

and then kept walking along the Schanzegraben’s zigzag shape, crossing Dreikönigstrasse, Bleicherweg, Gartenstrasse…. and never looking back.

Ok, maybe not exactly never.

It was so pretty, and so quiet… it was hard to believe we were right in the middle of the city.

quirky but pretty A walk along the Schanzengraben
A walk along the Schanzengraben

When we got to the Selnau bridge (“Ah, yes, we are still in Zurich”) we took a small detour to check out the Old Botanic Garden (thank you DenDen for the tip!), and once again I wondered: How have I never been here?

Zurich - Old Botanic Garden I feel like Alice, only is she was walking up instead of falling down
Zurich - Old Botanic Garden

Past the Old Botanic Garden , we followed the canal and the old city wall to a familiar place: Rimini, by day – and this time I couldn’t go in, because during normal business hours it’s still a Men’s Bath :-)

And on and on we walked, until we got to a spot where many Zürcher sit to enjoy their lunch in late spring and summer, right behind the Migros City department store – another spot I have walked by many, many times before.

A few hundred meters further, and the Schanzengraben joins the Sihl river, and when you walk up to street level you’ll find yourself right by the Main Station. We looked around, knowing exactly where we were and yet surprised; my husband observed how we had crossed the city center as we always would, from the lake to the Station or vice versa; but unlike a walk down the Bahnhofstrasse or the Limmatquai*, this was completely peaceful and surprisingly relaxing.

It seems that Zurich still has a lot of surprises left in store for him, too.

 

 

* Limmatquai is the road that runs along the right bank of the Limmat river, from Central to Bellevue and the lake. You can see a few photos of it here.

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Copyright Elisa Bieg, 2008-2009.