(Ironically, it's Belgian chocolate )
Another tip, from the Coop posh range, their black chocolate with pink pepper. It is very, very, very nice!
The original poster Roland b is a funny guy, first he only learn`t to cook when he came to Switzerland, then he dosen`t like his own cooking. Why does he compare politics to Aromat? As a beer drinker he scorns Swiss beer... Never having had a dinner party, has already a sense of failure, well Roland you posted your post in Janaury 07.. I really hope things are looking up for you that you are starting to learn all the great things you can do ..CAN DO, AMEM... regards kap.
Another tip, from the posh range at Coop, their black chocolate with...pink pepper.
Lovely stuff, it works well together, slightly disconcerting at first but a winner in the end.
Oh and it's Belgian chocolate, that made me laugh
Hohum hope ya'll understand high german!
Why is it that WE are often to be found in the top five on any such contest........if our food and foodie culture is sooo bad,then this certainly shouldn't happen ;-) ;-) ;-)
at www.aussieshop.ch you can get mint sauce, you right a roast it not the same with out it. in australia you can get just about anything home delivered or take away, boy i miss thai food home delivered on a fiday night. any one no of a good thai or chinese in bern?
There's something about Fondue that seems to put Brits off. I remember going on a skiing break in Davos once with some 'friends of friends' over from England and when Fondue was served at the evening meal in the hotel none of them would even try it. Instead they just sat eating the bread chunks and potatoes all night. What a waste. Still, more for me
I love the stuff myself, as long as it's a good one. I have tasted an awful one once, and it would put you off Fondue for life if it was the first time you tried it. Not even many glasses of White Wine and Kirsch could save it.
Obviously, it's more of a seasonal treat and I don't really recommend trying it in the middle of summer, for example.
Wise words Gav, keep it for when it's cold.
The British friends I have invited enjoyed fondue and raclette, some are regulars actually. I'm most surprised that my Nepal born mate S enjoys it...I do invite people I know like to try stuff, some people I will never bother as I know they are not keen on stuff they are not used to.
I am cooking for myself at least. I can't have a dinner party until I have put some lights in the ceiling rather than having wires dangling out. Wisdom I have learned is that large onions can be bought by the plenty in neighbouring France. Eating out in Swiss restaurants isn't worth the money. Mövenpick ice cream is god-awful. Ueli Spezial beer is good if filtered in bottles. Everything Feldschlossen is crap as is most of the other beer choices. Identify any Leffe beer outlets as soon as you move to a Swiss town. Appenzeller Qüollfrisch Hell is watery but at least drinkable and can be bought in a lot of supermarkets. Globus/Manor/Coop prices do not always descend in that order for the same items. Basel University hospital is good -- i.e. not an abattoire like UK hospitals are. The streets of Basel are safe as well as the transport which is also reliable and the tax here is much lower than the UK combined with wages generally higher. Not having a halb-tax card is a form of insanity. Tickets get checked on trams when you least expect it.
I did try a can of Feldschlossen the other night. It's not bad, but it's not great. At least it doesn't have that 'has the aluminium from the can started dissolving into this?' taste that Carling and fosters have. And that's just from the keg, let alone when it's actually been in a can...
however, I've found the Co-op sells Staropramen, so I'm a happy bunny. They also sell Strongbow, so i can also get my fix of fizzy apple pee, too. What good Swiss ciders are there out there?
Is it not the communal aspect of the fondue that puts them off? You know, dipping your food into a pot where everyone else dips theirs.
We drink Saft vom fass by Mohl - it's a cloudy cider, really top notch and refreshing. Feldschlossen lager from the bottle isn't bad but they do a pretty good Dunkle Perler, a cross between brown ale and lager
Ta! I'll look out for some.
Beer lovers might consider a trip to Lausanne this week-end...
now thats ridiculous!
an english guy complains about swiss food and beer...
about the beer, you're party right. compared to german beer and beer-culture, the swiss beer really sucks. but compared to that warm, yellow stuff you serve in england, you shouldn't complain about swiss beer...
about the food: switzerland has a long tradition of bringing up brilliant chefs and restaurant and has been exporting food & beverage expats, exc. chefs all over in the world.
last week the swiss chefs nationalteam even won the world championship (ahead of canada).
there are lots of great places and great food in zurich. of course you won't find it at mcdonalds or in shoppingmalls. and it sure isnt cheap.
i have been living in the uk for 2 years and thats now a real culinary desert. the only eatble food you would find at chinese or indian restaurants. though it has slightly improved over the past years (in london only). just look at jamie olivers cooking show; its uncookable crap; though he is a cool guy; but cant cook.
so please dont be angry if i cant take your cristics seriously...
Ugh...I'll have to defend my adopted country there.
I rate English beer as the best in the world, ahead of Belgian and German. The quality, variety and passion of the brewers is inspiring. Go to the CAMRA national beer festival this summer in London and give it a try, there is wondeful stuff.
Food wise, there is also plenty of good food, my ratio of hit/miss is quite similar to the one I have in Switzerland although I'm more careful to choose as there is an ocean of junk food hiding the good stuff. The best meals I had were on the Isle of Skye and next door to where I live, in Altrincham (the wonderfully inventive Juniper Restaurant) and although it took a long time coming, good products are more and more available, even in supermarkets. You should have seen the look of the ham I had to buy in 95...
Let's not get all silly about this, neither Switzerland nor the UK (nor any of the English speaking countries really) are comparable to France or Italy in term of gastronomy but both have good stuff and there is greater curiosity for other cuisines.
Very well put Ex. Lat.
CAMRA beers , outstanding. . .
... swiss beer. Marginally better than water,
but not much . . .
Food's quite good here.
Especially the italians - mmhmm yummy !
Feldschlösschen Lager is the embodiment of averageness in my opinion. I haven't drunk Dunkle Perle so far but like Hopfenperle, which has the same amount of taste like the Lager, except it's boiled down in a 33cl can instead of the 50cl Lager serving. Coop sells it for 1 Fr.
I think Switzerland could do with the equivalent of CAMRA. Feldschlossen hasn't done that country any favours except maybe getting Schneider Weiss in. They have even polluted Löwenbräu by brewing it in Zurich. It wasn't a great Munich beer but now it's a crap Swiss beer as bought in supermarkets.
Didn't the Austrians invade Switzerland? I think Gessler was an Austrian -- that fat bloke who ate chicken legs and threw the bones behind him before making William Tell do his crossbow trick. Austrian beer is mostly god-awful, though I have had good beer in Salzburg and I wouldn't mind going back there to drink it. Approach Austria from Germany and the beer quality goes downhill in a most alarming fashion. I groan when I vaguely remember Peshl beer that actually tastes of petrol. So maybe the Austrians inflicted their own punishment on beer and exported it in its cruellest form to Switzerland when they invaded it in an attempt to subdue the country.
Ah but there is such a thing in Switzerland, I posted a link for the Swiss organisation, which like CAMRA is linked to a pan-European org.
There are good micro-breweries in Switzerland but they are very regional and with limited distribution, check the beer thread on this forum for plenty of info about it.
We went to Lucerne recently, and decided to have a "proper Röesti" which we thought we didn't get in Lausanne. Well, what a let-down. All we got what this plate of dried out potato yuk, with 4 little pork sausages? (and we all know what a good pork sausage should taste like !) perched on top.
It was on the return trip, we stopped at a Mövenpick, and saw our neighbours
eating a röesti that looked like the real thing. Unfortunately, we had already ordered something else.