food, place, athmo...other?
cult is nice, joseph, a special one is alpenrose. brasserie lip (dont like the interieur much, but the fish is good) giesserei, gnüsserei. and many more...
l'o in horgen (15km outside of zurich)
what do you understand by luxury?
I've cooked lamb's testicles before. They're an underrated ingredient, but if you're a man you will wince when you cut open the sac and slice them.
I definitely recommend covering in milk and leaving for a while.
Kronenhalle in Zurich is mentioned lovingly in John Irving's massive novel 'Until I Find You'. It is said to have Picasso paintings on the walls.
Never been there though. But worth checking out on the 'Net, I guess.
This 2 michelin stars, Petermann's Kunststuben is in Kusnacht - about 7-10 minutes walk from the main Kusnacht station along Seestrasse - highly accessible from the Zurich HB:
Also snagged a place in Patricia Schultz's book "1000 places to see before you die"
Not what the OP requested but where are you thinking of here? Thanks!
in my experience of Zurich, "near to the center" and very "special" don't really go together as most nice places you go to will be full of bankers. But as someone else said, we don't know what special vibe you're going for. Nevertheless, here's two more suggestions:
really liked this place last time I took work contacts there, though it's been awhile
can hardly get more central to the train station than this...
Though I agree with GastroGnome - Dolder's probably your best bet. The view's supposed to be spectacular...