Japanese Food in Switzerland

Introduction

This page summarizes my own and my fellows' knowledge of good sources of Japanese cuisine in Switzerland. Your contributions, notes, and suggestions are warmly welcome.

Some references contain rating of maximum 5 points. This is only my own or my friends' personal opinion, and it must not be considered as an expert's rating.

Warm regards and thanks to those who has shared useful information: Dmitry Klimenkov and his wife Natalia; Fiona and Ramon Robinson.

Special thanks to my wife Olga for introducing me to the Japanese world.

Thanks to MaKo for allowing me to inherit the CSS styling from his website.

Important Notes

Many nicknames are taken as-is from our Internet forum. I do not know many of these people personally.

As noted by Kuzma, the fresh fish in Geneva is never delivered on Mondays, and some Japanese restaurants are closed. In other ones it is a high chance to have the frozen fish. If properly deep-frozen, such fish is not bad, and even safer, but the taste is slightly different.

Sushi take-aways

Geneva
Mikado Takao Sugamuta
rue de l'Ancien-Port 9, 1201 Genève
Tel: 022 732 47 74     Fax: 022 738 87 97    
Rating: Unrated

Source: Irina. 20 meters towards the lake from the Migros supermarket. Sushi is better and cheaper than Uchitomi's. Good choice of ready-to-go sushi, sashimi, various Japanese salads. They can also cook them on telephone pre-order. Also a good choice of fresh ingredients, like daikon etc.

Uchitomi
rue de Zürich 45, 1201 Genève
Tel: 022 731 26 01     Fax: 022 738 52 16     Mobile: 079 416 22 89    
Rating: 5.0

Small but pretty Japanese shop near the central railway station. Always fresh and various sushi available. Their consai style sushi is a must to try.

Zürich
Globus
Schweizergasse 12, 8001 Zürich
Tel: 01 226 60 60     Fax: 01 226 60 88    
Rating: 5.0

This is a big Globus supermarket near Bahnhofstrasse and the central railway station. On the underground floor, there's a food specialities shop called Delicatessa. They also make sushi of extremely good quality.

MISTER WONG Asian Cooking
Bahnhofplatz 9, 8001 Zürich
Tel: 01 211 17 70    
Rating: 3.5

This is a big asian cuisine restaurant and take-away. Takeaway sushi can be found on the ground floor, furthest from the entrance. The variety and freshness of susi sets is far behind those offered by the restaurant upstairs.

Sushi Bars

Geneva
Sushi Train Kiteki
rue Neuve-du-Molard 21, 1204 Genève
Tel: 022 310 27 27     Fax: 022 310 24 94    
Rating: Unrated

Source: Lyss. More or less good quality sushi, and interesting atmosphere. They play Manga videos all the time, and "Tourist" by St. Germain (no idea what it is, ask author or see the URL -- S.S.)

Restaurants

There is a good directory of Japanese restaurants world-wide at http://www.sushi.infogate.de/query.php3. Some addresses and phone numbers differ from what I got, and some seem to be outdated. But still, it's very much worth checking.

Geneva

See also: http://www.sushi.infogate.de/rest/eu_switzerland_geneva.htm

Chez Uchino
rue de Zürich 47, 1201 Genève
Tel: 022 732 38 28    
Rating: 5.0
rte de Suisse 66, 1290 Versoix
Tel: 022 755 10 32     Fax: 022 755 27 98    
Rating: 4.5

The first one is a very small restaurant, neighbouring to the Uchitomi shop. You may seat in front of the cook and watch your sushi being cooked. The space is strictly limited, and the reservations should be made beforehand. The cook and the waiters are native Japanese, as well as many guests.

The second one is much larger, and easier to get in. It's a bit noisy, yet the food is excellent. Also it has the excellent view from the terrasse to the lake and Mont Blanc (as noted by Irina).

Fuji Fujiyama Sàrl
rue Chantepoulet 6, 1201 Genève
Tel: 022 732 77 27    
Rating: Unrated

Source: Lyss. This restaurant has not made any good impression. It's placed near Miyako restaurant, and is not as good as that one.

Kamome
rte de Pré-Bois 20, 1216 Cointrin
Tel: 022 717 17 30    
Rating: Unrated

Source: Lyss. Good, and rather expensive restaurant in Hotel Mövenpick near the airport. Few tables in front of the cook, and few regular ones.

Kotobuki Sàrl
rue du Fort-Barreau 23, 1201 Genève
Tel: 022 740 30 80     Fax: 022 740 30 83    
Rating: Unrated

Source: Lyss. This restaurant is new, and there's not much information about it. European style tables, fairly good quality.

Miyako
rue Chantepoulet 11, 1201 Genève
Tel: 022 738 01 20     Fax: 022 738 16 08    
Rating: Unrated

Source: Lyss. Good and expensive. Two floors, with the cook on the upper floor. Very good sushi and sashimi. Sikuyaki is not bad, though not as good as in Sagano.

Sagano
rue de Montbrillant 86, 1202 Genève
Tel: 022 733 11 50     Fax: 022 733 27 55    
Rating: unrated

Source: Lena. Excellent restaurant, a bit aside from the city center, modest prices. Resided in same building as Centre Coop. The upper floor is decorated in traditional Japanese style.

le Samourai
rue Dancet 1Bis, 1205 Genève
Tel: 022 320 81 01    
Rating: Unrated

Source: Natusia. Small and neat place. Some people order the dishes by phone and take them away in a half-hour. Very good Nigirizushi with tuna fish, eel, shrimps Emaebi, and Temaki.

Sansui
rue de la Faucille 12, 1201 Genève
Tel: 022 733 80 25    
Rating: Unrated

Source: Irina. Small, good and not expensive restaurant. You may try the exotic entree made of raw calamares and yeast.

Sumo
rue Goetz-Monin 10, 1205 Genève
Tel: 022 320 72 55     Fax: 022 320 72 56    
Rating: Unrated

Source: Irina. No fresh fish at all. The place is yakitori specialized. Only two small tables, all other places are at the bar around the cook. Best to come by two. Three people is a crowd.

Yamakawa
rue Henri-Blanvalet 3, 1207 Genève
Tel: 022 735 47 11    
Rating: Unrated

Source: Dmitry Klimenkov. Famous and very old restaurant in the center of Geneva. The owner, "Grandma Yamakawa", sometimes meets the guests personally.

Pfäffikon SZ
Nippon Sun Seedamm Plaza
Seedammstr. 3, 8808 Pfaffikon SZ
Tel: 055 417 17 17    
Rating: 4.0

One of the few restaurants inside the big casino building. It seems that sushi is not the chef's favorite food. Modest choice of dishes.

Zürich

See also: http://www.sushi.infogate.de/rest/eu_switzerland_zurich.htm

MISTER WONG Asian Cooking
Bahnhofplatz 9, 8001 Zürich
Tel: 01 211 17 70    
Rating: 4.5

This is a big asian cuisine restaurant and take-away. Every month's first monday, they make Sushi Buffet: all-you-can-eat for about CHF 70. Drinks are paid separately.

Takano
Uetlibergstr. 166, 8045 Zürich
Tel: 01 463 22 28     Fax: 01 461 75 54    
Rating: 5.0

Rich variety of Japanese cuisine, with relatively modest prices. A little bit aside from the town centre, but it's strongly worth going.

Buying fresh fish for sushi

Geneva
Uchitomi
rue de Zürich 45, 1201 Genève
Tel: 022 731 26 01     Fax: 022 738 52 16     Mobile: 079 416 22 89    
Rating: 5.0

They offer the same fish that is used for their sushi take-away.

Supermarché MANOR
Centre commercial Chavannes, 1279 Chavannes-de-Bogis
Tel: 022 960 86 99    
Rating: 5.0

A very famous place for various fish and sea foods. They also offer sometimes sushi sets of fairly decent quality.

Eastern Switzerland
Frisch-Fisch Mercato
Riedstr. 8, 8953 Dietikon
Tel: 01 740 76 34     Fax: 01 740 76 39    
Rating: 5.0
Underberghaus Industriestr. 31, 8305 Dietlikon
Tel: 01 833 10 30    
Rating: 5.0
Rothenburgstr. 33, 6020 Emmenbrücke
Tel: 041 280 04 22     Fax: 041 280 62 00    
Rating: unrated
St. Gallerstr. 41, 8645 Jona
Tel: 055 212 31 33    
Rating: unrated
Industriestr. 7, 9430 St. Margrethen SG
Tel: 071 744 48 15    
Rating: unrated
Ballonstr. 24, 8952 Schlieren
Tel: 01 730 21 21    
Rating: 3.0
Mürtschenstr. 26, 8048 Zürich
Tel: 01 492 28 28     Fax: 01 492 28 53    
Rating: Unrated

This fast-growing network of fish shops is a real must-go for any fish or seafood gourmet. The shops in Dietikon and Dietlikon are rather big and rich. The one in Schlieren is a small outlet in the industrial zone, with limited choice of fresh and frozen seafood.

Japanese shops

Geneva
Uchitomi
rue de Zürich 45, 1201 Genève
Tel: 022 731 26 01     Fax: 022 738 52 16     Mobile: 079 416 22 89    
Rating: 5.0

Same place again 8-). In this small shop, you can find anything a Japanese would need abroad. For those from other countries, a huge variety of Japanese specialities is available. Starting from soft drinks (Try 'Calpis', you might like it), ending with video tapes. You can even find a good rice cooking machine there!

Zürich
Nishi's Japan Shop
Schaffhauserstr. 120, 8057 Zürich
Tel: 01 363 11 63     Fax: 01 362 38 92    
Rating: 4.0

This shop is not as rich as Uchitomi, but is also worth seeing.

Other links

These are the arbitrary links about Japanese life in Switzerland, sometimes not verified personally nor by someone that I know...

Last modification: 25.09.2003. © 2002, 2003 Stanislav Sinyagin <ssinyagin@yahoo.com>
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