3 of the best gourmet dining spots outside of Switzerland’s biggest city:

Following my post about fine dining in Zurich city, it is time for the best fine-dining restaurants in the Zurich area too. And again, I present you such restaurants I first visited in 2023 and 2024. As to places I dined at in the past, have a look here. It concerns three restaurants which are all aimed at fine dining. At the same time, I would consider all of them as ones with a casual ambiance. In addition, you can reach them either by train or car within 30 minutes from Zurich city. Plus, they are all listed in the Michelin and the Gault Millau guides. Two of them even have Michelin stars!

I start with the highest awarded restaurant.

1. Restaurant Skin’s in Lenzburg

modern two-star Michelin restaurant with excellent innovative cuisine in favorable location just by the train station not far from Zurich 

Skin’s is a phenomenon. It was opened end of May 2022, and four months later it already gained two Michelin stars! This restaurant is the work of Felix Bertram, the owner and founder of Skinmed, a clinic for dermatology and plastic surgery, and chef Kevin Romes.

The entrepreneur met the young cook at Restaurant Einstein in Saint Gallen. And he immediately knew that this was the man for his dining-spot project. Skin’s is located just by Lenzburg’s train station, in a former industrial site. From Zurich’s main train station, you can reach it in a 19-minute ride plus a five-minute walk. Restaurant Skin’s is an uncompromisingly modern place. What I find impressive is the very large open cuisine where you can watch the chefs working.

The food is equally uncompromising as the interior, contemporary and creative. It is ingenious without being over the top so. I liked best the really fantastic sauces.

On my first occasion here – there was a second one, a champagne dinner – , they were often poured tableside. All and of them were different from each other, rich in taste and multifaceted. The atmosphere at Skin’s is relaxed and you are in contact with the chefs who appear at your table every now and then. Not only Michelin is full of praise for this dining spot but also Gault Millau. This guide gives 16 points and attests a form curve that is rising steeply upwards.

As to pricing, there is a sole tasting menu. Contrary to my first visit, there is now a six-course menu on offer costing 220 SFR/US$ (before seven courses for 225 SFR/US$). If you wish, you can add a surprise dish for 35 SFR/US$.

In case you want more information about one of the best fine-dining restaurants in the Zurich area, I have already done a post about the place after my first visit.

2. Restaurant Fahr in Kuenten (Künten)

delicious contemporary cuisine awarded one-star Michelin in relaxed ambiance located in idyllic rural surroundings

This is another Michelin starred restaurant in the same Swiss canton as Skin’s (Aargau). As to reachability by public transport from Zurich city, it is not that favorable. Yet you can get to it by car in less than 30 minutes. And when doing so, you come to another world. Fahr is a pure idyll, a stand-alone building on the edge of a nature reserve. Dining here is especially pleasant on a hot summer evening, when you can do this in the beautiful outdoor area. And it is child-friendly too with an associated playground.

Yet also the dining-room is a jewel.

The ambiance at Fahr – at least if you dine outside – is  very casual. On our visit, one of the guests even was dressed in bicycle gear!

When it comes to food, it is a seriously good affair. 

The young chef Manuel Steigmeier

started in Kuenten in 2017 at the age of 22 and got his first Michelin star in 2022. In addition, he has 17 Gault Millau points. And imagine he has not worked with any famous chefs before but “only” at a local dining spot with a solid but not exceptional cuisine. Yet he scores with outstanding, puristically served dishes. He does this in such a convincing way that you can count Fahr among the best fine-dining restaurants in the Zurich area. Service on our dinner was cordial however a bit slow between courses. As to the latter, you get a tasting menu here, either with fish/meat or vegetarian. Five courses cost 160 SFR/US$, six 175 SFR/US$.

3. Restaurant Die Rose in Rueschlikon (Rüschlikon)

UPDATE: the restaurant goes out of business end of September 2024

Michelin gives it a Bib Gourmand, Gault Millau has not reviewed it to date (but will do so in 2024). Service is warm at this casual place.

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The post 3 (casual) fine dining Michelin (starred) restaurants in the Zurich area, first visited in 2023/2024 first appeared on Swiss Traveler