Eating gluten-free in Zurich

Zurich sits on its lake, is quick to reach by train and has a cuisine that at first glance suits gluten-free eating well: potatoes, cheese, meat. At second glance, flour and oats turn up where you would not expect them.

Gluti offers guidance and is not a medical device. Its information does not replace medical advice.

Can you eat out gluten-free in Zurich?

Yes, and rather well. Zurich is Switzerland’s largest city, international in outlook, and coeliac disease is familiar to many kitchens. There are cafés and bakeries that work entirely without gluten, and restaurants that mark gluten-free dishes on the menu. The places are mostly in the centre, in the old town on both banks of the Limmat and in the neighbourhoods around it, and the city is small enough to reach almost everything by tram and on foot.

Switzerland is not part of the EU, but its rules are similar. Here too, restaurants must be able to tell you whether a dish contains gluten. Often this is not printed on the menu; instead a note says that staff can give you the information. So asking in Zurich is not just allowed, it is expected. What the information does not cover is the same as anywhere: the fryer for chips and breaded food, the pan, the board the bread is cut on. You have to ask about those yourself.

What should I know about Zurich?

The first thing is the prices. Eating out in Zurich is expensive, considerably more so than in Germany or Austria, and gluten-free bread or pasta often costs extra on top. For a longer stay, accommodation with a kitchen is worth it. The large supermarkets stock gluten-free products, often under their own brands and on a shelf of their own, from bread to pasta and biscuits. Go by the label on the packet, not by the shelf alone.

The second thing is the language. In Zurich people speak Swiss German, but they write and understand standard German. The menu has a few words of its own: a Gipfeli is a croissant, a Weggli a soft bread roll. Spätzli and Chnöpfli are spätzle made from wheat flour. And Müesli almost always means oats.

And the third: oats. Bircher muesli comes from Zurich, and oat flakes are a staple in Switzerland. Some people with coeliac disease tolerate oats themselves, but ordinary oats are almost always contaminated with wheat, barley or rye. Only oats explicitly labelled gluten-free are an option, and only if you tolerate them. So at the hotel or in a café, muesli means asking first.

Which Zurich dishes contain gluten?

Zurich cooking is down to earth, and the gluten often hides in the sauce, the dough and the bread on the side:

• Zürcher Geschnetzeltes (Zurich-style veal): Thin strips of veal with mushrooms in a cream sauce, almost always with rösti. The meat is often dusted with flour before it is browned, and some kitchens thicken the sauce with flour. Ask about both; the dish cooks perfectly well without flour.
• Rösti: Grated potatoes fried golden in butter or fat. In itself, rösti contains no cereal. Ask anyway whether flour goes in to bind it and whether something breaded was fried in the same pan before.
• Birchermüesli (Bircher muesli): Oat flakes soaked overnight, with grated apple, yoghurt or milk, nuts and fruit. Ordinary oat flakes are contaminated with cereals containing gluten. Without oats that are explicitly gluten-free, this muesli is not for you.
• Käsefondue (cheese fondue): Melted cheese with white wine and often kirsch, into which cubes of bread are dipped. It is usually thickened with cornflour, but sometimes with wheat flour, and the bread is the dish. Ask about the thickening and about potatoes instead of bread, and make sure nobody dips bread into the same pot.
• Raclette: Melted cheese over potatoes, with gherkins and pickled onions. Cheese, potatoes and the sides contain no cereal in themselves. Ask about ready-made mixes and seasonings, and whether bread is toasted on the same grill.
• Älplermagronen: A bake of pasta, potatoes, cheese and cream with fried onions and apple sauce. The pasta is made from wheat, and the fried onions are often dusted with flour.
• Tirggel: A thin Zurich honey biscuit with a moulded picture, mostly around Christmas. The dough is made from wheat flour.
• Cervelat: The quintessential Swiss sausage, grilled or as a sausage salad. Whether it contains cereal binders depends on the maker, and grilled sausage almost always comes with bread. Ask about the ingredients.
• To drink: Wine, apple juice and Most, apple cider, are naturally gluten-free. Beer made from barley or wheat contains gluten unless it says “gluten-free” explicitly. Malt beer and other malt drinks are made from barley malt and contain gluten.

Your best bets are fish from the lake, grilled meat, potatoes, salad and vegetables without breading. Ask about the preparation there too.

What should I watch for at breakfast and a fondue evening?

Hotel breakfast in Zurich is often a buffet with Gipfeli, bread, plaited Zopf loaf and Bircher muesli. The tongs travel from basket to basket, and crumbs end up everywhere. Write to the hotel before you arrive to say you have coeliac disease, and ask whether there is gluten-free bread and where it will be. Many hotels will toast it separately on request or give it to you still packaged.

A fondue evening is sociable, and that is exactly the problem: everyone dips into the same pot, and every piece of bread puts gluten into the cheese. If you want to join in, ask the restaurant for a pot (caquelon) of your own and for potatoes or gluten-free bread. Many kitchens know the request, but not all of them can manage it.

What do I say in a restaurant?

In Zurich you can speak standard German, and “Ich habe Zöliakie” (I have coeliac disease) is understood. English also works well in Zurich’s international restaurants. Say what matters: no flour, no breadcrumbs, no ordinary oats, and a separate fryer or pan. And say that even a small amount harms you.

The card to show works in Zurich in German or English, printed out or as a picture on your phone. It can go into the kitchen as it is. Which questions work in general is in the article What to ask in a restaurant.

How does Gluti help me in Zurich?

In Gluti you can see on the map which places in and around Zurich are listed. Every place is checked by the Gluti team before it appears. The level tells you how a place works: “100% gluten-free”, “Separate preparation” or “Gluten-free options”. For many places you can also see whether other people would eat gluten-free there again and what they were able to eat.

Save a few favourites near where you are staying before your visit, plus a bakery for breakfast, and you will not have to start searching. If you know a good place in Zurich that is missing from Gluti, you can suggest it in the app.

Even checked information is no guarantee, because things can change in a kitchen. So ask every time anyway. The background on fryers, pizza ovens and toasters is in the article on cross-contamination, and what to think about for the journey is in the guide to travelling gluten-free.