Zurich Day 2 - Pt. 3
08 September 2017, continued
We made it back to the old town and found ourselves again in the area around the Niederhofstraße. We were getting hungry, so we stopped at a sausage stall and grabbed a bratwurst with mustard and a chunk of hearty rye bread to share. I loved how they had old barrels set out front of the shop to serve as a quick table, where we could stand and enjoy our lunch with a nice side of people watching. Just a short walk further down the path was a bar called Andorra. They had a little outdoor seating area, where we sat with local beers from Chobfab and watched the crowds go by. This area was an epic people watching spot, and seemed to have a great mix of tourists and locals alike. As we sat with our drinks, a guy in the building across from us was hanging out the window, watching all the passers-by along with us. We debated a bit about where we were going for dinner tonight, and decided that it would just have to be fondue. I actually never had fondue before, but it is such a quintessential Swiss dish that we couldn't come here without trying it!
We stopped and sat by a fountain while looking over places to find some fondue. Fountains are different here in Zurich, as many of them are actually filled with fresh drinking water. It is truly an amazing thing that the city provides this, but really it shouldn't be something that is so surprising. Access to clean, fresh water should be the bare minimum expected of a society. Access to water is the reason the Romans built all those viaducts so many years ago. And today, with the problem of what to do with all the waste from water bottles, Zurich has a solution. Just sitting there deciding on a restaurant, we watched three different people come for a drink, two of them filling up their reusable bottles and going on their way. Nobody in Zurich has to go without clean drinking water, no matter where they are in the city. All of the fountains I've posted pictures of since arriving in Zurich were supplying fresh drinking water. That is just spectacular. And when you think of it, if you go through the cost and trouble of running pipes, building fountains, and providing a constant supply of relatively clean water for decoration as many cities do, how much more effort would it be to make it drinkable? I can't explain how much I loved seeing this!
While it may have been a place directed more to the tourist crowd, Swiss Chuchi got some nice reviews for their fondue, and when compared to others also highly reviewed it wasn't too expensive. Right away, the chalet-style décor and cheeky paintings set the atmosphere, and our placemats had a really interesting design style we've seen a bit here in Switzerland. Our fondue arrived in a regular saucepan instead of the all-too-cliché fondue pots you see at the houseware stores. We added a side of pickles with small onions, and of course it came with the basket of bread. Cheesy goodness to the last drop, it was a heartier meal than I had actually expected. When we thought we had finished, our server looked at us like the amateurs we were, and scraped off the fried bits from the bottom of the pan for what he said was the best part. Not going to lie, those little crispy bits of cheese were fantastic!
We were on our way down a small side alley, heading back to the main street hoping to find some fun pubs for our last night in Zurich. We walked past a door with a sign above that read “Aelpli Bar”. The perky sound of an accordion came pouring out from inside, so we stopped to listen for a minute and could easily tell it was live music rather than just from the speakers. Remembering the lesson we learned in Ireland – always stop to check out the local pub when you hear live traditional music – we went in and grabbed the last stools at the tight bar. The walls were covered with old Swiss farming and mountaineering décor that gave the room so much character. A guy was up in the front jamming out on his accordion alongside another playing the piano. Traditional music is one of my true passions in life, and I sat high on the stool, proud that I recognized more than a few of the melodies. The musician was wearing the traditional trachen, and in those clothes with the long hair and beard, he looked like they just pulled him off a mountainside from somewhere in the Alps. We had a couple local Swiss beers as we watched him play, fascinated by his talent. Call us nerds, but we really do love accordion music. Polka is a style that tends to get a bit of a chuckle from people, but it is really fantastic stuff! One of the ladies sitting at a table started playing the spoons along with the music as the lovely server seemed to float throughout the room as she brought beers to the tables. The whole building just felt so alive!
As we watched the server drop drinks off at the various tables, we noticed she kept bringing out a carafe of some white liquid. We checked the menu and saw a drink called the Aelpli-Milch. The bartender saw us looking at it, and told us it was their house specialty. She was making one for another table, and it looked so good that we decided to order one ourselves. It was boozy, creamy, and full of flavor – I’d say it was the perfect drink! Another guy got up to play accordion, and the first musician walked back to his table serenaded with the applause of his amazed audience. We sipped on our Aelpli-Milch as the music continued on, a slightly different style but still as much fun. It was getting late into the night and we need to leave early tomorrow to get the car, but our time in the Aelpli Bar was just so much fun we couldn’t pull ourselves away until the music finally had to stop.
Auf Wiedersehen, Zurich! Thanks for the memories…
**Note on the Aelpli-Milch**
The nice lady behind the bar essentially gave us the recipe for this. She showed us step by step as she made the drink, explaining along the way what she was doing, and Beth wrote it all down afterwards. We talked about this a bit after we left, and have made the decision not to post the recipe. We are trying to make a culinary feature for this site, and are more than willing to share regional and even local dishes. However specific house-specialty creations from a small private business should be kept as their own, and not spread out over the internet. That is our code of ethics, anyway. If you want an Aelpli-Milch, come over for a visit and we will gladly make one up. Or even better, go visit the Aelpli Bar in Zurich and get the real deal, with a side of friendly service and great music. You won’t be disappointed!
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