Banking on a Fun Lesson in Fine Dining and High-Ditch Shopping in Switzerland

The name Huldrych Zwingli doesn’t exactly ring the same bell as that of William Tell for anyone with a cursory knowledge of Swiss history, but this town’s 16th-Century religious leader obviously left an indelible impression on local citizens with his admonition that the only true way to salvation was to “pray and work.”

With Zurich’s 350 international banking houses, equally impressive number of insurance companies and reputation for cleanliness, order and around-the-clock work habits, visitors might reasonably expect to arrive in a city created from equal parts of Wall Street, West Point and Hartford, Conn.

While this is obviously not the case, Zwingli’s no-nonsense advice certainly took hold with city fathers, and Zurich became the country’s economic engine, at the same time gaining its misbegotten reputation for being a squeaky-clean city with an obsession for endless toil and very little else.

Sorry, but the image is all wrong. This lovely old city straddling the Limmat River in northeast Switzerland has a lot going for it besides banker’s gray, starched collars and numbered accounts for deposed Third World dictators.

Just walk across the Limmat into Old Town and discover the lineup of massive and very handsome medieval Zunfthausen (guild houses), named for the craftsmen and growers who were city providers and also largely ran the city during that era. A walk beneath the Zunfthausen arcades along Limmat Quay, through Old Town’s narrow streets and along the shore of Lake Zurich is as enjoyable a stroll as any we know.

Bahnhofstrasse, leading from the railway station through the heart of town to Lake Zurich, takes its place beside any of the major shopping streets of the world. Shop windows glitter and beckon with Sprungli chocolates, Rolex and Patek Philippe watches, elegant couturiers , Tiffany, Cartier and a dizzying cornucopia of other absolute essentials just waiting for the visitor with a full deck of credit cards.

Just a step off Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich previews its cultural treasures in the lovely 12th-Century Fraumunster church, with glorious and soaring chancel windows by Marc Chagall showing the Mother and Child accepting gifts from the three kings amid a group of Chagall’s whimsical animals, all done in soft reds, greens, gold and blue. Other fine churches, museums and preforming arts abound.

An 18th-Century German writer said that, while Berlin had no more than “three or four people of taste and intelligence, there are in tiny Zurich 20 or 30 . . . and they are jovial and witty rascals.” While those witty rascals didn’t exactly regale us with one-liners during our many visits, our spirits--like the Swiss franc--never go down in this very cosmopolitan and colorful town.

How long/how much? Give it two full days, perhaps another for cruising Lake Zurich or day trips into the mountains and countryside. The cost of comfortable lodging is not all that bad by today’s big-city standards, with dining costs from moderate up.

Getting settled in: Hotel Florhof, a 400-year-old patrician mansion across the river on the edge of Old Town, has been a favorite of ours for many years, and is now preserved as a historic building. The lobby and lounge are crammed with antiques, and the restaurant with its marvelous blue-tile stove serves excellent food at reasonable prices.

One may also dine in the garden terrace, beside an ancient fig tree that is making a comeback from previous ills. It is owned and managed by the Schilter family, whose friendliness and good spirits rub off on the staff.

Not far from the Florhof and a five-minute tram ride from town center, Hotel Eos is a fin de siecle , art nouveau villa in one of Zurich’s best residential areas. Only 24 rooms here and only breakfast served, yet they are most sumptuous spreads, with seven breads and the owner’s homemade marmalades.

The Arc Royal, part of the Comfort Inn chain, is a modern-in-every-respect place, just a five-minute walk from the train station. It’s a hotel garni (breakfast only), and the bedrooms are small and utilitarian, yet each has color TV, mini-bar and safty-deposit box.

Regional food and drink: Zuri geschnetzeltes mit rosti is Zurich’s most famous dish: bits of veal in a basil-mushroom cream sauce almost always served with rosti , a pancake-like concoction of grated potatoes, baked or fried to a golden brown. It’s delicious and on the menus of restaurants throughout Switzerland.

Other Zurich specialties are leberspiessli (calf’s liver cooked on a spit with bacon), kalbsbratwurst (veal sausage) and kutteln nach Zurcherart , which dresses tripe with mushrooms, white wine and caraway seeds. Egli, a lake or river whitefish, is delicious grilled or fried, often with almonds.

Fendant white wines and Dole reds are excellent, and the Epesses whites from the Genever region are refreshingly dry.

Good local dining: The Kropf restaurant (In Gassen 16) is in a 15th-Century burgher’s house that has the mother of all baroque ceilings, with cupids, cherubs and angels threatening to fall in your soup. It’s been a restaurant and ale house for the past century, very popular with locals and visitors.

Kropf’s motherly waitresses are very friendly and helpful, badgering you to “eat before it gets cold.” The menu is heavy with Swiss-German food, including half a dozen kinds of wurst ($5.50), pork knuckle with sauerkraut or potato salad ($12) and three two-course menus running from $15 to $18.

Oepfelchammer (Rindermarkt 12) is a 1357 house that has been a Zurich-style weinstube -restaurant for the past two centuries. There are two rooms here, one with dark-panel walls and leaded windows, the other a very rustic enclave with ancient beams. Ask owners Werner or Rosa Maria Hausmann how you may chin the beams, get a free glass of wine and earn the right to carve your initials beside those of countless other diners.

Try starting with the hobelkase (carpenter’s plane cheese; it takes one to cut the brick-like stuff) and dark bread ($5.60). It’s delicious with white wine. The geschnetzeltes mit rosti goes for $22, and a $10 menu offers any hors d’oeuvre and main courses such as a pigeon terrine with an asparagus salad.

Vorderer Sternen (Bellevueplatz) is very much a restaurant for locals, near the Opera House in Old Town. It’s a simple place with lamps hanging over tables and baskets of great country bread at your elbow. Have a go at the Wiener schnitzel with vegetables and French fries for $16.50, or the chicken curry for $15. There’s an outdoor terrace, plus a good selection of wines.

Going first-class: Hotel Savoy Baur en Ville has been one of the city’s best hotels since 1838, which makes it Zurich’s oldest. Its location on Paradeplatz, halfway down Bahnhofstrasse, is perfect, and there’s an intimate and personal feeling about the place that so many luxury hotels lack. Every comfort and amenity is at one’s fingertips, and the hotel’s fine dining room and bar are both gathering spots for the town’s social and business elite.

Haus zum Ruden (Limmatquai 42), a magnificent guild house, has a Gothic Room on the second floor, with a barrel-vaulted ceiling of 35-foot curved beams that have surely been there since its opening in 1295. There are gigantic flower arrangements about--fresh flowers on each table set with gorgeous linens.

A seven-course gourmet menu is priced at $98, while a shorter version goes for $68.50. One may also order from a gigantic a la carte listing, with main courses about $38. Tabs are steep, but the food and service are nonpareil, the ambience divine.

On your own: While Zurich is a town for walking, please make time for its marvelous museums. Start with the Swiss National Museum near the railway station for an exhaustive look at Swiss history, art and artifacts from Roman times.

The Kunsthaus has a very respectable collection of old masters, and an even better one of the art giants of the 19th and 20th centuries. And for anyone interested in time-measurement devices dating from pre-Christian times, stop in the Beyer (no relation) Museum of Time at the firm’s store on Bahnhofstrasse 31. There are at least 35 more museums, ranging from Thomas Mann and American Indians to coffee and toys.

Visitors may also take steamer cruises on Lake Zurich, with everything offered from luncheon, fondue and dinner cruises to a grand tour of the lake running from 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. for $16, with restaurant on board.

GUIDEBOOK

Zurich

Getting there: Fly Swissair, American, TWA or Delta to Zurich. The advance-purchase, round-trip fare costs about $685-$735.

A few fast facts: The Swiss franc recently sold for 1.3 to the dollar, or about 77 cents each. Summer visits are best made between late spring and the end of September, while great skiing in eastern Switzerland can be had anytime from now until April.

Accommodations: Hotel Florhof (Florhofgasse 4; $140-$168 double B&B;); Eos (Carmenstrasse 18; $112-$130 double B&B;); Arc Royal (Leonhardstrasse 6; $126 double B&B;); Savoy Baur en Ville (Am Paradeplatz; $343 double B&B;).

For more information: Call the Swiss National Tourist Office at (213) 335-5980, or write (222 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 1570, El Segundo 90245) for a brochure on Zurich, another with city map and hotel guide that includes prices, also one on excursions nearby.