Stucki — Tanja Grandits

Stucki is the suburban-villa restaurant that Tanja Grandits has run since 2008. Originally opened in 1913 by the Stucki family and held a single Michelin star for most of the twentieth century, the restaurant was transformed by Grandits — who took it to two stars within three years and was named Gault Millau's Swiss Chef of the Year in 2014 and again in 2020. She is the most influential Swiss chef of her generation and the first woman to hold two stars in the German-speaking canton.

The cooking is unlike any other two-star kitchen in Europe. Grandits builds tasting menus around colour and aromatic — a 'yellow' menu running from turmeric-poached celeriac through saffron scallop to mango-and-passion-fruit dessert; a 'green' menu shaped by sorrel, basil, tarragon and green strawberries. It is a deliberate break from classical French protein-centred tasting structure. The kitchen uses less meat than any two-star in Europe and gets better results from it.

The dining room is a glass-wrapped extension of a 1900s villa on the Bruderholz hill south of the city centre, looking over a kitchen garden that supplies half the herbs on the plate. Service is warm, female-led and notably unhurried; Grandits herself emerges between courses. The signature six-course at CHF 240 is the most talked-about tasting in Switzerland.

To Impress Clients: Stucki's colour-menu format is genuinely unusual — even a well-travelled European client is unlikely to have sat through a 'yellow' tasting before. It generates conversation that a conventional tasting cannot, reveals Grandits's specificity without ever feeling gimmicky, and gives the evening a memorable structural hook. The wine pairings are as considered as any in the country.