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Geneva Restaurants

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Geneva Restaurant Reviews

Geneva has more restaurants per capita than New York City, and its chefs excel at everything from haute gastronomie to traditional bistro fare to creative ethnic food.

Geneva's rich, earthy local cuisine emphasizes abats (organ meats), andouillettes (chitterling sausages), potatoes, and onions. Lac Léman yields abundant fish—perch, trout, féra (related to salmon), and omble (char)—in summer. La chasse (wild game) turns up between late September and mid-December. Year-round standards include pieds de cochon (pigs' feet), fricassée de porc (pork simmered in wine), longeole (unsmoked pork sausage stuffed with cabbage and fennel), petit salé (salt pork), tripe, and boudin noir (rich, rosy-brown blood pudding).

Prices at the top spots can be dry-mouth high, but—as in most Swiss cities—you'll save considerably by choosing a prix-fixe menu or a lunchtime plat du jour. It is possible to eat well at even the plainest corner bistro, but if you want to splurge, starting with truffles and foie gras, ending with poire William (a pear-based eau-de-vie), and plumbing the depths of great French-Swiss wine lists, there's no limit to what you can spend here.

Be sure to plan ahead: Many of the top spots close on weekends, and it's a good idea to make reservations wherever you go.

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