Showing posts with label Geneva. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Geneva. Show all posts

Sunday, February 09, 2014

At last: good Chinese food in Switzerland in "Le Mandarin"

One of the minor challenges in Switzerland: getting decent Chinese food. Of course, you cannot get anywhere Chinese food like in China, but now the Chinese are marching into Europe too, you would expect choice to go up. But finding good places proved to be tough, until today.
Today, we had an excellent lunch in Le Mandarin in Geneva.
The entrance looked a bit obscure, but when you enter the restaurant, you know you are at the right place.
The place was packed, both with Chinese and non-Chinese. And unlike some other Chinese restaurants the food was good, the place was clean, had a working airco and wifi. Staff is friendly and are able to answer you in any language, apart from Dutch. What more do you want?
They had a limited lunch card, which is only good, since we have to go back again for dinner. Of course, they were not perfect. The fried dumplings were not as good as those at Mr. Wang in Shanghai, and xiaolongbao was not offered. But otherwise, it was worth the trip from Lausanne to Geneva. Did I tell it was also affordable? That is, for Swiss standards.
Making a reservation in advance is needed. During the week they are off between 2pm and 7pm, but they are open from 12 till 11 in the weekend, which is a good idea as many Swiss restaurants are closed on Sunday´s.
In Lausanne we have basically given up on Chinese food, and reports from Basel till Lugano suggest that China´s cuisine is still in need of a decent upgrade. If you have tips on restaurants welcome.
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