East Eats West

Yummy hot chocolate in Zurich

Picture: Makes you happy instantenously!

It is clear that without coffee Western economies would be less productive and every office needs to have a coffee machine. With the success of Starbucks coffee has also become a lifestyle drink for young people and mothers with strollers. With the rise of coffee another hot drink slowly lost its importance: the hot chocolate. If one orders a hot chocolate in a restaurant nowadays one often gets an artificial brown drink that is prepared from a sachet of chocolate powder. Is the demise of hot chocolate therefore irreversible? Not quite yet. In Zurich one can find a few cafés (for the lack of a better word) that serve homemade hot chocolate that gets chocoholics like me raving. My clear favourite is the Tea Café Schwarzenbach that serves a not too sweet hot chocolate in a big cup with that is foamy on top. A close second is the richer and sweeter hot chocolate from Café Schober (my mom and girlfriend prefer Schober over Schwarzenbach). But if you are a true connoisseur of chocolate and want absolute purity, you have to try the hot chocolate from Truffe Zurich. Elisabetta Capei, the owner, serves a hot chocolate that is basically chocolate molten, nothing else. So next time try a hot chocolate instead of a Latte Machiatto with Caramel from Starbucks!

Here you can find the cafés’ websites:

http://www.truffe-zurich.ch/

http://www.schwarzenbach.ch/g3.cfm/s_page/56790

http://www.cafe-conditorei-schober.ch/pages/conditoreigeschichte/rahmen_conditorei.html

Green tea sampling

Picture: Preparation of Japanese Macha green tea.

I am again and again surprised by how much Asian influence can be found in such a little town as Zurich. Recently I stumbled across a green tea sampling in a little Japanese tea room run by a very charming Japanese lady. The tea room serves original Japanese green tea, Macha (powder) and Sencha (leaves). Go, have a sip and marvel at the Japanese tea cups!

Address: Tea Room Sei-un-do, Gemeindestrasse 19, 8032 Zürich (near Kreuzplatz)

Spend more and be happy!

Picture: Makes you happy!

According to an article in The Economist, price plays an important role in indicating how pleasurable something could be. In experiments, scientists found that the indicated price of a bottle of wine affects the pleasure of drinking it, even if it is exactly the same bottle. For conspicuous consumption in particular, a high-priced substances are enjoyed more. Its consumption is a social display of status and indicates better mating opportunities. This also applies to a collection of art: a collector who has paid millions for a plain-coloured canvas or a pickled sheep probably really does think it is beautiful. According to The Economist “… a successful marketing campaign can not only make people more interested in a product, but also, truly, make them enjoy it more.” Maybe the old adage that if something is free it is worth nothing is right?

http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10530119

Affordable photos

Picture: Inside the Lumas Photo Gallery in Zurich.

Photography has firmly established itself as collectable art and therefore prices for photos by well-known photographers and artists have skyrocketed. Should you nevertheless fancy high-quality pictures by accomplished photographers like Michel Comte, Youssef Nabil or even Edward Steichen you can buy prints from the various Lumas Galleries. The prints come in editions of 75 to 100 and even a big format photograph with frame will rarely cost more than 2’000 Swiss francs.

For more information visit Lumas’ website:

http://www.uk.lumas.com/

Living low

Picture: No skyscrapers here!

Compared with bigger cities, Zurich has nothing too awe-inspiring to boast about. I recently talked to a few expats living in Zurich in order to find out what they liked about Zurich. First and foremost they praised Zurich’s cleanliness, its safety and convenience. But one remark stood out. A woman was particularly intrigued by the absence of skyscrapers that in turn gives Zurich the feel of a big village, not an ugly fast developing metropolis very common in Asia nowadays. Maybe the old slogan of Zurich Tourism “Little big city” should be changed into “Big little village”?

Carving

Picture: Mr.Jojic and his hand-carved wooden frames.

I have a few paintings hanging on my wall that cost less than the frame they are in. I recently discovered, as I talked to Mr.Jojic, a frame-carver, that I am not the only one paying more for the frame than for the painting. The reason is simple: a custom-made frame can give a painting or picture the special touch and make it look better. I still remember hanging huge posters on my wall when I was a teenager and the big difference a frame made (never mind that the said posters were of Guns n Roses!). Mr. Jojic is the last of two frame-carvers in Zurich. He has a little shop in Seefeld and his workshop is on Hegibachplatz. Mr.Jojic can produce any type of frame for pictures, paintings or mirrors by hand. But he is known for carving beautiful wooden frames. His shop is only open on Saturday or by appointment. But better call beforehand as he spends six months of the year in Greece painting, fishing and free-diving! Profil: Seefeldstrasse 136 in Zurich. Phone: 076 414 77 64.

The good things in life

Picture: If you are tired of lifestyle magazines full of luxury ads, try this one!

A friend of mine recently came up with a head-on definition of my blog: I write about the good (quality) things in life! Indeed! Should you also be as frustrated as I am with the sheer number of advertisements in any “lifestyle” magazine, I can highly recommend you two publications that deliver in-depth, qualitative coverage of life, art, architecture and fashion. Intelligent Life is published by The Economist and therefore the quality is assured. In contrast to the weekly publication, the quarterly Intelligent Life magazine is not about business but lifestyle, travels and other topics for the discerning reader. 032c is a German quarterly publication (in English) that gives in-depth interview with leading artists, architects and other key-figures of modern life. Both publications can be ordered online.

http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/

http://www.032c.com/

Away from Bahnhofstrasse

Picture: No Gucci shops to be found in here!

Bahnhofstrasse, the legendary shopping-avenue in Zurich, hit an all-time high in property value with a whopping 7’000 Swiss francs for a square meter (but still nothing compared to London). Bahnhofstrasse is home to fancy luxury shops and expensive retailers. Should you fancy something more local, more original and more authentic there are plenty of shops in the nooks and crany of Zurich. The best way to find your way around Zurich, as the shops are littered across the whole city, is by using the smart and handy Prime Guide. It is printed in English and German and features 140 shops. The list of items to be bought is long: from antiques to clothes, from furniture to coffee and from flowers to books. You can get the newest copy online at: http://www.primeguide.ch/ 

How to tell when the art bubble pops

The art market has been red hot for quite a while. It has been mostly fed by super-rich investment bankers who decided to spend their fortunes on contemporary art. With the financial world in turmoil because of the subprime crisis it is only a matter of time when the art market will also experience a downturn. The question is when? One indicator for a possible pop of the art market bubble is that financial conference advisers start to come up with a conference in London with the title “Investing in Art: A new alternative asset class” (by Euromoney). At that conference you can learn how volatile this asset class is. My bet: soon very volatile (as quantitative hedge-funds in August and November last year)!

Should you nevertheless be interested in the conference, learn more here: www.euromoneytraining.com/uk 

Please confirm your car is licked

English is the lingua franca of today and mastering it is a must for every aspiring tourist destination. As everyone knows, practise makes perfect, also with language. Everyone who has tried to ask for directions for example in Japan appreciates even the most basic language skills. My friend Irene forwarded me a website called Engrish that collects funny English mistakes across Asia: they range from the bizarre to the plain funny. Engrish.pps herunterladen . For more visit Engrish here: http://www.engrish.com/

• For restrooms go back toward your behind
• You are available at next ticket office
• We can help you with our pleasure
• Keep table cleaned after dying