Our summer holiday this year was a trip to Switzerland, zipping around the country to watch the knockout games of the UEFA European Women’s Championship. We were there for seven nights, and saw five football matches in four different cities. This meant that we were on the move a lot, so we didn’t get to spend a lot of time in the cities we visited, but we had a great time on our whirlwind tour, experiencing the highs and lows of tournament football and eating some good food!

Overall, we didn’t feel like Switzerland was a vegan haven. There were plenty of vegan options around, but few fully vegan places. I feel like some of the options were quite uninspired too, but on reflection this may be simply because (a) I’m very spoiled when it comes to good vegan food, and (b) the prices are so high that very few dishes could really live up to it. Whatever you have heard about prices in Switzerland, it’s all true! Despite this gentle complaining, we enjoyed our trip very much and definitely found plenty to enjoy in the vegan scene – starting with this spot.

We flew in and out of Zürich, and visited Swing Kitchen both times on arrival as we were looking for somewhere close to the main station. I’ve visited this chain before in Berlin and Vienna, and the Zürich branch is very consistent with those other locations. This is a well organised set up with solid vegan fast food. There were menus on each table, and you could choose to order either at the counter or at the machines in the doorway.

On our first visit, Mother HH ordered the classic cheese burger, which she deemed messy to eat, but nice.

Dr HH had the truffle melt burger, which had a good strong truffle flavour and nice mayo. For both of these burgers, the patty was not convincing meat like Beyond, but very tasty nevertheless.

I liked the avocado chick’n planty so much that I had it on both visits. The chicken patty was really tasty (planty is derived from the name of the brand, Planted, it popped up everywhere in Switzerland), the guacamole was nice but not particularly special, and the chipotle sauce added a nice bit of seasoning. It was a nice simple dish, executed well, and there are few things I love more than a good chicken burger.

My enthusiasm lured my loved ones over to the chicken page in the menu on our subsequent visit. This time, Dr HH tried the hot honny chick’n planty. The sauce was a bit sweet and a bit spicy, overall very pleasant.

And Mother HH tried the classic chick’n planty, which had just the right amount of mayo and salad, and it held together for easy eating.

We all got fries with our burgers, and they were salty, crispy, and hot. We also got the soft drinks that come with free refills at the machine, which is always a treat – Dr HH and I like to combine the cola and raspberry ade to get an extra special drink.

There is indoor and outdoor seating, and it’s in quite a pleasant location for sitting out and looking at the river – we don’t like to sit amongst smokers though, so we stayed indoors for fresher air.

Personally I’m always happy to spot a Swing Kitchen when I go on holiday, as I know I can count on getting some good quality burgers in a fully vegan establishment. Here’s hoping they spread to more locations!