While convention center-adjacent restaurants are not always known for originality or artistry, LUX Restaurant & Bar (sharing premises with Zurich Convention Center and Tonhalle) is not conventional. Open this past summer to great fanfare, the vision for LUX is as well-engineered as a fine Swiss watch between executive chef Gerhard Rentz’s sustainable-but-glamourous culinary approach and interior designers Jasmin Grego and Stephanie Kühnle’s lighthearted use of pastels and Mid-Century modern silhouettes.

Whether you dine here for date night, a get-together with friends or a business meeting, LUX is a conversation starter before you even get your hands on a menu or are seated. Once you do, it’s hard not to notice the earnest pledge management makes to its guests with regards to sustainability, ethical ingredient sourcing, support of local producers, offering a substantial number of vegetarian and vegan dishes, and providing a detailed explanation of its 100 percent climate-neutral policy.

On the surface, this feels like a syllabus for Environmental Science 101, but if you look at it as the locals do, LUX serves as a full-on sensory representation of the enviable local lifestyle experienced travelers from outside Switzerland aspire to. Once you are seated, you realize the backdrop is the city’s largest and most beautiful terrace overlooking Lake Zurich and the mountains in the distance. While the menu has an “international” leaning, Chef Rentz pays homage to Zürich’s local culinary roots with a handful of updated comfort food dishes, including a Zurichsee plate (lightly fried perch with a touch of saffron mayonnaise); Zürcher Geschnetzeltes, a creamy veal and mushroom stew served with Rösti potatoes; and a Wiediker Plättli crafted with local cheese — all made with a lighter-than-traditional hand.

If you enjoyed similar dishes in Zürich’s Old Town or indulged in fondue or raclette earlier in your trip, the menu offers plenty of originals to savor, such as grilled turbot (adorned with crispy chorizo, sweet potato, roasted red pepper and butter sauce), slow-cooked salmon (dressed up with poached sage and fennel vegetables, buckwheat and miso-lime dressing), and a divine crayfish bisque with white tomato foam and Zürich gin. Desserts are an accumulation of things one would never expect would work together. Case in point: Cream of yogurt from the Zürich area with beetroot jam and thyme-blood orange lassi.

The bar offers visitors a chance to sample Swiss sparkling wines as well as reds and whites from local Zürich winegrowers not available outside of Europe. However, the signature cocktails, mocktails and alcohol-free alternatives are undeniably intriguing. Highlights include the Minerva (gin, pineapple, lemongrass, ginger, lime, basil) and General Guisan (bourbon whiskey, sweet vermouth, apricot brandy), both with spirits and elements exclusive to Switzerland.

Lux Restaurant & Bar

Claridenstrasse 3 8002
Zürich, Switzerland
tel 41 44 206 36 40