British food in Zurich: a Sunday roast, a proper cuppa and where to find the Marmite

Swiss food is wonderful, but there comes a Sunday when only roast beef and a Yorkshire pudding will do. Here's where Brits in Zurich go for a taste of home.

The short version

• Sunday roast: Eden Kitchen & Bar at La Réserve Eden au Lac serves one every Sunday from 3pm to 9pm [6].
• Pub grub and the footie: The Lion Pub near Bahnhofstrasse does fish and chips with mushy peas and Sarson's malt vinegar, and shows the Premier League with the sound up [1][2].
• Afternoon tea: Le Hall at the Baur au Lac serves scones with English clotted cream; with a glass of champagne it's from CHF 99 (about £90) [7].
• Cheese and treats: The British Cheese Deli in the Im Viadukt market hall sells British farmhouse cheeses, and Britshop delivers British groceries across Switzerland, usually the next day [8][9].

Pound conversions use the Bank of England spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = CHF 1.0976).

A Sunday roast

The Sunday roast is the hardest British habit to feed in Zurich, because some of the British pubs here close on Sundays and the Swiss do their Sunday lunch differently.

The best-known option is at La Réserve Eden au Lac, the lakeside hotel, where Eden Kitchen & Bar runs a Sunday Roast every Sunday from 3pm to 9pm [6]. The hotel describes it as a short, refined menu of roast meats and seasonal sides, with the full menu and prices in a PDF on its site [6]. It's not a carvery in a Cotswolds pub, but it'll do nicely for a birthday or when the parents visit.

Otherwise, Brits in Zurich tend to host their own. The butchers will cut a rib of beef or a leg of lamb if you ask, and Yorkshire pudding batter needs only flour, eggs and milk, which the Swiss have in abundance. Gravy granules are another story: bring a tub back from the UK.

Pubs: pies, pints and the football

The Lion Pub is the most British of the bunch. Its November 2026 menu has a "British Classics" section: beer-battered cod and chips with mushy peas, tartar sauce and Sarson's malt vinegar, and a steak and ale pie with gravy, both CHF 31 (about £28) [2]. A pint-sized 50cl of lager, Strongbow cider or Murphy's stout is CHF 9.50 (about £8.70), and a pot of English Breakfast tea is CHF 6 (about £5.50) [2]. It shows the Premier League, Bundesliga and Champions League, and listed Autumn Nations rugby dates for November 2026 [1]. It's open Tuesday to Saturday from late afternoon and shut on Sundays and Mondays, apart from a few special Sundays such as 29 November, 6 December and 20 December 2026 [1].

Nelson Pub, near the Hauptbahnhof, has an English-style interior, about 32 beers with 15 on tap, and screens showing several events at once. It stays open until 4am on Friday and Saturday nights [3].

Kennedy's in Kreis 4 does a home-made Beef & Guinness pie and opens daily, with the kitchen serving until 10pm [4]. Paddy Reilly's is the one for a lively night with live sport and DJs [5].

We couldn't find a pub or café in Zurich serving a full English breakfast with a current menu. If you find one, tell us in the group and we'll add it.

Afternoon tea

For the full scones-and-clotted-cream treatment, Le Hall at the Baur au Lac hotel serves afternoon tea with finger sandwiches, freshly baked scones, seasonal jams and English clotted cream, plus a choice of LängGass tea blends [7]. When we checked, it listed afternoon tea with a glass of champagne at CHF 99, CHF 109 or CHF 119 (about £90, £99 or £108), depending on the champagne [7]. Book through the hotel. It's pricey, but no more than a top London hotel, and the view of the lake is free.

For an everyday cuppa, the pubs above serve English Breakfast tea, but many Swiss cafés will bring you a teabag on a saucer next to a pot of lukewarm water. Brits usually give up and make their own.

Shops: cheese, Marmite and Christmas pud

There's no big British supermarket in Zurich, so the shopping is a mix of one market stall and online orders.

British Cheese Deli

The British Cheese Deli has a stall in the Markthalle Im Viadukt, the covered market under the railway arches in Kreis 5 [8]. It sells farmhouse cheeses from British and Irish producers, including traditional Cheddar and Stilton, plus crackers, oatcakes, chutneys and pickles [8]. It's run alongside Jim's British Market, a British shop in Gland near Geneva, and orders can be delivered across Switzerland [8]. Jim's online shop has sections for tea, spreads, chilled meat and Christmas pies, puddings and desserts [8].

Britshop

Britshop is a Swiss online shop that says it stocks more than 1,000 products from the UK [9]. Because the stock is already in Switzerland, there are no customs surprises: orders placed before 3pm go by priority post for next-day delivery, and the minimum order is CHF 35 (about £32) before postage [9]. Its range includes English tea, spreads and marmalades, and at Christmas, Christmas puddings, mince pies and cakes [9]. Order the pud early: by mid-December everyone else has had the same idea.

Swiss supermarkets

The big Swiss supermarket chains have international shelves, but British items come and go, and they're dearer than at home. Don't count on finding PG Tips, Bisto or salad cream in your local branch.

Bringing it back from Blighty

Plenty of Brits do a "Marmite run" on every trip home: teabags, Marmite, gravy, Branston, Bisto and a box of crumpets in the hand luggage. Switzerland isn't in the EU customs union, so meat, dairy, alcohol and other goods you bring in are subject to Swiss allowances and limits. Check the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG) rules before you pack a whole gammon. Non-perishable treats like tea, Marmite and biscuits are rarely a problem.

The British food calendar in Zurich

Missing a particular taste of home? Ask in our community group for Brits in Switzerland, where someone always knows who's got crumpets in stock. Our guide to British life in Zurich covers the clubs, and nightlife in Zurich has the rest of the city's bars.

Sources

1. The Lion Pub Zürich (2026 screening dates and opening hours)
2. The Lion Pub Zürich: Food and drinks menu (November 2026)
3. Nelson Pub Zürich
4. Kennedy's Irish Pub
5. Paddy Reilly's Irish Pub Zürich (2026 event listings)
6. La Réserve Eden au Lac Zurich: Sunday Roast (page updated 4 May 2026)
7. Baur au Lac: Afternoon tea at Le Hall
8. Jim's British Market: British Cheese Deli
9. Britshop

Keep reading

• British life in Zurich
• Nightlife in Zurich
• Cost of living in Zurich vs London and the UK average
• Moving pets and belongings from the UK