Zurich, August 2011 – You may already know about my sweet tooth from my previous posts, Pink Robes & Cherry Soup at Ritz Paris and Ladurée: A Little Taste of Paris. The mere mention of macarons brings me to more thoughts on – well, macarons….

I had long believed that the macaron was either a French or Italian concoction, until I visited Confiserie Sprungli in Zurich. Founded in 1836, Sprungli is best known for its signature macaron called “Luxemburgerli”, being named so as it was invented by Sprungli in Luxembourg. The Swiss macarons are smaller in size than the French ones and has a lighter taste. To me, it didn’t matter who invented the macaron, because regardless, each version – French, Italian or Swiss – has its own merits!

After tasting some Luxemburgerli on a crisp summer morning, Mr. King & I set out on exploring Swiss National Museum’s Landesmuseum. You may recall that I am a Heidi fan (On Bernina Express to St. Moritz), so I was elated and surprised to see Heidi, Johanna Spyri’s fiction about an orphan girl from the Alps, as one of the Swiss national treasures.

Speaking of treasures, Mr.King & I certainly considered Zeughauskeller – a traditional Swiss restaurant situated in a mediaeval arsenal off Bahnhofstrasse (Station Street) – one of them. We ate a delicious hearty Swiss meal of Wienerschnitzel and Bratbursts, but nothing prepared us for the Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) that came in a enormous portion.

To work off our intake of potatoes, we strolled along the river on Limmatquai and Altstadt (Old Town), and headed to Kunsthaus Museum, which had an impressive collection of modern artworks, including paintings by Monet and Picasso paintings. All that walking made us hungry, yet again!

At the end of a long day of sightseeing, Mr. King & I indulged in an “all-chocolate” afternoon tea, consisting of creamy hot chocolate and rich fudge chocolate cake at Sprungli’s café in Paradeplatz. The cocoa flavor was intense. The cake was dense, yet moist. Every sip and bite was pure chocolate. Even the café was decorated in dark brown and black.

We were absolutely in Chocolate Heaven!

All photos were taken by Mrs. King, except the ones of Zeughauskeller.