Restaurant Swaad — Restaurant in Zurich

Worst Indian dining experience. Ever.

I chose to make the longish walk, in the cold rain, to Swaad this Thursday night because Thursday nights at Swaad are buffet nights. Right? Apparently not. Read on.

I arrive circa 8pm. One couple with a baby are leaving, another couple are close to finishing. I am given a welcome as sparse as the customer roll-call in the event of a fire drill.

Five minutes later, I am the only customer in there. A young fellow saunters over and drops two menus before me. He makes a recommendation. A drinks recommendation of sparkling wine, topped off with mango juice. All for only 10 CHF. "No, thank you, my good man. I'll settle for a large beer at half the price".

I then picked up the other menu and enquired "Not buffet?". No. Not buffet. Menu.

I chose the 'Hajari Kebab' (13.50 CHF) for starters, and safe-bet, 'Swaad Thali' (33.50 CHF) for main.

It turns out that my trip to Swaad has taught me some new Hindi words. I now know that Hajari translate to 'plain chicken', and 'Swaad' means 'premium price for no discernible added premium'.

Here's the rub. At 9 o'clock a coach-load (I have a photo of the coach) of about 30 Indian folk rolled into the restaurant and immediately started helping themselves to the bain-marie's of food I had passed on my entrance. Turns out Thursday was buffet night, just not buffet night for me.

My thali contained a curry dish with fish that was cooked on one half only, and a small blob of creamy chicken curry with 3 chicken cubes languishing. I couldn't work out what to do with the bowel of plain yoghurt. I ate my rice, dipped my naan, and exited -...

Excellent food and service. The packaging of the food was fantastic; each generous portion of biryani came in its own partitioned plate with a serving of Rita. The plates are sturdy, disposable ones; great for takeaways. The employee who took our order was the absolute best ! The delivery man went above and beyond by carrying our heavy order for us to the doorstep of our hotel room.

Thank you for making us the order even when you are supposed to be closed. We were a large group and we needed food fast. The speedy delivery of such a large order was exceptional ! Not to mention prices were totally fair given the portions, we absolutely got high value. Try the chicken biryani, the chicken tikka masala (I liked it more than the korma) and Rita with cucumber. Will definitely order from...

We are visiting Zurich for the first time from the USA- a vacation trip. We have been in Europe for a week now and were longing for tasty Indian food. Enter Swaad restaurant where we were warmly greeted by Harwinder Singh. We were promptly seated at a corner table where the wall above said “Life is what happens between coffee and wine”. In reality, the life at Swaad starts with and after the wine. The Indian food we tasted was perhaps the best in Europe we had so far. Naan (a bread from North India) seemed so soft and fresh straight out of a tandoori oven. Regional curries like kadhi, matter paneer and raseeli aloo ki sabji were just yummy. I will soon return to try other dishes, which I am sure will be delicious. Guys you have one of the greatest Mohali Dhaba right here in Zurich,...