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Antica Bottega del Vino (Verona, Italy)
by Sandra
We traveled in Italy for 2 weeks, and by far, this restaurant/wine bar had the best food and wine of the entire trip. The waiters were extremely friendly, it was not crowded at the time we were there in Verona (afternoon), and though the wine list was intimidating, when we asked the waiter for suggestions, EVERY wine he chose for us was ... terrific! We had a smooth full bodied red wine called, "Sire Sol," unlike any we have ever tasted before, and at the end of our trip, we all concluded that it was the best wine of the entire trip.
I had a pasta and bean soup that had a flavor identical to a soup my grandmother made for me many years ago, and unlike anything I have tasted in the U.S. since. I sure wish there was a way I could find that recipe for a soup similar to it. It had a brown soup base, not red tomato base like other pasta/bean soups. Absolutely delicious! If anyone knows the recipe for this special soup, please send it to me at: principalswife@roadrunner.com.
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Les Brasseurs (Geneva)
by fizzywizzy
For us, trying new beers is one of the must do activities of any holiday. Unfortunately (but also fortunately as it means you can drink some of these beers at home too) the increase in the choice of imported beers and lagers in the UK means that it is harder to find something new when you travel abroad, and you'll find the same beers ... cropping up everywhere you go. At a bar in Croatia last year I was disappointed to find that they only sold Heineken, a beer I can drink virtually anywhere in England and buy at any supermarket. The Croatians have a number of perfectly good beers that, as a tourist, I would prefer to drink and, what's more, drinking local beer (usually) works out cheaper.
Fortunately the trend for microbreweries appears to have enjoyed an upsurge recently, even in countries where you may think they don't have much of a tradition of beer making. Googling microbreweries in Geneva brought up four choices and, happily, we managed to visit three of them during our weekend trip.
Situated directly opposite Geneva's main train station Les Brasseurs (it means 'the brewers') was the first we came across but we had just arrived in the city and we were en route to our accommodation so we didn't visit until the next evening, a Sunday. There is some outdoor seating around both entrances but the road facing the train station is really busy and I'd recommend sitting at the other side on Rue Pradier instead as it will be a little more peaceful.
We made two visits to Les Brasseurs, one on a Sunday night, the other on Tuesday lunchtime and the place was very busy on both occasions. As well as being a popular microbrewery producing its own distinctive beers, Les Brasseurs also serves food and there were as many people eating as just drinking. We didn't eat at Les Brasseurs but we did give the beers a good go - purely on the grounds of research, you'll understand. If you do want to eat, the choice is not unlike that of somewhere like the Slug and Lettuce chain but here you can also have Swiss classics like fondue.
The interior is not unlike a traditional English town pub with lots of wood, and coloured glass partitions between booths. There are standard height tables which I prefer for dining but also some higher tables with bar stools and a line of bar stools at the bar. As drinks can be ordered at table you can sit at the bar without getting in the way of other customers. We sat at the bar on both occasions. As you enter from Place de Cornavin you can see the copper brewing gear (as you can tell, brewing terminology is not my strongpoint) on the left of the pub.
Les Brasseurs offer five of their own beers - a blonde, an amber double malt, a white - or wheat - beer, Diabolik - a red beer with a hint of chilli and a seasonal special. Between the two of us we tried all except the wheat beer as neither of us are particular fans of that brew. My favourite was the seasonal offering - agave and lime; it was really refreshing and had a crisp clean taste. Being a bit of a chilli head, Himself rushed to order a Diabolik (with an appropriate gravity of 6.66%) for his first beer but was a bit disappointed. The chilli flavour is only vaguely discernible and although it's quite conventionally beery there's a background fruit flavour; while this is a decent beer, there were better ones here.
The blonde was good; it's my tipple of choice at present (Tyneside Blonde, that's my hot tip) so this one would have to be good to measure up. I found this one cloudier than I'm used to and once I learned to drink it while simultaneously blocking out the emanating aroma of fart, it was pretty good. Himself tried the amber which was his favourite, not too malty but very distinctive with its caramel flavour.
If you can't choose, or want to try them all without falling over, you could go for the tasting selection - a wee glass of each which comes in a kind of test tube rack affair. Bought by the glass, the beers come in small (300ml), medium (600ml) and large (one litre!). Most people order a medium but ask for a "canette", the Swiss name for that size. Before I reveal the prices, remember that a) this is Geneva, it's not cheap, and b) these are quality beers. A small is about 5 CHF (around £3ish), a canette will set you back 10 CHF (about a fiver) and a litre comes in at 15 CHF which is approximately £10 - we didn't see many people drinking them. I would say that for Diabolik, don't buy more than a small, but the agave and lime really needs to be a canette.
If you are on a mission to achieve drunkenness and/or bankruptcy you can buy a colonne - a column with a tap at the bottom. These contain several litres. (Incidentally, in Slovenia these are known as "giraffes" - our friend Darko, who speaks a bizarre version of American-English, says to Darren "Hey buddy, next time we're in Maribor we're gonna break the legs of that giraffe!")
Partly due to its location, partly to its friendly atmosphere and of course because the beers are good, Les Brasseurs is a popular place and while it can be noisy, we never found it raucous or unpleasant. I was surprised how nice it was as places so close to train stations can be a bit grubby and attract "undesirables"; there are no such concerns here. There are numerous screens dotted around the place for showing sporting events and I suspect that, having quite a cosmopolitan air, it probably attracts an international crowd, making it pretty noisy when big events are screened.
Recommended for beer lovers in particular but really as a place to grab a last beer before heading to the airport and home, or for a drink stop anytime of the day or evening.
Opening hours
Monday to Wednesday 11.00am to 1.00am
Thursday, Friday and Saturday 11.00am to 2.00am
Sunday 3.00pm to 1.00am
If you like the sound of Les Brasseurs but are visiting some other part of eastern Switzerland, there are branches in Lausanne, Nyon and Neuchatel
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Les Brasseurs (Geneva)
by flodombey
Les Brasseurs is a wonderful micro-brewery pub in the centre of Geneva, right opposite the main train station (Cornavin). If you come out of the main entrance of the station and look across the main road directly in front of you, you will see a bar with a number of large green flags with golden B's on them, this is Les ... Brasseurs.
The bar is quite large and actually has entrances on to both the street at the front and the street to the rear, this part of Geneve is pretty much built on a grid system so it means that the bar straddles a block.
Outside of each entrance is a section of outdoor tables, cordoned off from the pavement, to allow for al fresco drinks and dining. The weather was pretty pleasent while we were there and we utilised this option and sat out in the sun on one of our visits.
It is testament to how good this place was that although we were only in Geneva for a long weekend we visited at least once a day. Once we realised it was a micro-brewery, it seemed rude not to try all the different beers at least once!
Basically they do a diabolik (red/fruit beer) and then a standard wheat beer plus white, blond and brown versions. The actual brewing equipment is housed in the center of the pub which is nice to see, but one of the down sides of this was that if you visited in the morning when they were cleaning out the pipes etc there was a terribly strong smell of hops and yeast.
Each beer can be bought in either small (0.3l) medium (0.6l) or large (1l) glasses. The large ones are so overwhelming I dont think I could manage more than one! We stuck with small and medium measures as we wanted to try each type anyway. The prices varied a little depending on the type but were roughly 5 CHF for a small (£3.30), 10 CHF for a medium (£6.60) or a whopping 15 CHF for a large (£10!).
Personally my favourite was the brown beer which was sort of like a leffe or abbey ale, rich and tasting very smooth. The blonde was also very nice and quite refreshing, as was the white which is served with a slice of lemon and is very light tasting.
My other half tried the bright red Diabolik (I do not know why it is called this, it seemed strange to us!) which is fruit flavoured. I tried a bit and really did not like it, the fruit was a bit strange with the beer, but my husband thought it was quite nice and would be lovely on a summers day.
They offer a tasting tray of each of the 5 beers with a small glass of each in a wooden holder which is a great idea if you are unsure what you might like.
Inside the bar there are many tables scattered about, some are booths, some are tall tables with stools and then there are many more formal restaurant style tables. We never struggled to find somewhere to sit although this bar was always busy when we went in, which we figured was to do with its proximity to the train station.
There are many screens scattered about which is handy when the football or other sports are showing.
From 5pm onwards business people seemed to congregate, discussing the day's trade over a few beers and there was always a steady flow of tourists with time to kill before a train.
This bar serves food although it is pretty much of the 'pub grub' variety, burgers, pizzas and sandwiches in the main. They did offer specials throughout the day (a burger and chips for 18CHF / £12) although we did not eat there because it was quite pricey for food and we knew we could probably get better in a less central location.
All in all I would recommend trying this place for the beers, which are all very good and brewed onsite. There is a nice atmosphere and although it is fairly expensive, the quality of the beer is very good.
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