First, Hello EF members this is my first thread here ^_^

I am a Thai exchange student living Zug. I live in Bangkok where Japanese food is cooked by a Japanese (and also the same with thai and chinese.) I have been five month away from my food paradise now and I crave for asian food(especially Japanese!!!!!) So I randomly pick the restaurant to eat, X_X , they all disappointed me. They are not even close. Once I ordered a ramen and was served with a bowl of korean instant noodle with a small piece of pork. I went to "Dragon Place" and ordered a Tom Yum. It just tasted like the instant tom yum powder. I'm very frustrated with these restaurants. Do you guys have any good recommendation? Thankyou

Probably your best option is to save your money for a flight home! Coming from NZ, I certainly miss the wide variety of high quality Asian food. However, I'll be ok here because I like sausages and potatoes too!

Ive given up on good (asian) food here! normally will fly to london to get my fix..cheaper and better!

Being a student myself, I don't really go to places just to experiment and if I had the same problem as you do, I would have taught myself to cook. If you can't find the ingredients, then you are already half-way to understanding why you can't get what you are used to several thousand miles away here. One day I will attempt to make my own roti canai with proper dhal, as that is also something I find quite hard to obtain easily and at an affordable price. I do understand missing your favourite foods, but I guess it just makes them all the more special when you DO get to eat them.

In Zug, the best place for sushi is here (and it's not cheap):

http://www.asahi-sushi.ch/

The 2 best overall in the German speaking region are (in my humble opinion)

http://www.hotel-hasenberg.ch/ (in Widen, about 20 minute drive outside of Zurich)

http://www.samurai7.ch/ (on Weststrasse in Zurich)

It's all very expensive, and compared to Japanese food offerings in Asia/Australia/America, prepare to be disappointed.

Better to buy the fresh fish and prepare it yourself at home.

Have you tried Ruan Siam?

Its in Baar, very close to the train station. I don't know how the restaurant is, but at least the shop looks authentic...

Hi

I totally understand your dilemma. In the last few years we have found a few places that we go to quite often...

In Zug

1) Suan long (sp?) - in Zug Altstadt - they have Malaysian cooks so the food is quite good depending on what you order.

2) tennis club Allmend near Chollermulli - Opens in April but has good Thai food. It is run by a husband and wife team. I believe the wife is Thai. Closed during the winter when the couple live in Thailand.

In Zurich

1) Beyond - near Hauptbahnhof - my Chinese friends say it is quite authentic

2) Chopsticks in the Niederdorf area

3) Yoogi's in Bellevue has good sushi. You can sit and have sushi from the conveyor belt or buy one of the take out boxes, which is cheaper.

Hope u find something you enjoy

Agreed! CH is a gastronomic wasteland for decent asian food, and in most places spicy is a swear word. For Thai though you can try the wee shop behind the Neustadt, the food there is pretty authentic but it's only open for food lunchtimes as I remember. I'd take the S9 to Affoltern am Albis (15 mins) and 5 mins from the banhof there is a nice Thai http://www.saeng-thian.ch/, better than Zug and a cheaper. The wife of the Swiss owner is Thai and she does the cooking. The Imperial in Baar is just ok noting special, and the one almost opposite MacDonalds isn't anything to write home about either.

Avoid the one in Zug oldtown (Gotthard something or other) it's overrated, expensive, the portions are tiny and the service is dire. The Thai eatery at the tennis courts behind the Swiss hotel is a strange place with odd hours and odder service, I went twice, and the 2nd time was to remind me how strange it was. The food was passible but not good enough to warrant dodgy service, grubby surroundings and rude people.

We're just back from Hua Hin, so our passion for Thai food is satisfied... for now, so if you find a good place I'd be glad to hear about it.

If you like Korean food check out this forum thread for ideas:
Korean Restaurant in Zurich?

I can also recommend this restaurant for classic Thai food (and Thai staff with Thai cooks).. In Adliswil - http://www.banthairestaurant.ch/

I also do a shopping tour in Zurich and we go from the main train station down Josefstrasse -

Chiang Mai do fresh food at lunch time Monday-Saturday. I can highly recommend it.
http://www.josefstr13.ch/

Thank you for those recommendations! possibly i will try them all
right now I ended up cooking for myself haha I have to go all the way to Basel to find my needed ingredients. The thing is I just hate to cook and eat alone. Cooking usually takes around 2 hours and the mood for eating is just gone.....

Dinner at yours then... bring a bottle

odi's suggestion, Ruan Siam in Baar, is our favorite restaurant of any type in the Zug area. They changed chefs in January, but the new & old ones overlapped for a few weeks, and we haven't noticed any dropoff in quality. Nice little Thai shop next to it as well.

Hi Tooniii, like you I love authentic Thai and Japanese food. I haven't been lucky with real Japanese food as it's mostly cooked by Chinese who cater to Swiss tastes. (the same for Thai food)

Chinese (or Cantonese rather) used to be the only Asian food in much of Switzerland (& Europe), but now Thai food & Sushi is fashionable, so a lot of Chinese restaurants just rebranded themselves to Thai food, but essentially still cook slightly oily Cantonese food. But Zürich has a lot (!) of Thais living here, wherever they eat you'll find good food too. There are more than a dozen Thai restaurants around Langstrasse, Zürich, some of which are quite expensive, but you'll find cheaper and more authentic food as well. It's much more difficult to order real Thai food for me than you, because they never believe me that I actually like fishsauce, ปลาร้า and nam-prik.

I can give you a couple of recommendations for Thai food, but if you find a good and easy Japanese restaurant (I don't like to pay too much for a simple ramen) you should tell me.

coming from NY, my wife and i had the same problem trying to find good asian food. this is what we have found in Zurich:

for ramen, we've gone to Wagamama.
for sushi, try Ginger
for thai, try Au-Hua

we havent found any good chinese resaurants yet.

Zurich:

Barfüsser serves good Sushi.

http://suan-long.ch/suanlong/?lang=en
for chinese

En Guete

These suan long restaurents are everywhere, what suprises me is that alot of people think the food is good. A very simple fried rice is always burnt, too oily and strangly has chopped carrots in them.
Sushi? dont bother
On a positive note the lack of good food here has made me a better cook

Hi,

these are my suggestions:
Ah Hua for Thai
Samurai for Japanese
Bimi for tempura udon only

I have to say I am not a fan of Wagamama

I totally share your sentiments. I have also been in search of good Asian food and till now I haven't really found many.

These are my personal favourites in Zurich:
Sala of Toyko - really good Japanese, authentic
LUO - Chinese restaurant run by Shanghainese
Beyond - Good chinese food near Zurich HB

My wife is Japanese and clearly for the Japanese food we do recommend Samurai.

Hi,
I too recommend Ah-Hua in Zurich by Helvetiaplatz. Reasonably cheap and I believe quite authentic. You might have to queue for a bit and share your table.