Zurich’s Old Town has a new address for serious dining. Chef Markus Stöckle has opened Marküs at Glockengasse 7, a few steps from the Limmat, in one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city. With just 26 seats, it is an intimate room, and Stöckle calls it the most personal chapter of his career so far. The name is a wink at his nickname.
Stöckle’s path runs from the traditional inns of Bavaria, where he grew up in the kitchen, to some of the most influential restaurants in the world, above all Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck in Bray. At Marküs he brings both worlds together in a single tasting menu that follows the seasons closely and is paced to leave guests satisfied rather than overfed.
- Address
- Glockengasse 7, 8001 Zurich (Switzerland)
- Nearest Railway station
- Central Polybahn · 600 m
- Also nearby
- Zürich Selnau · 650 m
Zürich Hauptbahnhof · 700 m - Zurich main station
- 650 m
- Zurich Airport (ZRH)
- 10.3 km
Straight-line distances. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
A menu built on Zurich producers
The kitchen works with a tight circle of local suppliers, ferments much of its pantry in-house and runs an ongoing research collaboration with ETH Zurich. One course, “From Raw Nature to Cooked Culture”, celebrates vegetables from Martin Blum’s farm in Samstagern on the southern shore of Lake Zurich. Another reworks Älplermagronen, the Alpine pasta dish that is a cornerstone of Swiss food culture, “à la Stöckle”.
Lake Zurich whitefish (Felchen) from fisherman Samuel Weitmann arrives with a doubanjiang made from beans fermented by the Grüthof in Wildenbach, spring onions and fresh sansho pepper grown in the Zurich Oberland. A vegetarian menu is available, and allergies are accommodated as far as an open kitchen allows.
Seven centuries of hospitality
The house on Glockengasse dates back to 1260. Outside, a sgraffito by artist Wilhelm Hartung (1878–1957) shows vines rising from the coat of arms of Vaud and winding around the innkeeper and his guests, a reminder of the building’s long life as a wine tavern.
Inside, Stöckle worked with the Milan design studio Studio Dragó. The ground floor is all lacquered red walls and black trim. Upstairs, the Goethe Room, where Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once stayed, keeps its original wood panelling from the 13th century. Plates and candle holders were developed by Stöckle with the Zurich ceramics studio Studio Idakumori, the porcelain cutlery rests are piped by hand by the kitchen team, and vases and carafes come from the Viennese glassmaker J. & L. Lobmeyr, founded in 1823. The soundtrack is deliberately instrumental, there to support the room rather than perform in it.
“It’s a true honour to cook in this location and feel the energy and history of the building,” says Stöckle. “I see myself as a caretaker of a 700-year-old story of hospitality.”
Marküs, Glockengasse 7, Zurich (Switzerland) · markues.ch
Roger Hohl
Roger Hohl has been at the helm of Luxvisor since 2006. From his base in Switzerland he travels to test what the luxury travel industry promises, from the seat at 40,000 feet to the last course of a tasting menu, and writes about it with an independent eye.
Comments