It is amazing what you can find in small little hamlets that surround Coppet and Nyon. After a mixed hockey training session in nearby Coppet, a teammate suggested a drink in a nearby restaurant and so this is how I came to be introduced to this place, which is a hotel-restaurant outfit that you commonly find in many towns in Vaud. At the time, I was famished and so decided to try the spaghetti bolognese as well. What a delight - fantastic pasta, sauce that was delicious and flavour-packed, and a bowl so massive that even when I shared it with my teammate (and we both can eat especially after training!), we were well and truly satisfied. So I have since returned with some friends on several occasions, as it is very convenient for 1) those with a car, 2) those with kids, and 3) those who are based around Nyon and Versoix. Friends and my other half have ordered dishes such as the gigot d'agneau, the cordon-bleu veal and the tagliatelle with prosciutto. All agree the dishes are very well-presented and more importantly, very tasty. On both occasions I have been back, I have ordered the tagliatelle aux morilles (local mushroom delicacy) and the pasta is fantastic - home-made and cooked to perfection. I am not one to re-order the same dish but when it is REALLY good, then...it makes sense! Prices are reasonable (around CHF 40-50 per head with a dessert and glass of wine alongside the main) and ambience is pretty informal, which is nice for families with young children and those not in the mood for pretentious fanfare. Highly recommended.

A look at the website and menu for this place is enough to make your mouth start watering. The menu is varied and has some delicious-sounding dishes. On a weekday evening, my husband and I finally tried this place with two friends and I have to admit I was pretty excited to be having Afghan food in Versoix - another one of those random but tasty cuisines that you don't find everywhere...Three of us ordered the degustation platter - Menu Kutchi - at CHF 45 per person. My husband ordered a grilled lamb dish, which appeared to be very good, and according to him was as good as it looked. The degustation menu came with a soup, and three different types of rice and different curries and vegetable dishes. The presentation was delightful - a classy platter with the different dishes all sitting in a circular serving dish. The flavours were good, although subtle. Meat dishes such as the lamb and beef were well cooked. Service was patchy - but much like most of Geneva. The variation in the dishes was good, although I think what bothered me the most - and why I have given this a 3 and not a 4 - is that for the price we paid, the degustation platter really was a bit stingy. I got the distinct feeling the three of us girls were scraping the bottom of each dish for a reason - there simply wasn't much of each dish - and when you spend quite a bit of money, I suppose you expect a little more generosity. The interior is very chic and it seems like a great place to bring a first date, but don't expect to come out of there feeling full! Next time, I may listen to my colleague and simply order one individual dish - he had warned me against the degustation menu, but I hadn't listened...

Being of Malaysian heritage, I am always really weary of Malaysian restaurants in Europe because I've been to Malaysia countless times and had such incredible food that I become quite a difficult person to please and what some people may think of as overly-critical. In my defence, I've found a couple of pretty good Malaysian restaurants in the Western world (e.g. Satay House in Paddington, London or even Awana, which I think is now closed) so I can be won over!

My husband had heard this place was supposedly the best Malaysian in Lausanne, and after checking it out on the bible that is Trip Advisor, I started to get fairly excited (although when I checked out the menu beforehand this was starting to dissipate somewhat). We turned up on a Tuesday night, with the restaurant already starting to fill up pretty well. I checked out what was a pretty impressive menu choice-wise, and saw very few dishes that I'd hoped to see that were to me, 'Malaysian'. Sure, otak-otak and rendang were listed. But what about kangkung belachan, roti canai, wonton noodles, laksa, tau eu bak, hainanese chicken rice? Granted, this restaurant was 'Malaysian Chinese' and not 'Malaysian' but I was starting to get a little edgy already....

What made things worse was when the chef came over and tried to be friendly (although honestly most Malaysians come across as genuinely warm and this guy did not) and tried to encourage my husband and I to try the new 'prawns and cheese' - apparently all the rage in Kuala Lumpur these days. We looked at each other a bit comically, ignored him and went for spare ribs (starters), sweet and sour fish (I'd read it was good so was being a copy cat), beef rendang and sambal pork. And steamed rice. Straight away, the response from the staff was a brusque "no more rendang". "No more rendang"?!?! At 7.30 pm? I was aghast. They recommended an 'alternative' - the Indonesian beef. I promptly complied. The food came. What can I say. The sweet and sour fish reminded me of any sweet and sour fish I could have eaten in neighbourhood Chinese restaurants in French suburbs (i.e. standard and uninspiring). The sambal pork just tasted like a slightly saltier version of the sweet and sour base. No sambal hit whatsoever. And the beef?! Stir-fried beef with some green peppers and onions. Nothing exciting to me whatsoever.

What saddened me is that Malaysian food has such a unique and rich flavour profile. And although it probably isn't fair to expect roti canai or laksa, other 'Malaysian' restaurants deliver on those things and illustrate the vast array of delicious and quite unusual dishes you can find in Malaysia. For me, this restaurant just doesn't live up to the 'Malaysian' tag - indeed, Nyonya cooking is very rich and full of interesting flavours - and even there, they just seemed to fail to me. It's another "bog-standard" Chinese restaurant! I should have known better than to expect Malaysian miracles in Lausanne....  

I spotted this restaurant whilst walking back to work from Carouge and was intrigued by the fact that it had an impressive-sounding plat du jour (choice of seafood or meat from what I could make of it) for only CHF 20. I came back with a friend for lunch on a Friday and we had a choice of a pork dish with rice or squid served with some steamed potatoes. We both went for the squid and didn't order drinks but had what my friend thought was tap water. We both received a fresh salad as a starter and then the squid came shortly after. The squid itself was really fresh and well-cooked (i.e. not overdone) and came with a little mixed vegetable salsa (aubergine and tomato and courgette). The problem was that it also came with two rather measly new potatoes that looked quite lonely on the plate and didn't make for a particularly generous dish. We then got the bill and were charged CHF 4.50 for a bottle of water that my friend wasn't told was supposedly mineral. I think the restaurant could be pretty good on a la carte but had the feeling they are a little light on the plat du jour servings. Service was very friendly however, and they also take Ticket Restaurant vouchers (which is refreshing), but I'll have to come back and give it another shot as I wasn't massively convinced the first time round.  

Having heard about this place for quite a while, my other half and I went there for dinner on a Wednesday night with two friends, one of whom lived in Peru and is very familiar with the cuisine. Pachacamac is very well-known for its Thursday unlimited buffet, but on the night we went we ordered a la carte. The restaurant itself looks very sophisticated in terms of décor – low lighting, posh furniture and very tasteful design. The waiter was incredibly friendly and very kind, but from the moment there were more than two tables, was starting to get overwhelmed and clearly was the only waiting staff for the whole evening. This was a problem when it came to ordering drinks, which was disappointing because when the cocktails came, the Pisco Sour was very good indeed. We each ordered various starters and my husband’s mixed tasting platter was very well-presented and full of interesting colour and flavour (different coloured causa – mashed potato dumplings, ceviche) although pretty pricey at CHF 38. My ceviche starter was a delight – really elegantly presented in a glass dish floating in iced water, plentiful in portion and packed full of flavour, spicy and acidic but not overpowering. Lomo saltado – a dish three of us ordered – came in different variations, some with rice and beans instead of the more standard rice and fries, and with a choice of Swiss beef or the superior Argentinian beef – for which you pay a premium. Again, it was very elegantly presented and perhaps just spot on in terms of portion size. Mains tended to be priced upwards of CHF 30, so all in all, dinner was a pricey affair but the food was very impressive in terms of flavour and presentation, as were the cocktails. The menu was also full of Peruvian classics and very extensive. Just a shame service was so lacking in terms of manpower. Save the place for a special occasion or a very worthwhile date!