Since I arrived in Geneva over 4 years ago I have known of this place, but for some crazy reason I had never made it here til now. It could possibly be to do with being slightly “scarred” from a very underwhelming experience – our first dim sum experience in Geneva – in Le Mandarin, near rue Chantepoulet a couple of years back. Some friends who lived nearby swore it was great and when we ate there with them, we were pretty unimpressed by the dim sum quality and selection – expensive, lacking in flavour, feeling far from authentic and rather flaccid in presentation. I think coming from London really doesn’t help either in this regard – being used to delicious dim sum in London makes expectations usually far too high! I came here for lunch with a girlfriend having booked a table for 2. I didn’t realise quite how tiny the place was til I arrived. It is of more a tea shop – with stacks of tea on the shelf – with a small number of tables – perhaps seating no more than 15 people. Being cramped in with others is, however, both part of the experience and worth it! The tea menu is extensive, and the dim sum menu is pretty good too. We had pork dumplings, scallop dumplings, a stuffed noodle / ravioli with pork (what I thought was cheung fun but slightly different) that was just delicious and had the most yummy dressing that was almost Vietnamese in flavour, and fried pork dumplings as well that were juicy and just spot on. In addition, my friend ordered a dessert and was pleasantly surprised. All in all, the dumplings we had were piping hot, full of flavour and very well cooked. And all very high in authenticity! The most fulfilling dim sum experience I have had in Geneva (granted, I haven’t had many) and service was really not that bad. Reviews had suggested the lady front-of-house is incredibly rude, but perhaps we got her on a good day. The waiting for the food is also slightly longer than you might get in London Chinatown, but given it is apparently a one or two-man band, it is really not an issue especially when all the dishes end up coming out together – a major bonus. With two types of tea, a range of dishes and some dessert, the bill was no more than CHF 35 per person – for me, pretty bargainous.

A girlfriend and lunch partner-in-crime suggested we try out Vital Way for lunch one day, and when she told me it was gluten-free, I felt all the more pleased with myself for going for a healthy option for lunch. We turned up at the tiny restaurant and found her reservation was not in their system at all, and ended up practically twisting her arm to share someone else's table - one of those typical Geneva situations where you think you are more entrepreneurial than the restaurateurs themselves, coming up with ideas of how to maximise the number of eaters that can fit in the space! I ordered the Vital Burger - a veggie menu although you can get the burgers with beef, chicken and salmon too. The veggie option was a patty made out of bean, although a tempeh one was on offer too (but not available when we asked that day). My friend ordered a plat du jour that was some sort of veggie tart with gratin daupinhois and some carrots. We also ordered - for extra-healthiness - their lemon "shot" of wheatgrass, apple and lemon - literally a glass not much bigger than a shotglass for CHF 7 each. The food took quite a while to come. And when it did come, I can't say that my enthusiasm levels shot through the roof. Although filling - because the "buns" of my burger were instead sushi rice patties (think almost like onigiri), I found the dish as a whole to be a bit on the bland side. Granted - it was imaginative - I had never seen a burger where your bread is replaced by a rice patty - but I expected the presentation, concepts and taste to be better - especially for a self-proclaimed healthy place! Think more quinoa, salads with sweet potato, chick peas, that kind of thing... What was funny was that my friend added a fair bit of salt to her dish after tasting it - and I rarely see her do that, so that was another sign that it didn't quite hit the mark. Once you add in the booster shots (wheatgrass juice), the bill came to CHF 46 for both of us - what I consider to be pretty pricey for what it was. Good, central location but in my opinion not the most satisfying place. Credit to the place for bringing a different concept to Geneva though!

A close friend who lives in Geneva swears by this little cafe as a place for brunch and it was perfect for us to rock up to late on a Saturday morning after having an evening on Friday of eating nothing other than Christmas cookies. What made Chez Quartier a really useful place - other than being a 5 minute walk away - was the selection of savoury treats they had on offer (I was relieved to see lots of bread!) We had some tasty pizza bread-type snacks and a few little sandwiches with tuna mousse (with glazed milk bread) and mini croissants filled with salami. All topped off with a well-made renverse (kind of like a latte but Geneva's equivalent). The best part was actually getting to sit in a vibrant cafe in the Servette part of town, which was filled with lots of old-school, almost kitsch objects that looked like something out of the 1930s. In fact, my friend described it as "grandmother's closet" and she was pretty accurate with the description. The other interesting part of sitting down to brunch in Chez Quartier is being cosily nestled amongst the young, slightly bo-bo 'trendy' 30-something expats who clearly enjoy hanging out here and reading their newspapers and meeting up with friends and their toddlers in a laid-back environment where there's no rush in the world. The dense packing in of the customers simply adds to the atmosphere. The other fascinating thing is that no-one keeps tabs on what you eat apart from yourself. A completely trust-based system where you tell the cashier what you had and they take your word for it! Not seen that before. I guess the one downside is that if you add up the little savoury snacks and 2 coffees - and they are not necessarily the most filling things in the world - you quite easily end up with a bill for CHF 30 - so not the cheapest brunch but certainly worth it for experiencing young and trendy Geneva on a chilled Saturday morning!