2025 FOOD HIGHLIGHTS
All the good things I ate in 2025. Warning: This post may induce hunger.
January
Lulu's Fried Chicken, Zürich
This place is a pop-up and they're currently in Geneva. It was one of those splurgy meals, but so worth it!
Fried chicken sandos 🤤
Chicken tenders with dipping sauce.
February
Homemade hotpot! Our friend Ignas joined us. Even though hotpot is great for a large group, I like to keep mine small. Growing up, I hated my family's hotpot because they put EVERYTHING in there. A smaller group = less ingredients. And since I host, I only put what I like, hehe.
We used tomato soup base for one and a "medicinal" one for the other. That one was so good, but it was sold out for NYE!
Since it was the year of the Snake, I made a snake salad! The snake body didn't connect like it was supposed to, but it still looks pretty cool.
Ssssnekkkk ssss...
March
My first meals after my first weeks recovering from surgery. I don't even remember what I ate during recovery.
Café Chapeau, Lucerne
The croissant gourmand, my favorite dish to get here.
Juice Paradise, Lucerne
Strawberry cheesecake milk tea, one of their best drinks.
April
Japan Food Fest, Zürich Oerlikon
I probably won't go back again this year as the overall event wasn't amazing. The food was alright and the wait times were too long. But this was the best that April had to offer.
Tantanmen from Ooki.
Takoyaki (octopus balls). We waited over 2 hours for this.
May
Paris!!! We ate well, and my highlights were being able to eat really delicious Asian food, such as Japanese and Vietnamese. However, I decided to just choose my favorite meal and dessert. Because Paris will get its own post, eventually.
Sanukiya, Paris
We ate in complete silence. It was that good.
We ate at Sanukiya on the last day, but I would've chosen to eat here every single day because it was so. Damn. GOOD. At first, Pat laughed and said, "Should we eat at McDonald's for the last day?" I glared at him and said, "No, we are NOT eating McDonald's on the last day."
Boris Lumé, Paris
Matcha galette. The staff made it explicitly clear that this was not an eclair.
When in Paris, one must stop by one of their many patisseries! We happened up on this one as it was across from Café des Deux Moulins (Amélie was filmed there), where we had lunch.
June
Summer in the city! I still remember this day. The streets were bustling due to some sort of street festival, so Daniel and I ducked into an empty alley to eat our banh mi sandwiches.
Banh Mi Pho, Lucerne
Best banh mi and pho in town!
Gelati Altstadt, Lucerne
Three kinds of sorbets.
I rarely eat sorbets. I prefer milk-based ice creams. But I was feeling so summery that day and I wanted to eat something colorful. I believe the bright orange one is blood orange, the golden one is mango, and I can't remember what that pink one is. Strawberry? This place gives you a tiny sampler scoop so I might've just chosen strawberry to complete the color palette.
July
Dosa House Viktoria, Lucerne
Starters/appetizers. I got 2 rounds. I shouldn't have done that.
It might not look like a lot, but I didn't take every picture of every plate.
One plate of savory stuff, plus an omelette.
For example, in addition to the mains, which I probably got two plates of, there was also a huge dosa filled with potatoes.
Desserts!
It was very delicious. While eating, Daniel announced that we should eat here once a month. After we finished, he said maybe we should come here at once a year, tops. We were stuffed.
August
Incline Concept Store, Lucerne
Finally tried one of the newer brunch spots in town. This place is known for brunch, small bites, and drinks. We've only eaten here for brunch.
The Benedict Affair: Brioche sandwich with eggs, bacon, avocado cream, and hollandaise.
September
Bali! We ate a lot of amazing things, but the most memorable one was on our final evening: Dinner with Russell and Ami, our two friends who got married and invited us all the way out there in the first place! Ami chose a beautiful restaurant that served a variety of traditional Indonesian dishes.
Sate House Senayan, Canggu
Ami explaining the various dishes.
I believe this is sop buntut, an oxtail soup.
The Singapore Changyi Airport gets a special shoutout for having the best eateries ever. And I've been to my fair share of airports!
I greedily ordered all this dim sum FOR MYSELF despite not being fully recovered from Bali belly. I do silly things for food!
October
My Halloween party! Two reasons: 1) I redeemed myself with an upgraded and delicious version of my pumpkin and fish pie, and 2) It was my first themed party in a while.
You should've seen everyone's faces when I said this pie had fish in it.
This broomstick made of roasted cheese (purchased as is) fit perfectly in this Gustav Westman x Ikea dish.
November
Since both Daniel and I are unemployed, we rarely visit Zürich because of how expensive it is. A round-trip ticket costs 30 Fr. with the half-fare tax, and a meal is at least 25 Fr., without drinks. So if we're going, then we're gonna go all out, which sounds counter-intuitive now that I think about it. But, whatever!
We were summoned to Zürich by a friend who had to cancel last minute because her baby got sick. We were already out the door, so we figured we'd make a day out of it.
Cà Phê Lơ Mơ, Zürich
Chicken noodle soup and iced salted caramel latte. Daniel got a beef stew.
Cà Phê Lơ Mơ is a pop-up and I've been wanting to go for months! The dishes are a mix of traditional Vietnamese cuisine and fusion desserts and drinks. I want to go back again for desserts next time!
Hikari, Zürich
Soufflé pancakes smothered in pistachio-matcha sauce and topped with sakura whipped cream.
Hikari is another bucket list eatery. We tried going without reservations one time and couldn't get a seat. They're known for their vegan ramens. However, since we just had lunch, we shared a plate of fluffy soufflé pancakes instead.
December
This month is all about Christmas markets! If you're someone who loves Christmas, I suggest visiting Germany or Switzerland for the Christmas markets... Because they love Christmas even MORE.
Rudolf's Weihnachtsmarkt, Lucerne
Lucerne has a total of four Christmas markets in December. Rudolf's is the branded one, where chains and businesses come to sell food and wares. My favorite stall this year was the arepa stand.
Arepa con pollo. Me gusta mucho.
Venite Internationales Weihnachtsforum, Lucerne
This one feels more mom-and-pop with more unique options. My two favorites were the Congolese stand where I finally tried fufu for the first time, and the Mexican stand.
This was so good I came back the next day and ordered it again.
Ponche Navideño. ¡Salud!
We had tacos, Daniel had an elote, and their "Mexican punch" tasted like if glühwein and sangria (two of my favorite drinks) had a baby. You can get it spiked with tequila, but that's one of my no-no drinks.
And that's a wrap on 2025! Who knows what I'll eat in 2026? Stay tuned to find out!