On the subject of chocolate, I blogged about Neuchâtel’s local hero Phillipe Suchard a few months ago.  The Suchard brand is now owned by Kraft and does not have their own outlets.  We checked out two top chocolatiers while visiting Zürich.  Teuscher has more than 12 shops in the US and Canada, and several in Asia, including Hong Kong and Tokyo.  But it has only a few shops in Berlin, Geneva, and Zurich (2 locations that we walked by).  We had their truffles before in NYC which were very good.

Sprüngli, related to Lindt, does not have any shop outside Switzerland.  Instead, they have at least 10 outlets in Zürich.  Their most popular line of product is a kind of macaroon, Luxemburgerli, which come in many different flavors of fillings and outer shells, some available only for a day.  We bought 16 from their Paradeplatz cafe/shop and ate them by the park, since their cafe was packed.  Champagne flavor was my favorite, and strawberry-rhubarb was Sue’s favorite.  On that day, the Luxemburgerli won.

Teuscher’s stores were so stuffed with plastic flowers that it was in my opinion a bit distracting.