Ambrosius Hiltl, a tailor from Bavaria, came to Zurich on business at the end of the nineteenth century. Suffering at the time from severe rheumatoid arthritis, Hiltl consulted a Swiss doctor who was making a name for himself in the treatment of this painful condition. The doctor’s advice was to give up eating meat. The remedy proved successful and so convinced was Hiltl of the benefits of a meat-free regime that he abandoned tailoring in favour of the restaurant profession. Hiltl Vegi (as it was then called) opened in 1898 on Sihlstrasse, where it still stands today.

Hiltl is an unusual place on a number of counts. First, it has somehow succeeded in taking vegetarianism both upmarket and mainstream. (Of preachiness or missionary zeal, there’s no trace.) Ninety per cent of the customers are described by Rolf Hiltl  - the fourth generation of Hiltls to run the restaurant - as ‘part-time vegetarians’: they occasionally eat fish or meat, major on vegetables, want to eat healthily and well and are passionately interested in good food. Paul McCartney is a fan.

Then there’s the unusually (for Switzerland) laid-back, cheerful feel of the place. Wait staff welcome guests with a smile, crack jokes, wax lyrical about today’s specials. Next, there are the unusually supple opening hours:  the restaurant is open  from 7 in the morning till 11 at night, serving breakfast and brunch till 11 a.m. and the entire menu throughout the rest of the day. On an average day, 1,200 people pass through its doors. It’s a place where women lunching or dining alone or entre copines (with a girlfriend) are made to feel comfortable and welcome. 

Finally, Hiltl represents good value for money, particularly given its location in the heart of Zurich’s fashionable shopping centre, a stone's throw from the celebrated Bahnhofstrasse. Around SFr25 will buy you a plate of piping hot vegetable paella or a delicate Thai green curry with tofu perfumed with Kaffir lime leaves, and a jorum of freshly squeezed juice to wash it all down. 

Though the restaurant has occupied the same premises on Sihlstrasse since 1898, behind the façade there have been huge changes. In the early days before the idea of meatless feasts caught on, the restaurant was known jocularly as the Wurzelbunker (the ‘root bunker’) and its customers (known as Grasfresser or grass-eaters) were reluctant to be seen coming in by the front door. 

In the Fifties, daughter-in-law Margrith represented Switzerland at the World Vegetarian Congress in Delhi and was smitten by the incredible complexity and richness of Indian spices and seasonings. There was a shaking of Swiss heads when Sihlstrasse was suddenly invaded by aromas of garam masala, and Indian dishes began to make their appearance on Hiltl’s tables. Today the Indian buffet is one of the most successful items on the menu and there’s now a takeaway service for the Indian dishes.

In 1990 Rolf, a graduate of the world-famous Hotel School in Lausanne, joined the firm - always a delicate moment in a family business. But both father and son survived and the business thrived. The real turning point came in 1993. The suffix ‘-Vegi’ disappeared from the restaurant’s name, the interior was completely re-designed at a cost of SFr3 million, wooden floors were stripped and polished, halogen lights sprouted from the ceilings, pale wood tables and bentwood chairs made their appearance. 

Downstairs the bar and salad buffet area was re-vamped. The new look and feel to the restaurant (together with the addition of an alcohol licence) began to attract a new clientele, the traditional breakdown of one-third men/two-thirds women gradually giving way to 60% female, 40% male. 

A few years later, to celebrate their centenary, they published a book (entitled Hiltl: Virtuoso Vegetarian in the English translation, published by Werd Verlag) featuring 60 of the restaurant’s original recipes. From this month the restaurant on Sihlstrasse is closed for renovation, but Hiltl business is carrying on as usual in provisional quarters at the old stock exchange on Bleicherweg, near Paradeplatz.

A bar/self-service restaurant/takeaway called Tibits, just around the corner from the Opera House, was the first addition to the expanding portfolio of Hiltl restaurants and now there are branches in Winterthur and in Bern. London is next in the company's sights for another Tibits outlet: at the moment the race is on to find just the right location. 

The restaurant is definitely on a roll. Vegetarian? Sure, but not for the self-righteous, only those who are interested in exciting, creative food that happens to major on vegetables.

Restaurant Hiltl, 
Sihlstrasse 28, 
8001 Zurich, Switzerland.
Tel. +41 1 227 7001 or 7000
Fax +41 1 227 7007
www.hiltl.ch