Poppyseed Pretzel // Brezelkönig, Zurich CH

My husband, son, and I just traveled to Italy to attend a wedding. He is Persian, she’s Italian, and they live in London, but they decided to have a Tuscan wedding and I’m so glad that they did! It was a beautiful wedding in a stunning location, and we had never been to Tuscany. I will be writing more about my culinary adventures in Italy – we were there during white truffle and portobello mushroom season, drool – but I wanted to share a couple of the delicious finds we had on the way there and back as well.

Because there are no direct flights from Chicago to Italy (which seems crazy, given that O’hare is such a large airport!) we decided that it would be easier to book overnight stopovers on either end of our trip. Not only did we save a lot of money, it also gave us the opportunity to spend some time visiting two cities – Zurich and Brussels – that we had never been to before. This was a great way to deal with jet lag, because who wants to go to sleep when you have only 24 hours in an exotic city you have never been before?

I wasn’t expecting to find delicious food the moment we touched ground, but the immaculate, sleek Zurich airport looked promising – even the Starbucks was high on design. Our 5-year-old son was starving when we got off the plane, and when he spotted a pretzel stand I couldn’t say no. My motto is to allow him to have whatever he wants when we’re traveling. He is such a good sport and great travel companion. While my husband and I tried to figure out the train system, he spent a good 5 minutes staring at the different kinds before selecting a poppyseed one.

A plain pretzel with no mustard did not sound appetizing to me, but I was hungry so I asked for one bite. I had a tough time wrangling one out of him because he was devouring it, and I soon realized why. It was the softest, chewiest, tastiest pretzel I have ever tried. The poppyseed one reminded me of a softer version of a Montreal bagel. I wanted to go back and grab another, but we were trying to catch a train. As a result, I spent the rest of our time in Zurich scanning the landscape for another Brezelkönig in the hopes of getting one of these beauties all to myself. I haden’t yet decided which one I would get – pumpkin seed, cheese, or garlic – but I never had the opportunity to make that choice.

I will certainly be seeking this place out if ever I find myself in the Zurich airport again!