ETA (Estimated Time of Appetizer)

Welcome back!

As promised in the first post about Zurich Airport, I'm going to take you out for lunch! Where are we going? Not just an ordinary restaurant, that much can already be revealed. 

"Runway 34"  is really, really close to the airport. This is the view from the restaurant's parking lot:

Patrons proceed through the jet bridge before their culinary journey takes off.

Before takeoff, enjoy a drink in their authentic airline galley—no turbulence, just great cocktails! 

At each table, a sleek tail fin serves as a unique menu holder, proudly displaying the code of a major international airport—be it BOS, JFK, LHR, or beyond—adding to the immersive aviation-themed dining experience.

Some destination tables come with regular chairs, others with former business class seats.

What would a hangar be without an aircraft in need of maintenance?

As you may have guessed, this is a Russian aircraft. It's a Ilyushin 14T from 1957, which was registered for the former Soviet Union. There are now small dining tables and armchairs in the plane. During the week, a flight simulator can also be booked for piloting yourself or flying along. 

The transportation and preceding bureaucracy of the Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft is a story for another day. In fact, the plane landed at the end of June 2005, and since then it has been admired and photographed by numerous visitors. 

There's another spare part I still have to find out what it's called. My airline friends are not sure. ChatGPT thinks it's a flap track fairing. Either way it was repurposed to hold a tablet with the daily offerings.

So the food - you expected this, right? - arrived on your usual tray and in your usual small containers. The portions are slightly more generous than on an actual flight. Not by much though! The quality, however, is superior. The ground chef benefit from not having to pre-cook the menus, which then have to be kept warm for hours on the plane. Everything is freshly prepared. Have you ever eaten "Gersotto"? Me neither. It's prepared like risotto, just not with rice, but with barley, which is the English word for the German expression Gerste. Hence Gersotto.

Runway 34's backstory goes to the mid-1990s, when Reto Seipel, an airline pilot who was friends with a catering professional, Stefan Hunziker, came up with the idea of a aviation-themed restaurant. After Swissair was grounded in 2001, the idea became topical. 

The pilot's brother worked for an architecture firm and submitted a design to them. 

On the one hand because of the layout, but also because of the location, being able to build a restaurant so extremely close to the airport site, or to comply with noise protection regulations, the entrepreneurs had to overcome numerous administrative hurdles. 

I'm glad they never gave up and got to open their baby in October 2005, almost 20 years ago. I expect a big anniverary party later this year - will you join me?