Where to eat IRAN 🇮🇷 Montreux: Le Palais Oriental

Le Palais Oriental

Quai Ernest-Ansermet 6, Montreux

What we ordered: For two people, a sultan kebab (tchelo kebab sultani) and ghormeh sabzi, a lamb stew in spinach. For dessert, bastani or saffron ice cream. To drink, two glasses of Chasselas de Montreux white wine followed by a bottle, along with a bottle of San Pellegrino and four Aperol Spritz.

Cost: 211 CHF / €225 / $244

Le Palais Oriental is an architectural gem on the waterfront of Montreux overlooking the boardwalk of Lake Geneva, a little waterfront Alhambra. The Persian food was fantastic, although Le Palais Oriental also offers some other selections from the near and far east, Lebanon and India, though the focus is on Iranian cuisine.

In a sense, Le Palais Oriental is a merger of two old worlds: belle epoque Montreux where the highest circles of Europe met at the Swiss Riviera to relax and escape political turmoil and a piece of old Persia, with the highest culture of cuisine. It’s a little oasis but for far more than the food.

On a warm day, the terrace is open, the people watching is the world at the shore. Everything that once was capable of existing in harmony and without incident until recent geopolitical conflagrations returned.

It was expected that the food would pair nicely with this scenery. The kebab was something you could only eat in Montreux, in Shiraz or in Isfahan, but with an interesting fusion with the white wine, Chasselas, from the region itself.

It was a merger in the way that Persia was always a crossroads, not an isolated place in the world. It was more about the experience than the food, though the food was a kind of dream, an escape from a time of hate and searching for what separates us and instead finding what brings us together.

Much can be said of the ghormeh sabzi, a dish of lamb so tender it shreds with a fork’s touch, stewed in spinach and spices. The tahdig, or parboiled Persian saffron rice both dishes came with, revealed a bit of the crunchy bottom of the pan that makes this dish unique from pilov found elsewhere on the Silk Road, both to the west and the east. For dessert, the bastani or Persian saffron ice cream was like a pillow. More sorbet than ice cream, it was perfect on a hot summer night, both cooling and tantalizing at once.

Le Palais Oriental’s biggest shortcoming was the speed of service. In a restaurant that is like a jewel box, it is not fun to not be invited to linger and receive the food so quickly after placing an order. As a result, we ended up ordering some Aperol spritz and dessert after dinner, neither of which we imagined was in the cards, but perhaps also the logic in this hospitality trick. In any event, a slight slowing down would be welcome if not appreciated given how gorgeous the restaurant and setting are. 

Easily a highlight of our culinary adventures as Swiss Global Dining to date, Le Palais Oriental is a place to return to, to dazzle visitors from abroad with and to meet those who may or may not be quite like one’s self – or both – on the terrace. It is a small ode to a time before the revolution when Iranians would pray in private and drink in public. The menu also offers an extensive selection of Caspian caviar as the owner used to be a salesman of the delicacy in France.

How to get to Iran from Switzerland:

By car, it is approximately 50 hours, or more than two days of nonstop driving, from the Swiss capital Bern to Tehran through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey and finally Iran.

There are no rail options for this journey. 

Swiss Air offers a codeshare flight with Austrian Airlines through Vienna from both Geneva and Zürich to Tehran. Additional options from both Zürich and Geneva are available on Turkish carriers Pegasus and Turkish Airlines via Istanbul. Emirates also offers a slightly longer route through Dubai, as does Qatar Airways through Dubai.

How many Iranians are in Switzerland: More than 5,500

Distance between Bern and Tehran: 4,746 km

Distance from Le Palais Oriental to Tehran: 4,703 km

Learn how to make Iran's national dish, fesenjan, and about its origins.

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