Three finalists are in the running for the prestigious award in the established category Best Longseller Bar at the SWISS BAR AWARDS 2020. They are the Onyx Bar in Zurich's Park Hyatt Hotel, Zurich's Carlton Bar and Das weisse Schaf in Lucerne. Three bars that all look back on a more or less long success story.
It's a long way in a fast-moving time and industry that is constantly subject to change: through burgeoning trends, high fluctuation or new customer needs. Hardly any other scene seems as fast-moving as the gastronomy sector, and in its terrain in particular nothing is set in stone.
Best Longseller Bar 2020
In 2020, the Carlton Bar won the SWISS BAR AWARD in the category "Best Longseller Bar". This category honours bars with strong charisma that have been anchored in the Swiss bar scene for more than a decade. Further info at www.swissbarawards.ch
Classic cocktails as fundamental pillars of a traditional drinking culture are groundbreaking, give room for twists and allow trends to flow in. Regionality, seasonality and sustainability provide contemporary building blocks in the further development of a bar concept.
Staff turnover and globally active Barkeeper, who nowadays exploit their creative potential in several locations, are shaping modern bar culture. The bar industry is moving with the times, and must do so.
Constant further development
It is said: "If you don't move with the times, you move with the times". Simply having a good idea ready for your own little bar is usually not enough to set a milestone in the long history of bar and drinking culture as an upscale drinking establishment.
Staff management, continuous training, the acquisition of specialist knowledge, national as well as international networking, a strict eye on economic facts and figures and constant further development, without depriving tradition of its effect, are essential for a success story.
At this year's SWISS BAR AWARDS, it is the Carlton Bar that is being honoured for its 100-year history at a historic location. On the stage of the event location Chicago 1928, the bar in the heart of Zurich will be honoured with the title Best Longseller Bar 2020.
Modernity and tradition hand in hand
"As a bar hotspot in the city of Zurich, it is continuously successful, which is particularly noteworthy in the fast-paced, changeable as well as versatile gastronomy. In it, modernity and tradition go hand in hand, while the guest always takes centre stage," says SWISS BAR AWARDS initiator and BAR NEWS editor Ruedi Zotter in honour of the establishment with the addresses Nüschelerstrasse 6 and Bahnhofstrasse 41 in 8001 Zurich.
The Carlton Bar is located in the cradle of the Swiss Mövenpick dynasty. In a house where the internationally renowned Swiss entrepreneur and Mövenpick founder Ueli Prager came and went during his lifetime. Before he sold the house to the Swiss UBS to found his far-reaching gourmet empire. Diagonally opposite, only the Mövenpick wine bar still reminds us of the Möven family that once lived there.
"With the emergence of many new bars, Kreis 1 has gained a lot and has become a lively nightlife area."
Markus Segmüller, Owner Carlton Bar
The Carlton Bar, with which many also remember the bar of the former hotel in Nüschelerstrasse, has existed in changing guises for more than 100 years. Where international guests used to stay on the upper floors, there are now offices and the UBS canteen.
Markus Segmüller took over the bar 21 years ago
Today, the growth of the bar scene is noticeable around the traditional bar in Zurich's Kreis 1. "With the emergence of many new bars, Kreis 1 has gained a lot and developed into a lively nightlife area. This gives the Carlton a different status than it used to have," says Carlton Bar owner Markus Segmüller.
Segmüller took over the bar 21 years ago. Alongside the facilities of the Irish-inspired James Joyce Bar, Loft Five in Europaallee, the rural Adlisberg or the Ticino restaurant La Bottega di Mario, the institution is one of the businesses in Markus and Daniela Segmüller's Segmüller Collection.
The Sablier Rooftop Restaurant & Bar in the new Circle at the airport is the next collection coup and is said to have the largest rooftop terrace in Switzerland. Right now, some new staff members are training at the Carlton Bar for their involvement in the Sablier Bar.
"In the future, we will not work across the board. But we work here in a very collegial, family-like environment. Just like in a family, we also support each other where we can," says Benedikt Baumann, Chef de Bar of the Carlton Bar, appreciating the collective as well as the working atmosphere in his bar.
Benedikt Baumann has only been on site as bar manager for a year. Immediately after the bar's generous facelift in September 2019, he takes up his duties as chef de bar. "I was provided with a freshly renovated bar," says the 28-year-old, who originally completed an apprenticeship as a landscape gardener and then slipped into the gastronomy and bar trade, which he is attached to.
"My father tested restaurants for Gault Millau and often took me with him," he recalls. Additional service training eased his entry into the world of gastronomy.
The Zurich native soon discovered the coordinates for the bar for himself: "Guest contact is very close to my heart. In the bar, you can combine service and creation, respond to individual wishes in a very concrete way and create something new for a guest off the cuff," he describes his passion for hospitality as well as mixology.
Major renovation
In the course of the renovation of the former hotel and now owner-run bar, it gets a new look. In the back bar, spirits snake up to the top of a pyramid, the new wallpaper on the walls and the sophisticated wooden parquet exude exquisite character, and the tables, lamps and chairs are brand new.
"It's the first major renovation in a while," says the host, who is growing in and with the classically oriented bar. "I wish that guests would not just come to the Carlton, but to Benedikt personally or my colleagues".
In addition to the Carlton Bar's consistently high standard of drinking, the individual service to the guest is a reason for the jury to choose the bar as the Best Longseller Bar 2020 in Switzerland. "It is really important to us to fulfil every guest's special, individual experience with us," Baumann is pleased with the honour. Such an approach to guests makes every situation very unique.
High standard and lots of quality
Both for the staff and, first and foremost, for the guest whose Negroni is mixed right before his eyes. "One of the reasons for the award is certainly our high standard and quality, which we have tailored to the needs of our guests over the years with careful consideration of trends," says Baumann.
The crowd is mixed, from bankers to caretakers they all arrive. Located in the banking and business district, during the day it is mainly business people who have met in front of Corona at lunchtime and in the Boulevard outdoor terrace. In Corona times, everyone creates in the home office, the in-house private parking spaces are hardly occupied at lunchtime.
In the back bar, spirits snake up to the top of a pyramid, the new wallpaper on the walls and the sophisticated wooden parquet exude exquisite character, tables, lamps and chairs are brand new.
"You can feel that," Baumann learns. That's why the Carlton Bar currently only opens at 5 pm for aperitifs. The Carlton Restaurant, however, continues to offer coffee and lunch. The big "Tuesday at Carlton" after-work clubbing is to take place again soon in Corona times in a smaller formation, without a DJ and not on all levels as before, but only in the bar.
Larger aperitif events or Christmas parties remain bookable at any time, as always, and the restaurant's culinary delights are also served in the bar.
Team spirit in the foreground
With three members of the Carlton Bar team, Benedikt Baumann attaches great importance to team spirit in front of and behind the bar, as well as a firm collaboration with the kitchen team.
"In the kitchen, we experiment a lot with flavours and make espumas, syrups and shrubs ourselves to be able to offer special drinks. We get aromatic tips from the kitchen and also consult with each other about waste," explains the young bar manager, who brings a wide variety of professional experience from Zurich's Newsbar, Nachtflug Bar or the Neumarkt restaurant.
Sections of pineapple fruit are sent to the bar counter, zested oranges go to the kitchen, and fruit is only cut when it is actually needed. "We try to work very sustainably and consciously," says Baumann, who has also swapped the disposable coasters for leather ones.
The young bar manager does not want to change too much at the moment. "But he would like to perfect and maintain the order and organisation that make work easier. When everything is in its place, you can act quickly and dedicate yourself to new things," he says.
"Guest contact is very important to me. In the bar, you can combine service and creation and respond to individual wishes in a very concrete way."
Benedikt Baumann, Chef de Bar, Carlton Bar
Guests discover a large portfolio of vermouths, bubbly and signature cocktails on the bar menu, champagne by the glass and drinks in the rising segment of low ABV drinks. Hop lovers will find local but also national specialities such as Tibetan Schwarzbier next to unfiltered Zwick'l.
Instead of the term mocktails for non-alcoholic drinks, Baumann wants to use a new term soon: "I don't really like the term 'to mock someone' in this equally important segment," he says.
Over 900 wines
In addition to the bar menu, a wine list with more than 20 national and international wines by the glass will whet your appetite for a wine accompaniment to the lunch menu or fine dining in the evening.
Over 900 special wines and rarities can be found in the well-tempered Carlton wine cellar with a séparée for parties or connoisseurs. With special theme workshops, the Carlton invites you to exchange interests, get to know spirits and the liquid craft of handling them.
Tea culture is also celebrated here in a very special way. As part of the event series "The Art of Tea", tea enthusiasts learn from host Baumann himself, together with tea expert Jürg Meier, which tea-based cocktails can be created.
Guests can then enjoy their own creation at English Afternoon Tea with scones fresh from the oven. Every Saturday, the restaurant invites you to The Carlton Brunch from 10.30 am until 2 pm. Time enough to relax for the aperitif event in the Carlton Bar from 5 pm.
Carlton's Signature Drinks
Zurich Sour
| 4 cl | Deux Frères Gin |
| 3 cl | Lemon juice |
| 2 cl | Simple Syrup |
| Float | Jsotta Vermouth Rosso |
| Preparation: | Shake the ingredients and serve in a goblet over ice. Float with Jsotta Vermouth Rosso. |
| Deco: | Lime zest |
Old el Bexi
| 4 cl | Dark Rum |
| 3 cl | Fresh lime juice |
| 2 cl | Simple Syrup |
| 4-5 | Mint leaves |
| Fill up | Champagne |
| Top | Champagne-Cassis-Espuma |
| Preparation: | Shake all ingredients except champagne and strain into a coupette fine. Top up with champagne. Top off with champagne and cassis espuma. |
| Deco: | Mint branch |
Carlton Restaurant & Bar
Bahnhofstrasse 41
8001 Zurich
carlton.ch
