Restaurant in Menzingen, Switzerland
Four nights a week. Book early.
Gasthaus Löwen holds a 2024 Michelin star in the hillside village of Menzingen, running a four-to-eight course surprise tasting menu Wednesday through Sunday. Ingredient quality and classical technique with international reach define the kitchen. Book three to four weeks out — the limited weekly service and growing reputation make this one of the harder Zug-area tables to secure.
Getting a table at Gasthaus Löwen is harder than it looks. The restaurant opens for dinner only four evenings a week — Wednesday through Saturday, starting at 6:30 PM — plus a single Sunday lunch service that ends at 3 PM. With no published seat count, no online booking widget listed publicly, and a Michelin star awarded in 2024 drawing attention to a village most Swiss diners hadn't heard of, demand has outpaced availability. Book at least three to four weeks out for a weekend dinner slot; Sunday lunch may be marginally easier to secure but fills quickly once regulars claim their spots. If you are travelling from Zurich or Zug, factor in the drive to Menzingen , a hillside village in the canton of Zug , and plan around the Saturday evening service if you want the most flexibility. This is not a walk-in venue.
The verdict: yes, book it , but only if you are comfortable with a surprise tasting format and genuinely interested in ingredient-led cooking. For diners who want to choose from a menu or keep the evening short, Gasthaus Löwen is the wrong fit. For food and travel enthusiasts who respond to sourcing-driven kitchens and an intimate room where the chef comes to your table, it delivers enough at the €€€€ price point to justify the planning required.
Gasthaus Löwen has been standing in Menzingen since the 16th century, which makes it one of the older dining rooms in the canton of Zug. The current chapter began in 2019, when Tanja and Franco Körperich took over. The division of roles is clean: Tanja runs the front of house in a wood-panelled dining room on the first floor, and Franco drives the kitchen. The room itself , elegantly laid tables, traditional inn bones , sets expectations that the cooking then recalibrates. This is not a rustic gasthaus in the usual sense.
The format is a surprise menu of four to eight courses, and the sourcing philosophy shapes every decision on it. Franco Körperich's kitchen draws on top-quality ingredients and applies classical technique with modern and international reference points. The Michelin inspectors noted a specific dish that illustrates the approach well: gently barbecued, mildly spiced king prawn, served with lightly sautéed buck's horn plantain and fine baby peas, completed by a tom kha gai beurre blanc. That combination , French sauce construction, Southeast Asian aromatic base, precision vegetable work , is not a gimmick. It reflects a kitchen that sources ingredients capable of carrying cross-cultural technique without losing coherence. The beurre blanc reportedly carries notable aroma and texture, which points to stock quality and emulsion discipline rather than flavour shortcuts.
This sourcing-first approach justifies the €€€€ positioning more credibly than the room size or address alone would. At this price tier in Switzerland, you are often paying for the name of a city or a famous chef. At Gasthaus Löwen, the argument for value rests on ingredient quality and the care taken with classical foundations , a more durable case. Vegetarian diners should pre-order their alternative menu in advance; this is not a kitchen that improvises dietary accommodations on the night.
Franco Körperich makes a point of presenting dishes himself and offering guidance at the table , a practice that turns the tasting format into something closer to a conversation than a performance. In summer, the Steingarten on the opposite side of the street opens for al fresco dining, adding a seasonal reason to time your visit for the warmer months. The outdoor option is a meaningful upgrade in setting without changing the menu or format.
The Google rating sits at 4.9 across 93 reviews , a figure that holds more weight than usual given the small volume, because 93 reviews at a venue this size and this remote represents a high proportion of diners who bothered to respond. The Michelin star, awarded in 2024, is the most concrete external signal of where the kitchen sits in Switzerland's competitive fine dining field. For context, Switzerland carries one of the highest densities of Michelin-starred restaurants per capita in Europe, which makes a star here harder to earn and more meaningful as a benchmark. See how other Swiss one-star and multi-star venues compare: Hotel de Ville Crissier in Crissier, Cheval Blanc by Peter Knogl in Basel, Memories in Bad Ragaz, and Maison Wenger in Le Noirmont.
If you are interested in how ingredient-led classic cuisine performs elsewhere in the German-speaking region, Meierei Dirk Luther in Glücksburg and Obauer in Werfen offer useful reference points in comparable formats. Within Switzerland, Einstein Gourmet in Sankt Gallen, The Restaurant in Zurich, Colonnade in Lucerne, Da Vittorio in St. Moritz, and Mammertsberg in Freidorf each offer a different take on the €€€€ tier. Also nearby is Hotel & Restaurant Ochsen, the only other dining option of note in Menzingen itself.
For the full picture of what Menzingen offers beyond this table: our full Menzingen restaurants guide, Menzingen hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences.
Hours: Wednesday–Saturday 6:30 PM–11:45 PM; Sunday 11:30 AM–3 PM; closed Monday–Tuesday. Format: Surprise tasting menu, four to eight courses; vegetarian alternative available with advance notice. Price tier: €€€€ , budget accordingly for a full tasting menu with wine. Booking: Reserve three to four weeks out minimum for weekend dinners; Sunday lunch books out faster than it appears. No online booking confirmed publicly , contact directly. Dress: No published code, but the room is elegantly laid and the price tier suggests smart casual at minimum. Getting there: Menzingen is in the canton of Zug; a car is the most practical option. Summer tip: Request the Steingarten for al fresco dining when the season permits , the outdoor garden across the street is a meaningful upgrade in setting.
Almost certainly not in the way you might at a casual venue. Gasthaus Löwen operates a formal tasting menu format in an elegantly laid dining room , there is no indication of bar seating or counter dining in any available information. If you want the experience here, you need a reserved table. For a more flexible entry point to fine dining in the region, IGNIV Zürich by Andreas Caminada uses a sharing format that tends to suit a wider range of group configurations.
Dinner is the primary experience here, with four evenings of service weekly versus a single Sunday lunch. Sunday lunch may be slightly easier to book and offers a different rhythm , shorter days, natural light , but it is the only midday option available. If you want the full arc of the surprise menu with a relaxed pace, Saturday dinner is the better call. Sunday lunch suits visitors combining the meal with a Zug or Zurich day trip and who cannot free up an evening. The menu format does not appear to differ between services based on available data, so the choice is mainly logistical.
Within Menzingen itself, Hotel & Restaurant Ochsen is the most notable alternative. For the broader region and the same €€€€ tier, look at focus ATELIER for Modern Swiss and creative cooking, or Memories in Bad Ragaz if you are willing to travel further for a multi-star experience. See our full Menzingen restaurants guide for the complete local picture.
Yes, for the right diner. The 2024 Michelin star is a concrete quality signal, and the sourcing approach , top-quality ingredients treated with classical technique and international influence , gives the menu a coherence that justifies the €€€€ price tier. The four-to-eight course range gives Franco Körperich flexibility to vary depth and pacing. Where it falls short of value: if you dislike surprise formats, need à la carte flexibility, or are not willing to pre-arrange a vegetarian menu. Compare it against Schloss Schauenstein, which runs a more elaborate multi-course format at higher investment , Löwen is the more approachable entry into Switzerland's starred tasting menu tier.
Three things matter most. First, the format is non-negotiable: you are committing to a surprise menu of four to eight courses, and if you have dietary requirements beyond standard vegetarian, contact the restaurant well in advance. Second, book early , three to four weeks minimum for a weekend slot, more if you are visiting in summer when the Steingarten is open. Third, the village setting in Menzingen means you will need a car or a planned transfer; this is not a venue you stumble into after a Zurich dinner. The Google score of 4.9 across 93 reviews and the Michelin recognition together make a strong case that the planning pays off , but only if you go in knowing what the format requires of you.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasthaus Löwen | €€€€ | Hard | — |
| Schloss Schauenstein | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Memories | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| roots | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| IGNIV Zürich by Andreas Caminada | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| focus ATELIER | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
The database does not confirm a bar or counter seating at Gasthaus Löwen. The dining experience is centred on the wood-panelled first-floor room, where guests sit at formally laid tables for the surprise tasting menu. If bar seating matters to you, this is not the right format — Löwen is a sit-down, multi-course operation from start to finish.
Dinner is the main event. The kitchen runs the full four-to-eight course surprise menu Wednesday through Saturday evenings, while Sunday lunch (11:30 AM–3 PM) is the only midday service and the format there is not confirmed to match the full dinner programme. If you want the Michelin-starred tasting menu experience, book a weekday or Saturday evening.
Menzingen itself has no direct competitors at this level — Gasthaus Löwen is the standout address in the village. For comparable surprise-menu dining in the broader region, Zurich options such as IGNIV Zürich by Andreas Caminada or roots offer a more urban setting at similar or higher price points. Löwen's advantage is the 16th-century inn atmosphere and Franco Körperich's hands-on tableside presence, which you won't replicate in the city.
At €€€€ pricing with a Michelin star awarded in 2024, Gasthaus Löwen delivers a credentialled tasting menu in a room with genuine historical character. The four-to-eight course format, vegetarian options on request, and the chef personally presenting dishes add meaningful value. If you're weighing it against a Zurich city restaurant at the same price tier, Löwen's combination of setting and personal service tips the balance — provided you're willing to make the trip to Menzingen.
The kitchen is open only four evenings a week (Wednesday through Saturday, from 6:30 PM) plus Sunday lunch — so your booking window is narrow and advance reservations are essential. The menu is a surprise format with no à la carte option; if you want vegetarian courses, pre-order when you book. Franco Körperich presents dishes himself tableside, which shapes the pace of the meal. In summer, ask about the Steingarten terrace across the street.
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