Rolled oats soaked in milk or yoghurt overnight, mixed with grated apple, lemon juice, hazelnuts and honey. Switzerland's quietly canonical breakfast.

Birchermuesli was developed by Maximilian Bircher-Benner, the Zurich physician who ran a Zurichberg sanatorium called Lebendige Kraft from 1904. He developed the recipe through nutritional experiments between roughly 1895 and 1900 and prescribed it as a raw, vitamin-rich morning meal to patients, modelled on a shepherd's breakfast he saw in the Swiss Alps. The original recipe used grated apple as the primary ingredient and oats only as a supplement, the modern proportions are roughly inverted. Haus Hiltl, opened 1898 down the hill, has served it ever since and is closest to the founding recipe.

2 editor picks for Birchermuesli in Zurich, ranked by editorial score. All Zurich signature dishes · Birchermuesli across every city.