Marathon Ethiopian

(now called Habesha Restaurant)
For expectation sake, this is not a 5-​star restaurant in the sense you’ll dine with silver by candle light. In fact, there may not be toilet paper. Be prepared to enter what feels like a town hall, with lots of East African young men playing cards, watching football («soccer”-don’t be silly), and drinking beer or coke. If you get there before 7, and you’re Caucasian, you might be the only. But prepare yourself… take a deep breath and create room in your heart and stomach, for the BEST Erithro– Ethiopian food 50 CHF can buy (fur zwei /​for 2) in all of Europe. To boot, the portions are huge. The owner, waiter, master chef (or Souz-​chef if his wife is there!) is a wonderful soul. We made a huge mistake and forgot cash, and he worked with us to rectify the problem. (CASH ONLY!) I’ve eaten Ethiopian food all around the world, and I have no hesitation in five stars. Be sure to be patient depending on your timing, as there are very few tables, and it is a very small kitchen. Cozy up with some new friends ands stay for the evening.

Super yummy restaurant. Plus you get to eat with your hands! We had the little bit of everything, meat version, for two people. Was more than enough food. Very interesting to try out there food and culture. There beer was also pretty good, although he only had ‘warm’ beer, so not from a fridge.

Pretty much everything has been said about this place by Michael and I would like to firmly disagree with Simona questioning if she was even there, because there is not a single food item on Marathon Ethiopia’s menu which costs CHF 30 or more. Meat costs between 20 and 25 CHF; vegetarian between 13 and 20 CHF. Food is generally excellent and the menu card itself caused heavy laugh attacks (Rind fleische, Poule schenkle and Carls Berg ;-)

I am reading the previous reviews for this typical ethiopian restaurant and I see that they are very good. The main idea behind this is that the place is super traditional, it’s the real thing. Which I completely agree with. However, for my personal taste, it was a bit too much of a traditional atmosphere, which I didn’t expect here in Switzerland.
Let me start with the beginning: it was the birthday of a friend and we wanted to celebrate it by having dinner in a nice place. One of the girls suggested Marathon, about which she had read a full one page great review in one of the Zurich gastro tips magazines. None of us had ever tried Ethiopian food before.
First, it was not straightforward finding the place, as it looks like anything but a restaurant from the outside… Maybe more like a super old laden or countryside bar?
Ok. Then, when you go inside. You are basically not in Switzerland anymore. A small room with (I would estimate) 6 tables is the restaurant, next to which on one side is a bar where an ethiopian lady is frying all the food and on the other side another room (it was probably initially a 2 rooms apartment) in which at least 20 ethiopian men were playing pool and watching a super loud TV. Even in the restaurant itself, most of the tables were occupied by men from the other room grabbing snacks during their pool games break. Everybody was speaking only Ethiopian (I assume) and the people from the neighbouring room were constantly going in and out of the restaurant. At some point, they started verbally arguing. Seemed pretty serious by the tones of their voices, but yeah… Who knows… So, as you might get the point, it was like a small house with 30 people inside.
The waiter was super friendly, smiling all the time. He spoke no English and very little German, but it was no much need of communication: we chose these ‘a little bit of all’ things, where on a huge thin layer of their specific bread you have all sorts of vegetables, cheese, tofu and some traditional sauces. We got the vegi version (which had soy meat if I remember well) and the meat version (which had chicken). Oh, and there were plenty of boiled eggs as well.
The food was nice, incomparable to any type of food I had before. I have to admit I felt a little sick after eating it, but none of my friends had any problem, so it might have been just my lack of familiarity with african food that caused the problem.
We were 5 people and the food was plenty. I found it to be too expensive though for the actual conditions in which it was served. We payed around 30 CHF/​person excluding drinks.
In conclusion, it’s a great place for an authentic experience (not only food). But me, personally, to be honest, I won’t go back. And definitely it is not the place to celebrate a birthday. Maybe I’m being too picky about stuff. Just go and judge by yourself!

I lived in Ethiopia for a year, and occasionally (often) get a craving for traditional Ethiopian food. Marathon lives up. We shared the small dining room with mostly Swiss patrons, but the restaurant clearly caters to the Ethiopian community in Zurich as well. The food was authentic and well prepared, and served in the traditional Ethiopian style (shared plate of injera with your order poured on top). If you’ve had Ethiopian food in Ethiopia, the only difference to point out is that the injera is less sour and not as course as you would often find there — probably a concession to palates not accustomed to the flavor.
If you want to try some food that ventures beyond the typical Zurich fare, I’d highly recommend Marathon. The staff was friendly and helpful, and threw in free appetizers and coffee (but I don’t know if that’s standard or not).
Prices are typical for Zurich meals, if not slightly less than you might find elsewhere. Portions are 20 – 25 chf each.
Note to vegetarians: we only ordered meat dishes, but there were 4 – 5 vegetarian options on the menu.

Man fühlt sich schon etwas in einer anderen Welt. Bei unserem Besuch waren wir die einzigen Nicht-​Schwarzen. Wie haben das «etwas von allem» genommen und können es empfehlen. Nur die Portion war etwas sehr gross … Ich habe selten so herzliches Personal erlebt!

Marathon is a hidden gem in Zurich. Really great place, the prices are quite good for Zurich, the food is excellent, and the service is really friendly. Try the traditional Ethopian coffee filtered with a horse hair kettle! Highly recommended.

Beduselt vom vielen Honigwein, der dort in Massen fliesst (ist es das gelobte Land?) muss ich doch sagen, dass das Mahl im Marathon ein Erlebnis ist. Die Beiz ist unterteilt in zwei Teile, in ein Restaurant und in einen Raum, wo gespielt wird.
In diesem Lokal sammeln sich Leute vor allem aus dem afrikanischarabischen Raum, es wird geredet, gelacht und gegessen. Als Mensch ohne diesen Hintergrund fühlt man sich wie in einer anderen Welt. Ich liess mir sagen, dass der Mensch welchem das Lokal gehört, ein ehemaliger Marathonläufer war, deshalb heisst das Lokal Marathon.
Es wird preiswert und in Massen gegessen. Man sitzt an einem grossen Tisch und das Essen wird auf einer riesigen Platte serviert, es eignet sich also hervorragend, dort mit vielen Leuten essen zu gehen und sich den Bauch mit äthiopischer traditioneller Küche vollzuschlagen. Dieses Essen ist vor allem scharf und mit etlichen Kräutern gewürzt, alles wird mit dem säuerlichen Fladenbrot gegessen. Auf jeden Fall eignet sich das Marathon für Leute, die einmal eine etwas andere Küche probieren wollen als nur die typisch asiatische oder italienische. Obwohl es für meinen Geschmack von aussen etwas dubios aussieht, sollte man sich trauen und das Lokal betreten, selten wird man so herzlich bedient und empfangen.

Ein äthiopisches Restaurant ist viel mehr als ein Ort um Speisen zu sich zu nehmen. Es ist ein Ort, des Gesprächs, des Spiels. Wo die Zeit anders tickt. Wo alt und jung beieinander sitzen. Genauso ist das kleine Marathon. Der Name eine klare Anspielung auf Abessiniens lange Tradition an weltbekannten Ausdauersportlern.
Kommen sie also und setzen sich um einen der Korbtische. Auf diesen werden dann alle Gerichte auf einem einzigen grossen Teller serviert. Das beste ist man hat nicht nur eine sondern abhängig von der Zahl an Mitessern jede Menge Auswahlmöglichkeiten. Bestellen sie viel die Portionen sind mir etwas zu klein. Unterlegt werden alle Speisen mit Injera. Einem säuerlichem Fladenbrot. Mit diesem wird in dem sie mit drei Fingern einen Kegel bilden das Essen aufgenommen und –zack– in den Mund geschoben. Ist gewöhnungsbedürfig macht aber Spass. Bestellen sie zuerst einmal Honigwein. Dann dürfen sie das scharfe Doro Wott nicht vergessen. Das ist in scharfe Sosse eingelegtes Ei und ein Hühnerschenkel. Um das sich traditionell alle streiten. Ach und auch zu empfehlen ist Kitfo. Lamm in äthiopischer mit zig Kräutern verfeinerter Butter.
Am Schluss das Ritual der Kaffeezeromonie, welches das ganze Restaurant mit einem herrlichen Geruch erfüllt. Sehen Sie zu und vergessen sie die Zeit.