Restaurant Wyberg, Teufen, Zurich
Kalbfleisch Kraftbrühe mit Wachtel- Ei
Kalbfleisch- Spiess mit Erdnusssauce und Gemüsecarpaccio
Kalbs- Kopf- Bäggli „Süessmost“ Mit glacierten Äpfeln
Knusperiger Kalbs- Kopf Auf marinierten Tomaten
Kalbfleisch- Tartar- Millefeuille mit Orangen- Mayonnaise dazu
„Gebratene Milken“ mit schwarzem Reis dazu Estragonsauce
Nierli im Glas Auf Sherry Linsen mit Kartoffel -Schaum
Geräuchertes Kalbszüngli Auf grünem Erbsenpüree und Kichererbsen- Falafel
Kalbfleisch Ravioloni in Morchelsauce
Feines Voressen in Rosmarinsauce und Kartoffelpüree
Schnitzel in luftiger, Knusperpanade und leichtem, warmen Kartoffelsalat
Kalbsleberli mit Cognac in Butter mit Rösti
Gefüllter mini Kalbsbraten mit Dörrpflaumen Portweinsauce und römischen Nocken
Filetmignon mit gebratener Jakobsmuschel Safranschaumsauce auf feinen Tagliatelle
My father had to face a harsh reality, he’s no longer the lead Silverback of the family. A younger, stronger male has taken his place. Finding himself with an abundant amount of time on his hands, I now get phone calls – midday at the office – inquiring about “hopeful, spousal candidates”. A group headed to the Restaurant Wyberg in Teufen. The reason we visited the restaurant wasn’t the semi-remote location (they offer a free shuttle back to the next train station), but the fact that they offer a “Chalber-Gourmet-Metzgete”. Essentially Metzgete translates to something along the lines of “butchery”, so they were doing a gourmet veal selection. Coming back to the topic of males asserting themselves. One of the diners – chef and restaurateur himself – looks at the Metzgete Menu which has 15 positions and says – I’ll eat them all. Obviously this had a cascading effect where others chimed in, all declaring that they’ll eat all of the dishes. I had a feeling how this was going to develop ahead of time so I prepared accordingly that day, to make sure I was physically, mentally and spirtually at my peak. In the morning I went to church and attended mass. There weren’t many people my age, the singing was timid and the hors d’oeuvre served was on the dry side, but I’m assuming that’s beside the point of spirtitual calmness. Ensuring my further mental balance I headed over to the Museum Rietberg to join a tour through three generations of North Indian painters where an attractive & accademically acclaimed woman led us through the exihibition. For gentlemen lacking a hopeful spousal candidate, this seems to beat speed-dating. The ratio of male to female in our group of eight was 1:7. I wonder if this fact leads to a surge in the number of visitors to the museum. After a brief detour home and further studies in gastronomy and food critque (RTL2, Die Kochprofis) I went to the gym. Interesting enough I think the crowd was the same as in church. Coming back to our small dinner, keeping in mind my thorough preparation, I bravely accepted the challenge, even though my co-diners outweighed and outtowered myself. We got down to business. The veal broth was intense, with a nice quail egg. The next dish was a play of a Satay, I liked the flavour of the sauce, but thought that maybe the rather delicate veal is the wrong type of meat. I was blown away by the veal cheeks with an apple chip and some piece of candied apple, simply a marvelous combination and my favourite one of the night. The fried veal head on top of tomato fell somewhat short, it was too fatty and tomatoes in February aren’t my thing. Also the veal tartare with salad and orange-mayonaise had a too sweet and fruity note for my taste. Veal sweetbreads with a delicate fennel chip, tarragon sauce and black rice was lovely. I had an interesting discussion with the chef who joined us later after our dinner. When I mentioned that I thought the rice was a tad overcooked he laughed and said yes he thought so too. If he’d be cooking in downtown Zurich, he’d have cooked it less, but here out in the country if he doesn’t cook it through, it gets sent back. The answer clearly showed that the chef has a high level of culinary skill, since it was a conscious decision and not just a random act. It continued on a high note, kidneys on lentils covered with a potato foam had a strong and full flavour, but none of the stench that it’s sometimes accompanied by, magnificent. Veal tongue came with a falafel and some pea puree, nice and a decent combination. Back up to heaven was a veal ravioli with morel sauce, I could have eaten a dozen, if it hadn’t been for the other courses to come. Voressen, which is a kind of ragout, came with a bit of mash and a flavourful sauce. I liked the small Wiener Schnitzel, a lovely breading, but wasn’t too thrilled about the potato salad which had a heavy mayo base. By now one of the co-diners was sweating profusely, he had hot flashes and his female companion thought he looked pale and should stop. He’s ego wouldn’t let him. The veal liver was okay, the roeschti wasn’t, it lacked crispiness and was a bit too soggy from the butter. I’ll be honest, by now the nice buttered piece of bread I ate before the dinner didn’t seem to be such a good idea after all… The highlight of the veal roast with prunes were the semolina half moon shaped things, which were slightly roasted in the pan. Finally (roughly 5 hours after we began) the last course appears – a fillet of veal with saffron sauce, tagilatelle and a scallop. I had to really reach deep down inside, but I managed to finish this plate as well. In hindsight it was too much, but it was a fun way of really experiencing all the dishes. I really liked the event, I thought the chef and the brigade showed a lot of talent, culinary intelligence and also they seemed grounded enough to pull of some pretty simple, yet amazing dishes (think veal cheeks). I ordered a homemade quince sorbet with vodka to finish off the meal and was amazed one last time. Prices were pretty fantastic (keep in mind this here was for eight people), the amount of alcohol is easily explained by two diners being restaurateurs having the next day off and two other diners playing in a death metal band:
Rechnung
Sawasdee, Waldshut, Germany
Halbmond
I have sinned. Like every stout catholic, the mind is willing but the flesh is weak. After taking a trip to Bad Zurzach (swimming for the elderly), we decided to go rogue. Intrigued by the buying power, we headed deep into foreign territory and drove to Waldshut. First I thought I was in Waldshut but it turned out that it was actually Tiengen. After some bickering – after all I am the world’s best front-seat passenger and renowned navigator – we got back into the car and drove to Waldshut. Getting hungry (and desperate) we stop at a place called China Restaurant Mandarin. If you’ve ever wondered where German restaurants get their bad reputation this is a prime example. It’s a buffet affair, the dining room’s appearance reminds of a Columbo episode from the seventies and the food was simply revolting just judging by the looks. Sushi next to dessert on a Chinese all you can eat buffet ? It just fullfills every cliche of germans embracing price over any other quality attribute. We drove on to Waldshut and most of the places seemed shut, so we head into a place called Sawasdee. The place is cold and half full on a Sunday night. I order a half-moon, a kind of flat bread topped with cucumber salad and a bit of stuffing, a dish I’ve never had before. It was clearly made fresh, it was interesting and had a decent taste, the fresh cucumbers balancing the salty- and crunchyness. I also ordered a Pad Thai Gai (chicken), it was slightly different than from other nice Thai restaurants, but expertly balanced in taste. It wasn’t as strong flavourwise, but I can’t stress the fact enough how every component went beautifully along with each other. Honestly, I was very surprised to find such a decent Thai place in Waldshut. It wasn’t expensive at all (approx 70 CHF), the interior could do with a remodel, but for a unpretentious meal you’ll do pretty good here:
Poulet Pad Gai
Rechnung
Tea Room Siesta, Badenerstrasse, Zurich
Gemuesesuppe
Menusalat
Walliser Käseschnitte
I have driven past the Team Room Siesta and I’ve never noticed the single-story, bungalow type building next to the Letzigrund stadion. Field studies with the female followers I meet in bars, clearly showed that besides talking about my vast experience of fancy fine-dining places, showing my down-to-earth-side resonates tremendously with hopeful spousal candidates. To build my experience strategically in that area, the Tea Room Siesta was a perfect choice. One of the key quality features is if there’s an abundant supply of Blick available, and here a half dozen (plus other publications) lie neatly arranged on a table at the entrance. The crowd is middle aged, equally blue and white collar and all are looking for a tasty, cheap and quick meal. The soup and salad were acceptable, nothing special and not homemade. A real nice surprise was the Kaeseschnitte. The only thing I would have changed is use a real piece of bread instead of toast, but otherwise it was lovely. You could really taste the white wine which was used to douse the toast, the raclette cheese, ham and fried egg were a great lunch. The real burner – the whole thing was a mere 16 CHF! I’ve found my new favourite lunch place! And it get’s better. One of the waitress actually lit up a cigarette behind the counter! This is real old school and exactly my type of place, they make their own rules. Great value for money (considering you also get a salad and a soup):
Rechnung
Didis Frieden (revisit), Stampfenbachstrasse, Zurich
Lauwarme Tranche vom gesottenen Fidelio-Rindsschulterspitz an Apfel-Meerrettichpüree und Randensalat mit Kartoffelstroh
Entrecote mit Bratkartoffeln, Daterinitomaten und Zuchetti
A group of distinguished food enthusiasts, the Sociéte des Connaisseurs Schaffhouseois, were looking to add class, tasteful humour and an air of sophistication to their regular meetings. What was the solution to their wish ? They invited the real picky gourmet to join them for dinner. We headed to Didis Frieden and started with a nice Tafelspitz on beets, with some horseradish-apple puree and potato straw. An interesting dish, since the rather salty potatoes worked nicely with the sweet beets, I would have preferred a bit more punch on the horseradish, but a nice starter. My main course was an Entrecote with zucchini, tomatoes (not very seasonal) and potatoes. I enjoyed the meat it was cooked very nicely and clearly showed the excellent skills of the kitchen. The most surprising thing of the dinner was when a very friendly gentleman from a class reunion living in Herrliberg (apparently a neighbor of Mr. Blocher and Mr. Federer) got talking to us and invited us to a round of beer, because we looked liked proper gentlemen. The restaurant is still functioning at a high level and the food is absolutely on par, the other patrons are friendly and the chaps from the sociéte good company. An evening I’ll repeat rather sooner than later.
Restaurant Kornplatz, Kornplatz, Chur
Rotkohlsuppe
Capuns
Rindsfilet auf Ochsenschwanzragout mit Schnittauchpizzokel und Gemüse
On my way back from a small mountain village I passed by a town known as Chur. We stopped at Restaurant Kornplatz for dinner. The place is run by an austrian and sports a mix of swiss and austrian dishes. I quite liked the red cabbage soup mixed with a bit of cream, it reminded me somewhat of a light polish borscht and was unique, intriguing and simple. The first big disappointment were the Capuns, the absolute staple dish of the cuisine of Grisons. Not only was the dough to dry and reminded of Knoedel, the sauce was a very thick cheese / cream concoction, instead of a milk / broth mix, also the bacon strips didn’t add much too the dish (at least it was priced very fairly at 13 CHF). My main dish was also somewhat disappoining, the oxtail was nicely shredded and cooked, but on the salty side and the filet was overcooked. I did like the swiss chard wrapped in bacon which was served as one of the vegetables. The best overall component of the whole meal, was the smoked trout tartare served with red beet on top. Prices:
Rechnung
Ly’s Asia Prime Dine, Hardstrasse, Zurich
Gedämpfte Wantan Chef Style
Entenlebersalat
Gebratene Ente mit Taro (Wasserbrotwurzel) mit einer dickflüssigen Soya-Sauce
The competition is intense and the attractive woman in her mid-thirties at the Zueritipp beat me to releasing an article on the Bayeischer Hof. Just like in Poker, I have to up the ante and strike back. The Ly’s Asia Prime Dine has been open for five days and your sturdy, but of elegant proportion food writer has already visted the place. It took me some time to figure out that it’s actually three restaurants in one. After being led to the table I see that the menu doesn’t have any of the dishes mentioned online, after I inquire why that’s the case I’m told that the Prime Dine restaurant is actually upstairs. So to get to where I want to be I need to walk through a Take Away, a regular restaurant before taking a flight of stairs to arrive at my destination. I am the only guest and pick a table with decent lighting overlooking the regular restaurant. Upon studying the menu I am somewhat surprised. Main courses reach prices as high as 98 CHF for lobster with truffles. For that money I’d better be blown away. A short research shows that the owner is (or used to be) affiliated with the Suan Long Chinese restaurant chain. Those who don’t know, that used to be the place which during the late 80ties and 90ties gave us average europeanized chinese food for sky-high prices in Zurich. I might not be impartial, since the only place I was ever kicked out off was a Suan Long restaurant on Langstrasse, nevertheless I went there with a very open mind. My first dish were the Wan Tan Chef style. They tasted of shrimp and scallop, but I would have liked to be thinner and silkier. Next dish was a duck liver salad. What I got was essentially two pieces of duck liver on pineapple. Not sure if the dish was chinese, it reminded me more of a french plate with some asian influence. I did like the use of coriander, it gave a nice contrast. My main dish was breaded duck with taro root and a thick soy sauce. The taro was a tad on the mealy side, and it didn’t add much in taste to the duck. Quite frankly, the food here is the Suan Long concept all over again. Average fare at obscene prices. You’ll get better dumplings at the Dim Sum takeaway at Platzspitz or the Luo at Stampfenbachplatz. The duck liver dish was a trivial attempt at french cuisine, but falling short in execution. The main dish didn’t rock my boat either, I do like to commend the noodles, they were nicely balanced in taste. Quit frankly if you want to bring chinese food in Zurich to the next level, why not surprise the city with the best dumplings ever ? Why not have a chef in the center make fresh noodles and be real novelty ? Offering Chateau d’Yquem at 550 CHF per bottle and other more expensive french red wines is tacky. Keeping in mind that I’m probably not the biggest bargain hunter out there, I do have my limits. Even if you forget my rant – are three average dumplings worth 33 CHF ? Bill:
Rechnung
le Pain Quotidien, Römerhof, Zurich
Skandinavischer Brunch
One of the funniest commentaries I read on le Pain Quotidien, was a diner which missed the post office which used to be in the same spot at the Roemerhof… Ouch! I head over there and the first thing which did miff me a tad, was when I wasn’t given the WiFi password, since this was a place to make people calm down. Seems like a place my mother would enjoy… The clou at LPQ is really that they make fresh bread onsite which you can also buy just like if it was a small bakery. The corporate designers did a pretty decent job, the inside is full of lightly colored wood and gives it a comfortable-in-the-IKEA-kind-of-way feeling. I order the scandinavian brunch, which is assorted breads, salmon wrap, terrine, shrimp, meat, cheese and a poached egg. The serving is quite generous, just the bread basket alone carries a croissant, dark bread, Zopf and some baguette. After eating here I can safely say that it beats the culinary offering of the aforementioned post office. However in a place like this the star should be the bread and it wasn’t. The Zopf or especially with this name here the baguette should knock me off my feet. Crunchy, hard crust on the outside and an incredible fluffy and distinct tasting interior is what I’d be excpecting, possibly still slightly warm from the oven it was baked in. But it’s like a german industrial bakery with an attached Selbstbedienung shop, yes it’s bread, it’s just not very good. Other gripes included the mealy shrimp, underwhelming non-runny Reblochon, the advertised wrap was actually two small slices and the egg was hard instead of runny on the inside. Keeping in mind all the food issues there was one last touch which struck me odd. Looking and listening around the dining room, the crowd is rather international (not much swiss german spoken), hence a place like this could also have been in Singapore, Dresden or Seattle, it just felt a tad soulless. Prices:
Rechnung
Restaurant Alte Post, Schaffhauserstrasse, Zurich
Kartoffelsuppe
Gemischter Salat
Eddy Hackbraten Exquisit
The Alte Post in Seebach, prides itself on being one of the few swiss restaurants with real soul. The interior certainly sends a clear statement, this is old school swiss Beiz. Dark wooden walls, a sign forbidding to play Jass after 6 pm and an abundant supply of Blick newspapers would make this what some people call authentic. First I have the soup of the day which is made out of potatoes. I’m willing to bet that Aromat or another comparable flavor enhancer is sprinkled generously upon the soup. All while I’m eating the Abfahrt (Men’s downhill) is being broadcast on the television and the few other patrons (male, swiss, > 45) strike up a discussion of the good old swiss skiing days. It does feel like old times, since Defago snatches the top spot just ahead of fellow swiss skier Küng. I turn my attention to the mixed salad. While not bad, it is lacking effort and I believe it’s been made since this like the last 20 years and is lacking anything to get me riled up. The staple dish here (Menu number three) is Eddys Hackbraten Exquisite (believe me I didn’t make this up), which I had ordered together with some fries. Interestingly enough it is also served with a selection of three vegetables. In all honesty, the Hackbraten is so-so at best, my mom’s or the one at Tre Fratelli are way ahead. But for the price of less than 20 CHF, there isn’t much too complain, especially if you get a complementary copy of the Blick to read during your meal and watch a swiss guy win a downhill ski race. I would like to point out the picture dictating the Jass times:
Kein Jassen nach 18:00
Restaurant Commerce, Gerechtigkeitsgasse, Bern
Pulpo a la Plancha
Paella
Zabayone
Restaurant Commerce is an oldtime instituion in Bern. My aunt und uncle would take me there every now and then for dinner. My lovable-yet-slightly-complicated-when-it-comes-to-eating uncle actually had a “Commerce jacket”. This was a special jacket he’d only where to Commerce, since after dining here every one would smell for some days. This day he avoided having to ruin on of his better ones by exosing it to undue olfactorial stress. Insides are all wood and the place has an almost parisienne feeling, since when you walk up to the door (with a reservation) there’s a sign saying you needn’t turn up inside since they’re fully booked (“Comlplèt”). The pulpo was okay I had a starte, nothing to write home about but together with the white Sangria it brings out memories of holidays in Spain (where I’ve never been). I went for the Paella a dish I really like and there’s nothing wrong here, the rice is firmly cooked, it has the right amount of peas and sea creatures. I never know what to do with my fingers so I always make a mess, but I guess this is part of the fun experience. Looking around the small dining room, this really seems to be a family place for virtually all Bern. From young kids to a sixtieth birthday, there’s a lot going on here. The owners’ kid’s running around and gives it a comfy atmosphere. Food might be not stellar, but it’s decent, prices are reasonable and the atmosphere is one of a kind:
Rechnung
Restaurant Tre, Hotel Bad Bubendorf, Bad Bubendorf
Amuse bouches
Lachsvariationen
Tartare mit Kaviar, Ei und Kartoffelsuppe
Ravioli
Rande, Entenbrust, Pistache
Rehrücken, Selleriepuree, Preiselbeer
Baba au rhum
Sabayone und gegrillte Ananas, Joghurteis und Purple Krokant
Warmer Schokoladekuchen und Texturen von der Mandarine
Süsser Stein im Winterzauber
Interpretationen von Schokolade, Marroni und Vanille
What is my main strength in writing about my dining experiences? It’s my relative anonymity. This virtually guarantees that my dining experience is not going to be any different than yours. I’ve met with the Brian from the Dessertblog.ch and
we decided to go for dinner together at the Restaurant Tre in Bad Bubendorf. Little did I know that his approach was subtly different from mine, where I shine in blending into the surroundings, Brian shows up with a large photocamera, multiple umbrellas to direct the light and asks for a separate table to be setup, where he can take pictures of the food. Another aspect was the fact that he called ahead and announced our visit, leading the kitchen to do a special menu just for us, showing off the savoury and the sweet side of their cuisine. Naturally I was more inclined to test the savoury side of things. You’ll spot the difference in quality of the pictures, mine being taken with a mobile phone without any special lighting. On the savoury side I’d like to talk about a couple of dishes. The salmon variations were a crafty, tasty and well designed dish to ease into a meal. Each of the individual components showed craftsmanship, a modest touch to plating and a strong chef’s palate for balancing the flavours. Another one was caviar served on top of an egg, tartare and some potato soup. Personally I found it almost a tad overboarding in terms of the flavor profile (caviar, yolk, beef) and the fact that it was sitting in a soup I thought to be somewhat texturally offputting. I think the chef’s style again nicely surfaced in the main dish, which was a piece of venison, cranberry, celeriac puree and celery. Reduction to the max with a twist sums up the dish nicely. To me this really showed off why the place received a Michelin star. Moving on to desserts, I’ll leave most of the comments to Brian. I would like to call out the Warm chocolate cake with textures of the mandarine and the interpretation of chocolate, chestnuts and vanilla. Both dishes radiated elegance and sophistication, if an ice cream cone is Blues, then these represent Jazz music. Something which not only satisfies the sensory needs, but also the intellectual ones. Now to the big debate of the evening (and keep in mind, noone in the group new who I was) – the meal was essentially comped (on the house). Hence the whole affair was somewhat two-sided for me, the chef and his pastry chef obviously have tremendous talent and are at the top of their game, on the other hand this wasn’t quite your typical meal. On the other hand
without the skill and expertise in place, there’s not a chance that you’ll ever get food at this quality. This leaves me with only one option, I’ll have to go back again, this time alone and without someone lugging half a photo studio along. I was asked by a couple of people who’s responsible for the delicate food, Kay Baumgardt is the master pastry chef and overall responsability lies with head chef Gianluca Garigliano.
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