Restaurant Hiltl, Zurich

Tomaten Gazpacho

Couscous mit Gemüse (Badingal)

Waldpilz Vollkornpenne

Quick lunch at Hiltl, the first and oldest vegetarian restaurant in Zurich, it’s been around for roughly a century. Now, I personally think vegan lifestyles is something for Shemales and I’m only somewhat more thrilled by pure vegetarian restaurants. But Hiltl’s quality of food is quite nice and I’ve eaten decently in the past, my favorite being their salad buffet (although pricey) and the Riz Colonial. What I really detest about Hiltl, is the techno-sleek feeling it imposes. Everything is organized, optimised and ready to be synergized. Waiters with head-sets and WiFi-Triple Band communication gadgets, leave the impression that turnover of tables is the key mantra of the Hiltl.
We got a nice table outside on a beautiful day. As in all “well-frequented” Zurich restaurants, I’m not the paying customer which needs pampering, no I have to be glad to be actually allowed in to eat here. We were seated promptly (I had reserved in advance) but It took the waitress a considerable amount to take care of us. Ordering was a bit strange, the glass of wine I wanted from the menu (white house wine) was probably sold out[original quote], the waitress said she’ll find out, I’m still waiting for an answer. My partner’s order for 2dl of wine (price on the menu per dl) was denied, the Hiltl only has caraffes with a size of 2.5dl. Lack of meat seems to cloud the ability of the brain to think straight.
Anyway we had a salad and a tomato gazpacho with cucumber. The salad was good, I really liked the gazpacho, some lightly sauteed scallions were added which gave it a bit of a zing. The croutons were sitting in the soup to long and were too soggy. For mains we had a libanese badingal, a sort of ratatouille with cous-couse and whole wheat penne with mushrooms. The cous-cous was good and especially the arabic seasoning on the vegetables was excellent. I made the error of ordering whole wheat pasta, which is just lacking the silky sexiness of normal pasta. Otherwise it was okay, I liked the mushrooms. Price for salad, gazpacho, badingal, penne, 5dl sparkling water, 1 espresso and a glass of wine was 78 CHF. Not a bad choice for lunch, but not spectacular (except the salad bar).