Stefs Zentraleck, Zentralstrasse, Zurich

Update:
I don’t like to brag – but it took the Tagesanzeiger 10 days longer than yours truly to come up with
this. Who’s the number one in Zurich? 🙂

Why is therealpickygourmet.com the best dining blog ? Because we are better informed than everybody else. Two of my favorite places in Zurich have been the Zentraleck and Stefs. Now the Zentraleck has closed and the crew from Stefs have moved into the former Zentraleck. Meinrad Schlatter and Stefan Wieser are now running Stef’s Zentraleck. But what you didn’t know, and what you are going to read here for the first time ever is that the former crew of the Zentraleck is going to run the former Stef’s at the Hotel Rössli. So essentially the two restaurants are trading locations while keeping their crew intact. Where did you get that information first ? That’s right – on the one and only therealpickygourmet.com.

Bärenkrebs auf Avocado und Curryöl

Getrüffeltes Geflügelleberparfait mit Quitten und Briochetoast

Gefüllte Ardeche Perlhuhnbrust mit Trüffelrisotto

Stef’s at Zentraleck has just opened beginning of January 2009 and we went for dinner in the first week. Only two tables were occupied, one with five women and the other with us. Now middleaged women tend not to be popular with restaurant owners, since they share a salad, sample an appetizer and drink tap water. Funny thing was, that the table actually ordered a bottle of mineral water at 21:30, since they didn’t feel like going home… The menu really hasn’t changed much from Stef’s. You get four appetizers, three mains and 4 desserts to choose from. We started with a slipper lobster (Bärenkrebs) on avocado mousse and some salad. The second appetizer was a truffled poultry liver parfait with quince (Quitten) compott and salad. I very much enjoyed the clarity and simpleness of the three components each appetizer had. The slipper lobster was nice – the avocado mousse so-so and the salad on both plates was perfect. The best dish was the parfait, because it was the most fun eating. Our main dish was a filled guinea fowl breast (Perlhuhnbrust) on top of spinach and a side of truffle risotto. Nice fowl, nice spinach nice risotto, a very solid dish. Only downside was that there were some clusters of salt on the spinach (probably fleur de seul), making it a tad aggressive.
Some cheese rounded off the meal. I really enjoyed the place, I’m very happy to see that the level of cooking is being kept high in the new location. I’ll be back to taste an entrecote dish, since this guy knows his way around meat. Don’t be fooled by the bill, since we had five bottles of wine…:

Forget the wine - focus on the food