Restaurant Mesa, Weinbergstrasse, Zurich

Amouse bouche

Terrine in Pumpernickelmantel

If only I could remember

Fisch mit Specktranche und Granatapfel

Fisch mit Rogen auf Gurke und Meerettich

Rentierentrecote

Dessert

Mesa a nice place. After you look at the website or at the latest when you walk in the door, the restaurant makes one statement – fine dining. Formal attire is not necessary, but wearing a jacket doesn’t hurt. Luckily, my commanding aura makes me look I belong here in any place. Mesa sports 17 Gault Millau points and one Michelin star. To kill the suspense, it does so rightly. Interestingly enough, the amuse bouche gets served before you get to look at the menu. This startled me a bit, since I remember an incident at the Birchegg, but was reassured that we’ll get the menu after the amouse bouche. Marcus Lindner offers a Symhony of the Senses, which is essentially a six course menu. The trouble the hardest dining man in Zurich has, is that the excitement of the food clouds his memory. While this is never a good sign for a detailed field report, it’s a sign of excellence in regards to the food. The only place Mesa compares to is probably Spice. While Spice is a bit cleaner in flavors and a little less playful, Mesa is a bit wilder on the combinations of products, eg. mixing pomegranate with fish and bacon. Still the plates are great fun, sometimes the tidbits are a tad small, since you want to try out different combinations of flavors, and the permutations are thus limited. Stay off the bread, even though it’s excellent and save some room for cheese. If you compare Mesa directly say to Greulich you see why Mesa has a higher rating. The charming lady (speaking the dialect from Bern), knew everything about the dozen cheeses she showed us, whereas in the Greulich it was read of the piece of paper. Another sign for the professional charm was the fact, that even though we showed up at 20:00, we dined until almost 23:30. Not once were we rushed and even the cook Mr. Lindner stuck around until we’d finished the main courses and personally came to say hello. Dining at Mesa comes with a very hefty price tag, as most places with a Michelin star do. But think of it this way – 450 CHF was spent on food consisting of two amouse bouche, eight appetizers, two main courses, two desserts and two cheese courses. Doing the math ends you up at a price per course of 33 CHF. Now if you factor in the quality of the work and of the ingredients, you end up with a decent value for your money. The absolute numbers obviously still mark this as a very special event:

Rechnung