Spice, Rigiblick, Zurich

Shrimp

Entenleber

Kalbsrücken und Ragout mit Püree

Dessert

One of my favourite restaurants in Zurich, the Spice has a new crew which is running the show. Felix Episser is travelling the world and his former sous-chef – Christian Nickel – has stepped up to the plate and is running the show. Lucky me, a fellow gourmet and food writer invited me lunch to try it out. The place is half full for lunch, making it easier to get one of the coveted tables at the window. A smart amouse makes it our way, a lovely shrimp wrapped in batter makes me hungry for more. The menu is still following the Spice principle of having some dishes clearly in the traditional heritage of french cooking, whereas the other ones play of more modern asian flavours. The duck liver was expertly prepared, nicely plated and paired with just enough fruit and acid to create a well balanced dish. Main course was a ragout covered in a mousseline served alongside a swiss veal back with some chestnut puree. Strong meaty flavours, absolute nice and well cooked ragout, only small drawback was a certain sweetness to the purees/mousselines which accompanied the meat. Dessert was an assortment of different tibits. A big compliment to whomever bought the mangos, they were simply delicious and obviously selected with great skill from the food purveyor. Now overall, the spirit of Felix Episser still lingers over the Spice but his successor is providing the continuity which makes me confident that this restauran will remain on my list of favourites. I’ll be back in the evening to double check.