Meta’s Kutscherhalle, Müllerstrasse, Zurich

Tomaten Panna Cotta

kalbsfilet-tataki auf sprossensalat an einer wasabi-honig-nusssauce

gebackene tomatensuppe mit frischen kräutern und vanilleöl

Vanilleöl auf dem Tischtuch

lammnierstück mit einer kaffee-kräuter-kruste

Kräuterbratkartoffeln

Trio von der Tobleronemousse

I called Meta’s Kutcherhalle to make a reservation on a Thursday. Meta picks up the phone, laughs and says that she’s opening on Monday and I was a couple of days early. Being your inquisite food writer, which is always willing to get you the lastest information I showed up on the next Tuesday night. The place is small with roughly 30 seats and the kitchen takes up the space at the end of the dining room, separated by a window, but otherwise open. We start with a Tomato Panna Cotta, a tasty and well thought out amuse bouche. It was too creamy for a panna cotta, but this didn’t matter. The veal tataki was a well prepared and nicely conceptualized dish. You added some dried peas and peanuts to every bite of meat, topped it with some sauce and it was interesting and a surprising bite. The sprouts were too much “asian touch by your local supermarket” style, but you could just leave them away. Next up was a baked tomato soup with a scallop and shrimp skewer. To add some more flavor a syringe with vanilla oil was also part of the dish. Now I was too forceful in using the device and sprayed the table and my co-diners handbag. At least Louis Vuitton with vanilla scent is a novelty item. The soup was very flavourful, just tomato with a deep smokey flavour. The scallop and shrimp served on a skewer were okay, but I would have preferred a stronger sear on both. Main course were some lovely potatos with a lot of butter and a piece of lamb with a coffee-herb-crust, personally I would have left out the coffee, but the dish was good. If you look at all the dishes, you can see that Meta has a knack for flowers and decorations. Dessert was a mousse of different toblerone, which was rather heavy and was lacking that typical airy and velvety touch. Overall I believe Metas place is going to be very successful with women, it’s cooked with love, for example all the vegetables are clearly distinguable, it’s creative and a lot of attention to detail. On the other side, it’s lacking a bit of punch in terms of salt and strong flavours, it’s more on the subtle and delicate side. The only real nuisance is that since the kitchen is open towards the dining room, the typical kitchen smell lingers in the dining room. Prices are fair:

Rechnung