Cafe des Amis, Nordstrasse, Zurich
Apr
2011
Aperoplatte
Steak Tartare
Cafe des Amis was put onto my list of must visit places by a fellow bloggerette. The place is packed on tuesday night, and the crowd is rather typical this close to Kafi Schnaps and Nordbrücke. The drink menu is quite good, and surprisingly they serve a Brasserie de Franche-Montagne beer which was singled out by the New York Times. First dish was a plate of small apero tibits served with some bread. Decent homemade fare, prepared with a lot of care, but there wasn’t much excitement. The tibits exhaled home ed class feeling instead of greatness. I mean really – salmon / creme fraiche pancakes ? Chevre wrapped in roast beef ? Main course was a tartare, now my elder colleague which took me out to dinner started a long discussion wether he should get the small or the large portion, the one depicted in the picture is the large one. We weren’t ask how hot we would like our meat and I also would have liked some capers, onions or pickles to go with the meat. Tastewise it was okay but not spectatular. Overall this place is for drinking, it has a good bar menu. Skip the food it reminds me more of Saisonküche than of fine dining.
26/04/2011 at 23:05
aha ! so you went !! so sorry to hear you were disappointed by the food though. guess i don’t feel as bad about my disappointment now… my husband and i called ahead to see if we needed to reserve for dinner over easter weekend. the guy said – no no, come on over ! we got there, sat down to order – and they told us the kitchen was closed. as in, that entire day & night !! *perhaps*, just maaaaaybe, the guy on the phone could have mentioned that ! we left. not sure we need to go back now, not for dinner at least. (but hmm, how was dessert ?!) thanks for the helpful review.
and thanks for the mention above too ! =)
27/04/2011 at 13:38
That was the large tartare? Oh my. Hope you weren’t too hungry. How about finances?
11/05/2011 at 13:54
Well I made it here as well, the service is really nice and quick, the Mischverhältnis of the Gsprützte is just right and I loved the Apéro-Teller! Not the same boring olive/artichoke/dried tomato/ mixture, something different. But you are just plain picky, so you can have your opinion. I’ll be back.