K2 (Swiss Re), Mythenquai, Zurich

Salmon Amuse Bouche

Scallops

Venison

Autumn Dessert

Sometimes I get lucky. Besides the now defunct el Bulli, there are some other places I can’t just walk into. Swiss Re has a famed on premise restaurant, which is for employees, clients and guests. Interestingly there is a dress code here (suit and tie), which is strictly adhered to. The restaurant is called K2 and while at first I thought it was named after a mountain in the Himalaya, after looking at the room numbering scheme at Swiss Re, I’m not sure the mountain association holds. Anyway, I was excited to get the opportunity to have lunch here. A small amuse bouche is put in front of us revolving around a lovely piece of salmon. Next dish was much more intriguing, scallops with pumpkin, a creative and a very well balanced dish. Main course was a saddle of venison with venison tortellini. Besides being spot on taste, look at the presentation, you’d be paying top dollar in a proper public restaurant. To finish up the meal a tasty dessert made it our way, I forgot what the small cake was made of, since I was focussed on trying to figure out what the sauce draped on the plate was made of and my guess was rosehip (Hagebutte). A friend who works here told me that it’s a fantastic place and quite frankly I didn’t quite believe him at first, since he’s competing for the same position on our football team. I stand corrected, the only thing I would have preferred is the full menu, instead of the three courses which allow you to get back to work in 90 minutes. It is difficult trying to rate a place like this, simply because access is somewhat restricted and you can’t just waltz in here every day to make sure you get a good feeling for it’s consistency. If I was pressed I’d rate the place somewhere in the 16 point range (as per Gault Millau). Quite frankly, this is a major plus for Swiss Re as an employer. If I were to receive a fantastic job offer from two companies, one being Company X and the other one Swiss Re, hands down I’d pick Swiss Re. In terms of perks, the choice between fantastic lunches or reduced Reka Cheques is an easy one. As a matter of fact, I’m checking their job listings to see if they need a residential food critic with swiss army experience.

UPDATE: Seamus Egan actually reached out and informed me that technically I was in the Bistro which “is a light version from the Restaurant, we cook with simple products, new menu every day with fresh & good ingriedients.” So I guess I’ll twist another guy’s arm to get a followup invite – Sergeant (Wachtmeister) P from Appenzell I wanted to thank you for the great time we had in the Swiss Army Wiederholungskurse 🙂