Ly’s Asia Prime Dine, Hardstrasse, Zurich

Gedämpfte Wantan Chef Style

Entenlebersalat

Gebratene Ente mit Taro (Wasserbrotwurzel) mit einer dickflüssigen Soya-Sauce

The competition is intense and the attractive woman in her mid-thirties at the Zueritipp beat me to releasing an article on the Bayeischer Hof. Just like in Poker, I have to up the ante and strike back. The Ly’s Asia Prime Dine has been open for five days and your sturdy, but of elegant proportion food writer has already visted the place. It took me some time to figure out that it’s actually three restaurants in one. After being led to the table I see that the menu doesn’t have any of the dishes mentioned online, after I inquire why that’s the case I’m told that the Prime Dine restaurant is actually upstairs. So to get to where I want to be I need to walk through a Take Away, a regular restaurant before taking a flight of stairs to arrive at my destination. I am the only guest and pick a table with decent lighting overlooking the regular restaurant. Upon studying the menu I am somewhat surprised. Main courses reach prices as high as 98 CHF for lobster with truffles. For that money I’d better be blown away. A short research shows that the owner is (or used to be) affiliated with the Suan Long Chinese restaurant chain. Those who don’t know, that used to be the place which during the late 80ties and 90ties gave us average europeanized chinese food for sky-high prices in Zurich. I might not be impartial, since the only place I was ever kicked out off was a Suan Long restaurant on Langstrasse, nevertheless I went there with a very open mind. My first dish were the Wan Tan Chef style. They tasted of shrimp and scallop, but I would have liked to be thinner and silkier. Next dish was a duck liver salad. What I got was essentially two pieces of duck liver on pineapple. Not sure if the dish was chinese, it reminded me more of a french plate with some asian influence. I did like the use of coriander, it gave a nice contrast. My main dish was breaded duck with taro root and a thick soy sauce. The taro was a tad on the mealy side, and it didn’t add much in taste to the duck. Quite frankly, the food here is the Suan Long concept all over again. Average fare at obscene prices. You’ll get better dumplings at the Dim Sum takeaway at Platzspitz or the Luo at Stampfenbachplatz. The duck liver dish was a trivial attempt at french cuisine, but falling short in execution. The main dish didn’t rock my boat either, I do like to commend the noodles, they were nicely balanced in taste. Quit frankly if you want to bring chinese food in Zurich to the next level, why not surprise the city with the best dumplings ever ? Why not have a chef in the center make fresh noodles and be real novelty ? Offering Chateau d’Yquem at 550 CHF per bottle and other more expensive french red wines is tacky. Keeping in mind that I’m probably not the biggest bargain hunter out there, I do have my limits. Even if you forget my rant – are three average dumplings worth 33 CHF ? Bill:

Rechnung