Restaurant Schwyzerhüsli, Bergstrasse, Horgenberg

The more restaurants in Zurich I cover, the farther I have to travel to unearth real gems. Up near Horgen, in the hamlet called Horgenberg a restaurant with a very traditional feel can be found, the Schwyzerhüsli. It was asparagus season and they had a menu to that effect. There were some dishes I’d never seen before so I had to try them. First was an asparagus tartare. In true fashion it was served with capers and raw, sliced onions. Essentially it was fine diced assparagus combined with some creme fraiche or similar dairy product. Whoever dreamed up this concoction learned to cook in a mental facility where the inmates battle with other issues than providing feedback to the chef. It was like a 5 year old would cook, the asparagus flavour was significantly weakened by the cream base and combining it with harsh raw onions is like trying to listen to a Nora Jones record while construction workers outside are tearing up the pavement.

We continued on a similar level with something called an asparagus cocktail. Some sliced and whole asparagus (too soft) were combined with diced tomatoes, miniscule shrimp and mushrooms. The miniscule shrimp made me chuckle, if you sell it as a cocktail with shrimp I would have expected something slightly bigger and not just something you need a reading glass to actually see it. Also mushrooms ? That just doesn’t make any culinary sense combined with asparagus.

The main dish was slightly better. The vegetables were covered under a horrible white sauce, the veal Cordon Bleu roasted until the meat was grey but at least the roeschti wasn’t that bad. I truly wonder how a place like this can survive. The food was truly abysmal, klutzy and confusing. Charging money for ill-fated attempts at creativity is nothing short of high-way robbery.