Bon Vivant, Zwingerstrasse, Basel

Business finally brought me to Basel and I decided to revisit the Bon Vivant, a place which I’ve been looking to return to for quite some time. Securing a table wasn’t that easy, the Bon Vivant still seems to be a hot spot for dinner. The maitre d’ sat me at a larger table, but with enough privacy to read my newspaper. Bon Vivant still plays off the same concept, a single, new menu every day, your choice of three or four courses.

The amuse was a simple piece of foie gras and some brioche, which paired nicely with the sweet and sour sensation of the cranberries. Lambs lettuce with pumpkin oil and seeds, a scampo and an almost saltimbocca like piece of pumpkin wrapepd in prosciutto. Very high marks on the salad, however the sliver of pumpkin felt a bit too hard and the flavours didn’t work with the cured ham. I was almost humming on the piece of white fish, paired with painstakingly peeled brusseler sprouts leaves and sprinkled with some bacon.

The veal, mushroom, knoepfli and the black salsify rounded of the courses. The black salsify was simply out of this world. Almost asparagus like in texture and even mimicking the slight bitterness, this has nothing to do with the stuff you tradtionally get from Hero in a can. If you’re showcasing seasonal and regional food, this is how you should pull it of. Cheese from Maitre Antony and a whopping chocolate cake / pineapple / mango dessert made my day. The maitre d’ – a ravishing woman in her late Twenties who was very knowledgable about food and took great pleasure in discussing dishes – brought me a handwritten check, ending the meal in style.

Even though it’s not around the corner for me, it’s acutally worth taking the train from Zurich to grab dinner here. Since it’s located right next to the train station, there’s no hassle in getting through half the town and the place is still one of my favourite ones in Switzerland.