Costa Brava, Limmatstrasse, Zurich

Costa Brava is a place for holidays and a restaurant in Zurich located on Limmatstrasse. Somewhat ugly on the outside, the insides are not much prettier but people are willing to pay for authentic old school and this is what you get. I reserved a couple of days in advance and apparently I got lucky at getting a table at relatively short notice. The restaurant is rather crowded and small, but from eyeing the crowd I guess that this is down to the fact that lots of people are regulars.

The first dish are some porcini (Steinpilze) a starter which matches well with the rather powerful wine we splurged on. Unfortunately there was a tad too much salt on the mushrooms and too much butter. Main course was the beef filet a la maison, which is something you’ll find in most spanish restaurants, essentially meat doused in a mushroom cream sauce. The cream sauce was exactly what one would expect and it does detract slightly from the meat, since it covers the protein in a very cohesive way. The potatoes were slightly disappointing, they should have been crunchier and have a stronger sear to them, then the ones served here.

Dessert was simply splendid. Spying ont the adjacent table we ordered an Eistorte. Two slices of ice cream cake, fresh fruit, cream and a sprinkling of Moscatel made this an exicting way to end a meal. Overall the restaurant doesn’t give enough bang for the buck. The food is dated and on the pricey side, still the place is always full. If you’re into old-school restaurants like this, then the Costa Brava is something for you, if you’re into more modern ways of eating take your business somewhere else.

There have been quite a bit of rumours on the quality of the service. I’ve heard good and bad (eg. a group of women dining and one of them asked to have just a salad – they refused to serve her) we were treated nicely and professionaly.