Wirtschaft im Franz, Bremgartnerstrasse, Zurich

The Wirtschaft im Franz used a crowd-funding approach to get their restaurant off the ground and since it’s open, it seems like they were successful. The vibe is great, slightly tucked away on Bremgartnerstrasse, it has an industrial chic touch to it. Some would say it carries a touch of Berlin, but it certainly is a nice place. Looking at the accolades of the chefs, some big names such as Baur au Lac or Vau (Berlin) are featured sounding all very promising.

The amouse is a prune with balsamic vinegar, goat cheese and a piece of bacon. Unfortunately the three elemens were disconnected, individual components and failed to create something in combination with each other. The next dish wasn’t that succesful either, the chanterelles were lacking salt & taste and were overpowered by the eggplant cubes on the bottom. The garlic and sage soup was excellent and flavourful, small gripe are the cooked strips of chorizo which have a tendency to dry up.

Things got very weird with the main course. The pork chop was lacking color and combined with a yellow plum compote. The idea of fruit and pork is good, but the fruit tasty should be a complement and not a blanket to the meat. The very weird part was the side dish, one wouldn’t believe it, if there weren’t the pictures that say otherwise. Two Stangenpizza (literally pole pizzas), a shrewd mix of an underbaked baguette, with an uninspiring sprinkle of tomato and cheese were served as an accompaniment. It was wrong and was executed exceptionally badly. I dare not say, but have eaten better snacks on an airplane. One can only speculate what the thought process was in designing such a dish. Crazy ideas can be good, but only if the execution is rock solid. I am still chuckling at the thought of the Stangenpizza, we’ll chalk it down to this being the first night they were open.

Dessert was much better, a smooth almond parfait with white peach and a nice biscuit. Good way to end this meal and something that leaves hope for the future improvement of the menu. The Wirschaft im Franz left an air of disappointment. The location, interior and concept are great, but the food failed to impress, even worse it left me puzzled. The hope is, that this was a slip-up down to it being opening day. Prices aren’t bad, for 85 CHF you get a 4 course meal including a half-bottle of house wine.