Salon, Weststrasse, Zurich

One should have bought a house at the Weststrasse a few years ago. After having been closed down for traffic and beeing remodeled, the neighborhood is changing for the better. The evil breath of gentrification is slowly replacing old and tattered (but cheap) houses with more stylish and comfortable dwellings. Not sure if the goals of the left-winged city government of a better place to live at meant to oust the previous inhabitants of diverse rather frugal appartments, but it is what it is and we’re a non-political observer. Salon opened up and sports a french theme. One can argue wether it’s more of a bistro or a brasserie, but really who cares ?

The place is already pretty packed for lunch and we sit down at the nice wooden tables. We like the trendy fact that no table cloths are present to show off the beautiful wood. One of my alltime favourite dishes is the classic french onion soup, so the appettizer is settled quickly. It did take 20 minutes for the soup to arrive, which would be acceptable if it’s perfect, but it wasn’t. The mille-feuille on top is more of a gimmick and creates some cutlery handling challenges, but the soup itself was weak. Lacking tast and with mealy onions this isn’t the delightful dish one would expect. The entrecote “Café de Paris” with pommes allumettes had good meat and a nice sauce with strong & fresh herbs. The pommes allumettes were okay, slightly weird was the dish the entrecote was served in. Some form of casserole on a plate creating quite a ruckus while eating eat. Salon is certainly a stylish place, with a small reading lounge which looks comfy, but the food needs some tuning to creat a more french-like feeling. Prices are adequate.