Katzentisch @ Restaurant Florhof, Florhofgasse, Zurich

From weird coffee flavored drinks to machines that put bubbles into your tap water I receive dozens of press releases. But for once there was one interesting one talking about Katzentisch.ch. Long story short, every day at approx 17.00 a few restaurants sell off spare tables and put a cherry on top by offering a discount or small goodie.

I like surprises. Therefore I told my colleague, that I’ll book a table in one of the places and we’ll take it from there. Luckily enough the Restaurant Florhof was offering a menu for approx 200 CHF and threw in a bottle of Cremant d’Alsace.

Everything worked, apparently we were the first Katzentisch.ch customers at the place. We asked wether we’d like to drink the bottle with our meal or wether we would prefer to have something else. We opted for the wine pairing.

First dish was a cured salmon with various cucumber preparations. Definietly no complaints, nicely spiced and presented dish. Next up were some spring ravioli with sugar peas on top and a regular pea filling. This was probably the best conceptual plate of them all, the dough of the ravioli a tad too heavy amidst the other rather delicate elements on the plate.

Main course was a plate of earthy goodness, the onions, carrots and potatoes contrasted nicely with the mushroom puree and slowly cooked beef. The portulak was superfluent, but a small detail we’re assuming is a concession to the guilty non-vegan diners…. Dessert made us happy again with an olive oil and pistacchio cake & various strawberry preparations.

The experience was great – surprise menu at a surprise restaurant, certainly better than discussing forever where to go to. One could argue that limiting choice in our multi-optional society is a smart move, but then again… who wants to hear this argument…

One small caveat was a slight miscommunication – we thought the bottle of Cremant was going to be deducted from our bill but instead we got that on top to take home. Details but I though lugging home a bottle of bubbly was a bit pointless. Also our bill – sent home the next day by mail – wasn’t itemized properly which makes it hard to check what exactly we had consumed. Small issues which can be resolved, the experience as stated otherwise was good and we are happily chasing after our next Katzentisch.