b.good restaurant, Langstrasse, Zurich

A new restaurant chain has expanded into Zurich’s Langstrasse the b.good which has a claim of serving food from farmers. Even if one assumes that most food is produced by farmers, the claim is backed up with the detailed list of all the suppliers including pictures, which is a nice touch compared to many other places. Showing up unannounced at 11.45 the queue is long and I have to wait approx 10 minutes until I submit my order at the single cash register. Like in Starbucks you submit a name which gets called once your order is ready.

Sitting at a table one starts to notice how drafty and cold the interior actually is. This is especially uncomfortable since there was a twenty minute wait until my order was finally finished. The best component were the sweet potato fries, something you don’t see often in Switzerland and the b.good ones are tasty. The adopted Luke Burger had Appenzeller cheese, caramelized onions, BBQ sauce and mushrooms and was dubbed as “the surprising one”. Unfortunately it was unmemorable – too many layers of sweetness, it lacked acid and a bit of crunch, also it seems that Appenzeller cheese doesn’t work too well in adding flavor to a burger. The bread is provided by Fredy Hiestand (of infamous industrial Gipfeli fame) and while nicely toasted wasn’t a great success either.

Since I was hungry I had also added a salad to my order and the Southwestern sounded interesting. The sauce is slightly spicy and it had some (roasted) crunchy corn kernels thrown in for effect which gave it a nice crunch. It also sported regular salad components (corn, green leafs, tomatoes) and some avocado.

Even if we give them some credit for just opening up, thirty minutes from entering until finally getting the food is not fitting for a fast food place with pickup at the counter and no table service. Pricewise the 14 CHF for a bowl of salad seems rather high. We can debate back and forth, but I’d rather spend a few bucks extra getting a burger that rocks my boat and have perfect service.