Lily’s Eatery, Sihlfeldstrasse, Zurich

Lily’s, which was called Lily’s Stomach Supply at some point in time seems to be following a cardinal rule if you’re into scaling your operation. Many restaurants already open multiple shops, before their approach has been tried and tested (eg. the Butcher comes to mind which opened two places right from the get-go). Now Lily’s are probably on the other end of the scale, having ran their Zurich store for approx 20 years, before opening up a second place in Zurich (ignoring the fact that there’s another one in Basel). With Miki Ramen, Little Thai and Take Easy Thai all around the corner, the Lochergut seems to be developing itself into a pan-asian hotspot. We’re hopeful that the legendary Ararat (Kebab and Pizza) can stay in business, after all it what kept us fed for years while doing our laundry at Lea’s Waschhaus, but that’s a different story…

Walking into the new place at approx 19.00 the first surprise is how packed it is. Every table is full and our seat at the counter gave us a great view of the open kitchen where all the cooking action was taking place. It’s impressive to see how well this dining machinery is already performing! Opening up a restaurant and going from zero to packed and keeping the patrons fed & happy is a tough feat to pull off. Food is exactly what you’d expect from Lily’s – Pan-Asian Fast Food for Grown Ups. The concept focuses on turning tables, so you’re not going to hang around here. That also explains the line at the take-out window, quite a few patrons opt to eat at home.

First we tried the Dumpling Combination. Eight dumplings in a steam dish served on two levels of various ingredients. The most disappointing one was the Kimchi dumpling, it lacked the fiery and exciting taste Kimchi normally gives off. Also the dipping sauce could have been spicier and saltier. The other were all okay, but nothing to make us fall over backwards and dream of Lily’s dumplings for the rest of our days.
The Tonkatsu dish was an interesting composition, most likely borrowed from Japanese cuisine. Thinly breaded pork cutlet with a Yuzu Mayo potato salad with slightly disturbing edamame a fantastic bulldog sauce and a nice touch of horseradish mustard. The thinness of the cutlet and the condiments where excellent, the potato salad didn’t compare to Mom’s…

Lily’s delivers exactly what it promises – decent eclectic pan-asian cuisine in a loud and high-energy dining room at regular prices.