Pastrelmi @ Street Food Festival, Güterbahnhof, Zürich

The Street Food Festival is on again and this time it’s bigger than ever. The location near the old freight train depot is a perfect use of the space and the selection of different stalls is pretty good. One thing that’s very obvious is that pulled pork has peaked and is not as ubiquitous as in the past. What I would like to see are more tasting portions – I’m also convinced that would help sales. People are more likely to spend 5 CHF to taste something from many different stands, than have to commit to 1-2 stands due to large portion sizes.

The weirdest thing I had, was a Honolulu Hot Dog, especially the bread and sausage wasn’t to my liking. Not sure if the Elvis Dog with Banana & Peanut butter will find many devoted fans. My goal was to eat everything and I failed miserably even though I attended two days in a row. The reason I failed: Pastrelmi. So this guy goes to New York, discovers Pastrami and is blown away by it. Comes back to Switzerland, decides to turn an idea into action, develops his own spice blend & starts making his own.

Judging from all the different stalls, two slices of bread and a some meat in between seems to be the pinnacle of food stalls. The Pastrelmi stall at the festival was simple – one guy bringing the meat, one guy with great bread and one guy with tremendous cooking skills. I’ll cut right to the chase – it was so divine I came back. Twice. And I didn’t want to eat anything else after this. A great piece of baguette topped with either cranberry or BBQ sauce and slices of succulent, juicy & smokey Pastrami, pickle on the side. Biting into this expertly assembled sandwich is pure bliss. The sandwich might not be as exotic as a Panda bun, Korean BBQ wrap or a Takoyaki – but it was absolutely perfectly executed. And last but not least – it’s feels refreshing and diabolic in a good way, biting into a Pastrelmi sandwich while watching someone nibble at a vegan Quinoaburger.