Vier & Eins, Maximilan Klein, Zwinglistrasse, Zürich

Popups are all the rage in Zurich – with many different ideas appearing. One I liked was a eclectic mixture of art gallery and a repurposed house named Vier & Eins. Out of the four temporary restaurants my dining partner wanted to visit the one run by Heinz Margot, based on his looks. I had to override the decision, since I saw that Maximilian Klein was running one of the four restaurants – he used to work with Antonio Colaiani.

To kick things off one should grab a cocktail at the gallery next door and wander through the rooms currently also serving as Rundfunk.fm’s studio. A nice touch to get into the mood. On the dot at 18.30 (1st seating) we saunter over to the house, where four apartments have been repurposed as individual restaurants. The former living and bed room are now a dining room and the kitchen is refitted with (temporarily installed) professional kitchen equipment. Two waitresses are in charge of taking care of the approx 20 guests, with another seating at 20.30.

Looking at the menu of amuse bouche, bread & butter, four courses and friandises it seems like a challenge getting everything done in 120 minutes. After another cocktail a few amuse bouches are served on a wooden platter. Especially the parmesan ice cream was lovely, the popcorn was slightly soggy, most likely due to it being prepared ahead of time. A nice touch was that the bread & butter was served as it’s own small little course! My favourite dish was the char (saibling) which was marinated and served with a fennel, cucumber, sour cream, horseradish and toasted bread. The texture of the cucumber gelee was too runny and the presentation not perfect, but the otherwise it was a lovely play of textures and flavours to formally start the meal. The other very positive things to call out was the absolutely delicate meat in the main course and the super-chocolatey elements on the dessert plate. Chef Klein even made a second appearance to serve some friandises and the meal came to a close.

I loved the experience, enjoyed meeting new people (a very favourable female:male ratio, even though Mr. Margot wasn’t present) and the food was excellent. Considering that for 85 CHF you get a full-fledged 6 course meal with fine dining ambition & quality – what’s there to complain about? Maybe that 6 courses are a bit too much for 120 minutes of dining. I do have to commend the team – a group from Singapore was sitting at our table with one guy being a vegetarian the other having a cheese allergy (not sure I was buying that story…). A chef’s nightmare in a set dinner, but they even managed to whip up an alternative! Now if I only find the time to check out the other three restaurants…