Tanja Grandits & Maison Manesse, Food Zurich, Street Food Festival

Shortly before Food Zurich kicked off, a newsletter lands in my mailbox and I’m ecstatic. Tanja Grandits and Maison Manesse have decided to team up. In a tent on the grounds of the Street Food Festival Zurich, they’d be serving a fine dining menu. I was thrilled because Zurich’s most modern restaurant and Ms Grandits uncanny talent for spices, herbs and tartness sounded like the most exciting combination at this year’s Food Zurich. To be fair it was the only event I actually decided to attend.

It was hot on the day of the happening, but unlike the staff we’d only spend two hours there and not the whole day. The first surprise was, that both brigades showed up in full force and didn’t just send their commis. Both teams collaborated on a full 10 course fine dining menu. The crews were toiling in the hot kitchen tent and pushing out food in a orderly and controlled fashion. Lamb burgers, lobster balls, morel-echalottes tea, maniok chips with truffle mayo were all nice little bites.

The biggest star of the whole meal, was Ms Grandits pike-perch (Zander) ceviche with curcuma and fennel, served on yellow bowls, topped with croutons. It showed Ms Grandits great skill in carefully lighting dishes up with acidity and a great hand for decoration. I could have eaten multiple bowls. Fun was the do-it-yourself tartare dish from Maison Manesse and I’m assuming we should have seasoned ours more aggressively.

Quite a few desserts followed after the chicken and corn dish. The best ones was the strawberry tart, not only did it look great, it also tasted fantastic. Overall this was a great event and at 60 CHF for the food or 95 CHF including wine – it was cheap. You got Michelin star quality at McD prices. Loved it.