The real picky gourmet

Restaurant Frohsinn, Hedingen, Zürich

therealpickygourmet — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:50:38 +0000

The Restaurant Frohsinn is located in a nice old house with red wooden beams. There’s a garden out back which looks nice as well (was too cold to sit outside) and is well shielded from the road. I head inside and get a table in the – what I felt – was rather small dining room. The amuse bouche were plentiful, the best one being the small bite of tartare with a caper apple.

My first dish was a serving of fresh morels with a mille-feuille pillow. The morels were expertly cleaned, showing no traces of sand but I felt that the sauce had an overpowering alcoholic taste. Either too much Cognac was used or it wasn’t cooked off properly. The Pizzocheri Neri were covered in a generous heap of cheese and decorated with a bit of savoy adding crunch and a textural contrast. The lamb racks were served with a herb mustard crust and came with some Capuns. I thought the crust was a bit aggressive and distracted from the lamb, the capuns were obviously homemade but might have profited more from being served separately.

I finished my meal with four bits of cheese, as always without any distractions. The Frohsinn clearly qualifies as a Landgasthof and does a good job of it. I’m looking forward to trying out the garden on a nice sunny Sunday.

Minh Ahn International Co. Ltd, Nochimin City Vietnam

therealpickygourmet — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:41:56 +0000

I get a lot of Emails peddling all kinds of stuff – but this one was actually pretty funny – no idea why anyone would think that I’d be ordering (the minimal quantity) a 20 foot shipping container full of dragon fruit. I did like the pictures however, so if there are any takers – please feel free Email and Order form are below.

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Good morning to you,

I am Ms Nhan from Minh Anh International Co., Ltd.
First of all, we would like to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves as a professional trading & maufacture company in Hochiminh city – Vietnam for many years in form of B2B and we have large distribution network in a lot of areas.
We have exported all kinds of fruit and vegetables like: fresh lime seedless, fresh lime with seed, passion fruit, dragon, coconut, mango, pepper, …
We can supply your needs (style, color,size, weight, packing…)
(Pls check file attached)
Please feel free to contact us at any moment.

We are looking for your prompt reply.

Best Regards,
Ms Nhan

Dragonfruit Order Form

El Luchador, Konradstrasse, Zurich

therealpickygourmet — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:58:22 +0000

I’m getting old – I knew of this place called El Luchador for a couple of weeks. Unfortunatley I confused the address (Konradstrasse 39 with 69) and that this doesn’t look Mexikan and gave up on the idea. Today I had to learn from the this that I was at the wrong place. I draw my strength from great works of literature which are also available on the big screen. This was the case since yesterday I watched Braddock – Missing in Action with Chuck Norris and the message is you need to fight back and fight back hard. So I need to retaliate with a review on the same day as my archnemesis.

El Luchador positions itself as the first true Mexican place in Zurich and probably rightly so. I was slightly disappointed because the menu is rather small. I ordered Guacamole, bean sauce, beef / pork & chicken taco and red rice. The Guacamole was slightly spicy, very fresh and the chips had a very corny taste. I loved the rice, simple, slightly buttery and the red were some tomatoes. Of the three types of tacos my favourite was the beef one. Very simple soft taco shell with a bit of beef that’s it. You can flavor it by adding some drops of lime and pick from the four fresh sauces to finish to your liking. I thought this was great. The pork one was too sweet for my taste (it contained pineapple) and the chicken one not exciting enough.

The flavours are less in your face than your Tex Mex place, but they clearly exhibit freshness and complexity in the nicely balanced sauces. The place is great since it’s low-touch and its a good spot for grabbing some beers and digging into a couple of Tacos. If you’re looking for more formal dining this isn’t for you. Check out Vale’s holiday pictures for that. Prices are fair – keeping in mind I indulged.

Restaurant Alte Trotte, Limmattalstrasse, Zurich

therealpickygourmet — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:21:45 +0000

Sometimes I wonder myself how I find these places in Zurich. This one in particular was called Alte Trotte. Clearly a local only affair in a residential area, where the server knows everyone by first name. I start with some pieces of toast with tartar. I would have liked a bit more care, maybe some onion and pickles sprinkled on top and the toast was on the soggy side. Tastewise it was okay but not rivetting. This dish reminds me fondly of the Wy-Stübli in Meilen (now closed) which used to serve this done in perfection. The mixed salad was fitting for the type of restaurant this was, including the canned white asparagus added on top for good measure. My main course didn’t stray from the general theme, it was a veal chop with herb butter and fries. Now the Trotte has a gimmick to attract gamblers after the slot machines were banned from restaurants. If you guess the exact weight, down to the single gramm, of your chop you eat for free. I was off by about 150g, but then again I’m not in the professional meat-weight appraisal business. Tastewise it was too 1970′s for me, the chop was seared too heavy on the outside and was drenched in a rather heavy butter. Kind of made me feel sorry for the great piece of meat. This is clearly a place if you’re looking to meet friends over a Jass, discuss local politics or have had enough of the places listed in the Lonely Planet.

Schnitzelhuus, Schwamendingenstrasse, Zurich

therealpickygourmet — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:36:36 +0000

Next to the Offene Rennbahn Oerlikon – a true monument to swiss cycling history – the Schnitzelhuus opened. Taking up the german cuisine trends from a number of Currywurst places or such venues as Bayrischer Hof, extending it to Schnitzel seems like a logical evolutionary step. Surprisingly the place is already packed for lunch, hence moving forward a reservation can’t hurt.

The daily lunch special was either a Schnitzel Vienna style or Acapulco. Since Acapulco was explained as a Schnitzel with peppers, corn and curry cream sauce, that did sound a bit too german avant-garde for our liking and we stayed with the traditional one. A small salad makes it our way, slight negative marks for the dried herbs used in the sauce but otherwise a normal small salad in a standard lunch setting.

The Schnitzel was actually pretty nice. It was thin, large and very buttery in taste. To judge the quality two german gentlemen joined me, one agreed with me, one thought it was too buttery. Then again this particular fellow’s favourite restaurant is Crazy Cow, which dubs itself “The total anders Swiss Beiz”. I’ll let the beloved reader be the judge. The meal ended with a bavarian cream, a pudding like dessert with some fresh pineapple. The prices were very german as well, for less than 20 CHF, this is a pretty good deal. I’ll be back in the evening to test the real Wiener Schnitzel with veal.

Restaurant Freihof, Badenerstrasse, Zurich

therealpickygourmet — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:30:29 +0000

The Freihof on Badenerstrasse is under new management and one of the most prominent signs is one touting Free WiFi while another one is advertising the Kegelbahn (Swiss Alpine Bowling). Even though it was past the classic lunch hour, the lunch menu was still available at quarter past one. All classic swiss lunch fare, the Pork Cordon bleu caught my attention. A small menu salad makes it my way, while I wasn’t thrilled by the sauce it was homemade and the salad even contained some chinese cabbage. The Cordon bleu was huge, but it fell somewhat flat. It was filled with some form of Raclette cheese and too much of that. The ham got somewhat lost. On the positive side – the place is cheap.

Cantinetta Antinori, Augustinergasse, Zurich

therealpickygourmet — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:27:24 +0000

Cantinetta Antinori near the Paradeplatz is claiming to offer simple dishes of high quality. Taking into account that the german language in Switzerland sports a level of modesty, this would translate to outstanding quality in an english speaking country. It’s based on a collaboration between Zurich’s italian restauranteur Bindella, who’s been distributing the wines from the Antinori vineyards since back in the 50ties and the Antinori family who owns a likewise named restaurant in Firenze. The story sounds good to make this like a great place for world-class italian dining and as an additional plus it’s open on Sundays.

The first dish from the seasonal menu are homemade noodles with salmon, asparagus and cream. This dish sported a rather brutish touch. Cream could have a certain elegance but with asparagus and noodles which are on the soft-side you get more of a german nudel dish than a perky and fresh pasta combination which goes nicely with spring. Main course was a veal chop cooked with sage and risotto. The veal chop was rather average, displaying a nice sear and crust, but not as exciting in terms of taste. The risotto was pretty nice, having a good balance of bite on the rice and creaminess.

Did the restaurant live up to it’s claim ? Somewhat. The dishes were made up of a few simple ingredients. They did however fall short on flavor combinations, excitement and truly stunning quality. Taking this into account and the fact that you pay top-notch prices, it’s a hard argument to make why you should spend your time here, most average italian restaurants will have a similar offering. The co-diner prefers Cantinetta to Italia for Sunday night dinner, your aging food critic sees it the other way around and this decisively.

Korner, Gartenstrasse, Zurich

therealpickygourmet — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:45:53 +0000

Korner opened and is another burger place. I am having a feeling that developing Zurich’s gastronomy scene is rather simple, dine abroad, look for good ideas and import them. The interior is modern and shows a lot of restraint. The Menu fits a single page and focuses on burgers. To help in picking a burger we order some onion rings to assist in the selection process. Unfortunately they were more distracting than helpful. Underseasoned (especially lacking salt), overly greasing and also lacking crunch, I’m assuming these last two aspects go together. There’s a dozen or so burgers on the menu and I settled on the Almighty. The driver for my choice was gluttony and not a religious awakening, since this one sported two beef patties, double bacon and double cheese.

The meat was interesting, it was very finely minced and almost compressed to make a rather dense patty. I prefer coarser burgers with meat which is more loosely coupled. Everything else was pretty good from the custom made buns, the cheese & bacon and especially the Korner sauce. The side of cole slaw, while sporting nicely cut and crunchy cabbage & carrot slivers, had a sauce which wasn’t very good. It was lacking acid and had an almost creme fraiche like touch to it. Burgers are roughly 20-25 CHF (except the Almighty) and for a casual dinner for 6, it’s pretty okay when it comes to prices.

If you’re looking for the best burger in Zurich, I’d be aiming at combining the meat from Helvti Diner with the rest of the components from Korner. If you like the denser patties, you’ll do okay here.

Fribourger Fondue Stübli, Rotwandstrasse, Zurich

therealpickygourmet — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:55:33 +0000

A colleague from London wanted to taste something quintessential swiss, he’s a half-vegetarian (just chicken) so I decided we’ll head out to get some fondue. Personally I think part of the Fondue experience is doing it yourself with friends in a mountain cabin or similar location, but the Fribourger Stübli comes somewhat close to that feeling. The menu is rather trivial, as a fact the dessert list is longer than the savoury part. I like the appetizer which is cold saucisson (traditional boiled sausage from Vaud) cut into thin slices and served on a plate. The cold speckles of fat might be offputting to the faint of heart but a true connaisseur of good sausage isn’t scared easily. We order the Vacherin Fondue which is creamier than Motié-Motié and also go for sides of potatoes, gherkins, onions, pears and pineapple. Funny enough and down to true fashion (think of what you’d get up in the mountains in wintertime), the stuff is all canned. The place is very swiss, not only is it already packed with older folks at 19:00, I don’t see many tourists here. The place omust also be doing well, since most tables get sold twice. The fondue taste just like it should and la religieuse (the crisp piece of leftover cheese smoldering in the middle of the pan) develops nicely. It’s a decent fondue, the only thing I prefer is the swiss french way of serving whole slices of bread instead of already precut pieces. You’ll get a good fondue here in a matching atmosphere, just be sure not to have extensive plans afterwards without having a shower first, molten cheese smell tends to linger. Prices:

Updated Design or what happens when you tickle a sleeping tiger

therealpickygourmet — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 01:46:06 +0000

Unless you’re reading this on a Text-to-Braille converting machine, you will have noticed that I revamped the design. So far I was doing it myself, but obviously this was only a secondary area of my profound skillset and other vast levels of expertise. After some clandestine meetings organised by my associate, I opted on Mr. Ogg to give me a hand. He did ask me all kind of weird questions about the target groups (yes that’s you) which I classified as extremly sophisticated people with a lot of charm, intelligence, good-looks, funny and of course food connaisseurs with a broad knowledge. I was asked about color schemes and patterns, feeling somewhat out of my comfort zone I said I’m male and that I didn’t want pink, turquoise, mauve or floral patterns. I found it quite amazing what it looks like and I’m happy.

But the bigger question is, why did I do it? Research shows that this is the oldest restaurant blog in Switzerland. Like all successful things competition sneaks in and like a small village in Gaul which wasn’t conquered by the Romans, the real picky gourmet is under siege. PR firms send me unsolicited texts (which some of my competition chooses to publich), Freelance writers ask me to write posts in exchange for naming certain firms and attractive women want to buy me meals (must be my sensible touch). Other part of my competition does beautiful photos, full-length interviews or work at an actual Swiss National Conservative Tabloid.

In the midst of this maelstrom a shy, inconspicuous and demure food critic remains. Like Gulliver being attacked by dwarfs, the muscles in my battle-hardend body, covered by scars from many a football game tensed once again. Will I let the youngsters get to me or will the Empire strike back with nothing but cunningness, wits and some desperate courage.

Almost like Samson who had to summon his strength once more to push in the pillars of the temple after Delilah had cut his seven locks. Luckily I don’t have wavy curly hair and I am bristling with power, confidence and the testosterone level of a bull. I am Number One and my goal is to remain Number One, again and again and again. I don’t just want to keep my competition at bay – I want to widen the gap