Dennis M.
Yelp
While strolling the raclette smelling, BMW filled, neutral streets of central Zurich, one can't help noticing all the "zunft"s sprinkled throughout, and often written in what appears to be medieval Germanic font. As a newbie to Zurich, as well as to the sing song-y Swiss-German language, I quickly Googlated "Zunft" to find out it is a guild. Immediately images of robin hood thieves planning their next royal heist while chomping on chicken legs and drinking cheap wine from golden goblets came to mind. Perhaps I have played too much Dungeon and Dragons, but none the less I decided to book a nearby Zunft for a nice Sunday Funday brunch. I asked some locals about what might be good guild near where I live and despite having my robin hood guild bubble bursted, I made an online reservation for Zunfthaus zum Zimmerleuter.
Of course being on Limmatquai near the mouth of the lake, I was well aware of the "swiss" prices I would be paying. Luckily, I have slowly weaned myself away from internally converting swiss francs to euros. But sometimes the sharpness of the prices can still sting like a burst of fresh raclette as you pass by an outdoor stall during a smoldering Züri Fäscht day. We promptly arrive on time to be seated at a nice table on the first floor overlooking one of the Zurich church towers on the lake. The interior and service are so nice that you can't help but say "YES" when first asked if you would like a prosecco as an aperitif. Although I wasn't wearing green tights with a bow and arrow, I was already enjoying this pleasant and cozy Sunday Funday brunch.
Unfortunately, my review ends here. The food selection is Swiss, which is the reason why I came, so I was looking forward to some nicely cooked veal with some rösti. My plus one ordered some kind of meat/bacon dish that was sure to be a winner, but honestly, I thought everything tasted OK, but didn't WOW me. In fact, I'm learning that many places in Zurich are varying levels of "meh"; this guild being one of them. One interesting thing I had with my potato soup was oxtail praline. I mean.... Seeing this on the menu confused me enough to want to try it. Wasn't sure if I would be getting a chocolate covered hazelnut praline with chunks of ox?!?! But it ended up being a seasoned cube of shredded oxtail that was fried in coating. That was pretty much the highlight and the rest was good, but no reason to rob from the reach to feed the poor. In the end we paid 100 each for wine, drinks and OK food, which for central Zurich isn't bad at all. At the same time, I knew I needed to write this review right away since this guild's unmemorablness would soon forever be stored and lost in the recess of my food-unconscious memory vault.