Café Zähringer

Finding a chilling place in Zürich that doesn't kill my monthly allowance immediately (come on, i'm from Vienna!) and offers a divers audience with young as well as old people and an atmosphere where staying for some hours to chat or study is totally okay - is really hard! But not impossible :)

Prove me wrong but i also couldn't find any blogger that specialises on what to do in Zürich, where to go, the must-have-tried places. The places-to-go that were recommended on the tourism page ( http://www.zuerich.com ) could be practically found in every other guide as well ... 

Café Zähringer (Zürich, Switzerland)

So i'm really happy we found Zähringer. And if i would live in Zürich, I would definitely go there more often! 

really cool painting on the wall

The interior is pretty basic and has an old touch - but the wall paintings in the back rock! There also is a small selection of books on offer - just in case someone comes alone, has time to kill and wants to know more about the taste in literature of the owner. 

The prices are okay - nearly considered cheap for Zürich - and come in big enough servings. 

We ordered a lemon balm tea for 2 which came in a huge teapot and costed us CHF 8.50. Just for the calculation: A glass of tea adds up to CHF 4.80 and a single portion of tea to CHF 6. 

Saitanplätzli with mushroom sauce, pumpkin and raisin-almond rice

We decided to go for the two (seasonal) Tagesteller (CHF 23 and 25) and were pretty satisfied. The Saitan Plätzli were vegan and came with a mushroom sauce and pumpkin. I still don't know what the Plätzli are made of but i'm guessing it is Tofu. The taste was nice and everything went well together - a salad or any other side dish with a little sour note would have added positively to the taste though.

Indian Plate

 The second dish was the Indian Plate - coming with dhal, spinach, mint raita, apple chutney and rice. The apple chutney and the mint raita were really nice (although a little bit less mustard seeds in the chutney would have lead to an even more balanced taste), the spinach was lacking a little bit of salt for my taste and the Dhal was a catastrophe. Anyone who ever tried to cook with Indian herbs knows that the balance and amount of herbs used is really important and that less is always more - as the strong taste of the herbs can kill the flavor of the whole dish. Well the dhal had quite some problems with that. Adding too much ginger, cardamom, koriander and probably jeera as well made the dish unedible. In the end this was the only part of the dish that was left over at my friends plate - and i can see totally why.

The service was very friendly but too stressed out as there was only one servant for the whole place - and the place was overly full. Some people had to leave as they couldn't find a seat and we saw a couple drinking their coffee outside in front of the entrance on the window ledge (but then again that's a reason why i like this place, it is really relaxed).

All in all it is a really nice place to go and have a chat with friends, to read a book or (who doesn't get disturbed by the noise) to study.

If you are looking for a young and bustling place where everyone and every style is welcome - this is your place to go in Zürich!



Café Zähringer
Zähringerplatz 11
Zürich
http://www.cafe-zaehringer.ch/joomla/index.php