Hotel Greulich

My friend took me here to experience fine dining in Zürich. We got the 4 course surprise menu with wine pairings. With a glass of champagne before dinner, I think the total bill was around 300 CHF. This is probably the most expensive meal I have ever eaten in my life.

I posted 7 photos of our meal:

1. This was not a course, but came with the bread. So cute, they had a little dish of alfalfa sprouts, and you had to snip off the sprouts to eat. I think the white thing in the middle was some kind of cream or butter.

2. Bread basket. The white bread on the left was very yummy. Crusty on the outside, soft and warm on the inside. The middle bread crisps were very salty.

3. Appetizer course came with a glass of white wine. I think from Italy. Left side was a tiny piece of grilled octopus over a small glass of cream soup. Middle was a delicious scallop over some eggplant mush. The scallop was very good. So soft, almost like it was raw, but very yummy. Right was a small salad with deep-fried shrimp paste ball. The wine was a bit sweet and good at first, but after eating the food, it had a fishy aftertaste which I did not like so much.

4. Second course also came with white wine. I think from Austria or Spain, but I cannot remember. The wine was a bit more dry, so not really sweet. White asparagus with green peas, white cream sauce and raw egg yolk. Not sure what the dark stuff was. Probably some kind of vegetable.

5. Meat course came with red wine. Forget where from. (There was a sommelier who explained the origin of each wine, but it was too much for me to remember.) Some kind of red meat (maybe beef?) with some vegetables. In the cup was mashed potato layers with beef cheek pieces, topped with fried onions. The food was very salty.

6. Dessert came with a sweet white wine. Almost like those ice wines from Canada. The bottom left is a cake with rhubarb on top. Right side is a frozen sour cream scoop with some crunchy thing on top. In the cup was a rich, creamy pudding on the bottom, and a bit sour rhubarb foam on top. Not sure what all the layers were, but some kind of pudding thing.

7. Last photo was of some sweets. A dried fruit thing, a jelly thing, and a piece of chocolate truffle.

This has got to be one of my best meals in Zurich, because everything was so beautifully presented. I loved analyzing the different tastes of the food both with and without the wine. The only reason why I didn't give this review 5 stars is because some of the food was a bit too salty for my taste.

This was a great surprise especially after we looked over seven places and everything was booked for a party of 5 people Dad, Mom and 3 kids we were driving from Italy and wanted to stop at Zurich and show our kids the amazingly beautiful city, this was the only place with availability it was very clean with nice friendly people, enjoyed our time here, really recommend..

Review for the hotel:

so cool, so modern, We've never stayed at a place like this.

It was basically a studio with all sorts of cool design elements. It was also very new feeling and well kept. I wish we could have stayed longer.

They even have plenty of parking spots in the back, just a second walk away from your room.

Only thing I can discount is that the pillows they had were worthless. Basically air with a cover on it. wayyyy too soft.

An interesting architectural highlight and gastronomic gem situated in the middle of one the not-so-classy areas of Zurich. Marco Hartmann, the young chef de cuisine, has been able to put the talents he developed in Wetzikon (Il Casale) and Salzburg (Ikarus) to very good use. Their food is not quite as adventurous as one might expect, given Marco Hartmanns experience, but nonetheless technically flawless, tasty and accessible.


Pastry chef Olivia Arias is very talented and ran her own restaurant for seven years in Spain. She has to fit her desserts to the Swiss, regional style cooked by the head chef, but her desserts are very tasty and often quite sophisticated. The dessert portions are small, but never too small. They use excellent Felchlin Grand Cru couverture.


If you want to get a bite to eat without spending a lot of money, but you want to eat very, very good food, then I can highly recommend the Greulich's restaurant. I'd just love to see Olivia's potential as a top pastry chef blossom. She certainly has the potential.


Young people (below 30) are treated to a three course menu for just CHF 48.- every Tuesday evening, but the restaruant is absolutely packed and quite noisy.


For a detailed German photo report, including an interview with head chef Marco Hartmann and pastry chef Olivia Arias, please visit:
http://dessertblog.ch/2010/12/restaurant-greulich-in-zuerich/

Dinner on the terrace:
I had a fantastic duck, you have to try the duck, it will make you happy I promise! It was flavoured with Asian spices and I hit bull's eye by choosing it. The spinach on the side was really tasty, too. The orange sauce is not fruity but salty gravy style. Oh, and the Swiss Pinot Noir was wonderful!