Salir: A new twist on Mediterranean Cuisine
Location: Hottingerstrasse 27, 8032 Zürich
Telephone: +41 (0) 44 432 02 02
E-Mail: info@salir.ch
Web: www.salir.ch
Social": @salirzurich
COVID-19's other victims
Two weeks before Switzerland shut down in an attempt to deal with the Coronavirus, a few work colleagues and I visited the restaurant Pomodoro. It was understated, and a bit clinical but the hosts were friendly, and the Thursday evening apéro was a great deal. Because I had an enjoyable experience there, it was sad to see the restaurant not make it out of the lockdown.
Every end is a new beginning
Believing that no one would want to open a restaurant or Gastro business soon, I was sure the location would remain empty for months, possibly years. It was this a pleasant surprise to see the place being renovated in July. Something was coming. Soon, I saw a label on the door: Salir.ch and visited the website. Fresh Mediterranean fusion. It sounded interesting.
Furthermore, I appreciated the focused menu and untraditional dishes. No pizza, no pasta, no kebab, nothing one would expect from this unlikely location. Salir promises fine dining.
Immensely enjoying Mediterranean cuisine, which is a rather broad category of food that will take you from Spain to Lebanon, I decided to try this new restaurant with Elizabeth: yes, a date night. I made the reservation online and notified them of Elizabeth's gluten allergy.
On a brisk and rainy evening, we walked around the corner to the newly opened Salir and were warmly received. The menu is small, something I appreciate, though I know some do not:
The night before I was walking home and an older man was studying the menu. I said, "looks good, doesn't it?" He responded with, "it's rather limited." I retorted that I'd rather have a limited menu with fresh ingredients and done well than a place that does everything but nothing well. He had to agree.
Pan-Mediterranean Cuisine par excellence
After examining the menu, we decided to share an appetizer. We ordered a delicious starter of battered aubergines with truffle and honey. It was a generous portion, though I would have liked a little more honey because it helps unlock the subtle truffle notes. Getting the balance right on this dish is difficult because truffle and honey both have the potential to dominate other flavours.
The wine menu sets the restaurant apart from many new restaurants in Zurich. The folks at Salir are working with Baur au Lac wines and have a selection of Spanish, French and Italian wines. We had the "Figuero 12" 2016. Rich red fruit flavours with soft tannins, it was the perfect wine for the evening.
With its pan-Mediterranean focus, I would have loved to see some wines from other countries like Lebanon, Greece, Israel and Malta. The same goes for their gin selection.
For our mains, we went separate ways. Elizabeth has the lamb chops with a bowl of fragrant spiced rice. The meat was a generous portion and cooked to perfection. I had the Maltese rabbit stew, which was delicious with heaps of rabbit. My only asterisk on the stew would be that if still seemed relatively fresh and I would have loved the flavours to blend more and the dish to take on a more dense texture. As a side, I had the sweet potato with cardamon yoghurt. I would have also appreciated more pita.
Dessert was a blast of concentrated flavours—homemade sorbets and tarts. The Lemon Kiss was an excellent accompaniment to the limoncello.
Conclusion
Overall, Salir is a welcomed new restaurant to Zurich's Kreis 7 and should delight visitors to the Kunsthaus and the Schauspielhaus. The menu pays special attention to quality ingredients and breaks away from what one would traditionally call Mediterranean cuisine. The portions will not leave you asking for more. Dinner for two with wine will run you over CHF 200.
