Store “Freitag Bags” / Zurich / Switzerland

Today House & Hotel Magazine features Switzerland and the Swiss alps.

On our arrival in Zurich, we remarked a different looking, nice house, better an office in Zurich.

It looks great and it looks funky, the “Freitag” bag store in Zurich that’s made from recycled freight containers.
It is completely built from rusty, recycled freight-containers. Lovingly they were gutted, reinforced, piled up and secured. Zurichs first bonsai-skyscraper: Yes we are In Switzerland, low enough not to harm the strict city restriction on high-rise buildings, but high enough to send shivers down anyones spine.

Take a look and spend some “Stutz” in Zurich.

Resto tip: Schauenstein

Schauenstein is located in the Swiss Alps, in the sleepy “city” of Furstenau, in reality an alpine village of 700 inhabitants. It is about 100 miles from Zurich, which by train can be reached in two and a half hours: from Zurich airport change at Zurich central station and take the train to Chur (the oldest town in Switzerland) then change again to reach the station of Thusis, which is a few miles from Furstenau. It is a lengthy journey but a scenic one, as the train goes past an impressive lake and then heads into the snow-capped mountains. The final leg of the train ride is the so-called Glacier Express, which serves assorted famous ski resorts such as Davos. Its name proves that the Swiss do, after all, have a sense of humour, as it should really be called the Glacial Express based on its true velocity. The scenery it passes is certainly very pretty, and you have plenty of time to admire it.

Schauenstein itself is just great, the dining area is split into two separate rooms, with the kitchen in between. This is not mass catering – the restaurant accommodates just 16 customers at lunch and 26 at dinner. The decor reflects the age of the building, with lots of wood paneling and impressively thick doors.

The wine cellar has around 3,000 bottles, presented in a thick tome. There was a wide selection of Swiss wines, but also plenty of the classics.
Lets talk food:
Canapés included rocket sorbet with apple, with intense and well-balanced flavour. A potato and leek soup also had plenty of flavour.
Churros were excellent, with a spicy dip, while the best nibble was char, served on a cracker, simple but tasting superb.

Bread was made from scratch in the kitchen, a soft, doughy white bread, served warm with local butter. Just delicious.
Our first amuse-bouche was langoustine from Brittany, pan-fried and also served raw, with basil mousse and lemon espuma. On the side were delicate rice crisps and a lovely langoustine jelly with lime foam; the langoustines were of high quality, the lemon and lime elements works brilliant togehter.

Tuna and cucumber in various forms now appeared, including some raw tuna with avocado foam. Some tuna was seared, some served as sashimi, some marinated, each with different preparations of cucumber; all were of excellent quality. Veal tartare was next, served with sweetbread and also a deep fried piece of veal. The veal itself was lovely, but the star was a sweetcorn sauce, which had remarkable flavour and worked really well with the veal, with a sweetcorn powder adding a contrasting textural element.

Yummy and for me enough, just a small dessert.

It was marinated mango and pineapple, refreshing, with passion fruit and mascarpone sorbet, but on the side was a dish of spectacularly rich chocolate fondant.

All dishes were well balanced, with appealing combinations of flavours, and some surprises mixed in with the familiar.

Its worth it, lets go for it .