André's Birthday

Yesterday was André's birthday and we went for dinner at Zeughauskeller, a restaurant in Zurich. It's not far from the Hauptbahnhof, a nice stroll down Bahnhofstrasse.

The building used to be an armoury (where weapons were kept) and was rebuilt in 1487 after a fire destroyed it. Many old weapons are still on display in the restaurant and according to an inventory of arms dated 1644, even William Tell's bow was on display here.

The food was really good. They have a very big menu with one whole page filled with different sausages. I had the smoked sausage from the Engadine valley and it came with potato salad, my favourite salad! André had the spicy beefsteak tatar and he said it was really good too. Then of course we had dessert too since we were celebrating his birthday! André had the "Walnut Parfait made with sugar-roasted walnuts and frozen nougat-crème. Topped with real walnut liqueur (a rarity!) and garnished with whipped cream. Highly recommended!" And I had Tiramisu with vanilla ice cream.

I was surprised how full the restaurant was on a Wednesday evening. It's quite a big restaurant with tables outside too. Outside was already full when we arrived so we sat inside. Most of the tables are big so you might share a table with other people. They have these trolleys which they use to serve from and clear the tables which I thought was very clever.

The service was really good and your food comes out very quickly after you've ordered. Usually we don't ask for English menus in a restaurant, we manage to understand the German. But last night I got a bit frustrated because the menu is so big. In the end André got me an English menu which helped! Our waiter spoke a good English and we heard a lot of English spoken in the restaurant by the other people there. The owner is around all evening, dressed smartly but with an apron over, checking on everything and helping where needed which I thought was nice too.

It was such a perfect evening. Even when we left it was still warm outside. We walked back to the station with a quick stop at the apple store (André can never resist!) and with over full tummies!