Restaurants
elmira A new approach to fine dining
Verkohlter Lauch - Elmira (c) Mirabelle AG
Map
Opening Times
Wednesday to Saturday: open in the evening
Address
elmira
Limmatstrasse 254
8005 Zurich-District 5
.How to get there
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price level
Directly on the lower floor of the Löwenbräu Silo, the fine dining restaurant elmira has been surprising guests with its innovative cuisine and modern chef's table concept.
Avoiding food waste and living sustainability is part of the programme here, so booking and paying in advance instead of simply making a reservation gives the team around chef Vilson Krasnic more planning security.
In the deliberately simple 26-seat space, the focus is clearly on the open kitchen, which shimmers like steel and allows pure transparency - on the perfectly coordinated process of preparing the 7-course menus. Every finely balanced move of the kitchen team is clearly visible, every carefully composed plate a promise of perfect enjoyment.
An excellent gourmet menu has been put together here, with vegan options as well as animal products. Of course, the dishes are cooked with regional and seasonal ingredients. To be able to create a colourful variety of individual dishes despite the less colourful winter vegetables, we literally get down to the nitty-gritty: with fruit and vegetables that we have preserved ourselves.
The first act begins with a colourful radish carousel with goat's cream cheese framed by a sophisticated red cabbage vinaigrette. But before that, we get into the mood with grilled cornichons in a dill emulsion. This is accompanied by baked tofu and fermented tomatoes, which have a gentle hint of spiciness thanks to jalapeño. On the other hand, a pointed cabbage kimchi with pumpkin reveals a creamy indulgence.
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Incidentally, host and sommelier Nicolas Bernet serves a perfectly matching beverage accompaniment to each course. Whether it's a carefully selected red or white wine or a homemade, high-quality juice - the various drinks are finely tuned to accompany each flavour component of a course.
During the course of the evening, we are thrilled by the creativity of the successive courses and the sophisticated aromas in the interplay of the individual ingredients. Whether it's the mushroom essence with flattering spring onion oil, the bread course with sourdough bread and chicken liver or mushroom paté, or the Japanese egg sting called chawanmushi with tonburi, also called "caviar of the field" - we simply can't say which we condone.
The highlight, however, is the "charred leek", finely coated with black fermented garlic on a vegetable jus, filled with a poultry cream or miso. This composition is a surprise both visually and taste-wise, starting out chocolaty and then leading to a salty finish. Simply umami.
Somewhat spicy with velvety notes is the following, carefully arranged beef cheek with kohlrabi, accompanied by an incomparably creamy mashed potato. The selected red wine, a Mire la Mer from Les Clos Perdus with its rich cherry aroma, is simply perfect here, as is the non-alcoholic version of wild cherry juice from the Retter fruit farm.
The end is also well thought-out: the pré-dessert is accompanied by a light dill sorbet with melon cucumber, which has been waiting in preserving jars since the summer. The "grande finale" delights with a delicate pear variation, accompanied by sweet and sour sea buckthorn, tart beetroot juice and dark chocolate.
But this is not the end - the epilogue awaits with the finest Felchlin chocolate, chocolate truffles covered with gold dust and small mirabelle croissants.
In any case, a fine-dining evening at elmira is a particularly indulgent experience. The menu changes according to seasonal offerings and invites you to unanticipated events. For example, on 29 January 2023, a 4-hands dinner with Pascal Steffen from the 2-star restaurant roots in Basel, where a unique 8-course menu will provide the ultimate culinary experience.
