Rose Rüschlikon – Restaurants on the Pfnüsel Coast

Anyone who heads for the Rose Rüschlikon probably does so quite consciously. The distinctively positioned timber-framed house not far from Rüschlikon railway station is not located on any thoroughfare, where you just happen to pass by. And if I hadn’t made the acquaintance of Tobias Buholzer last spring, I probably wouldn’t have come up with the idea of reserving a table for 2 on a Saturday evening at the Pfnüselküste.

Tobias Buholzer is no stranger. In 2008 he was Gault-Millau Discovery of the Year and then successfully managed the Münsterhof Zurich. After a short interlude at Hirschen Eglisau (where I met him), he and his wife Sabrina have been running the Rose in Rüschlikon since autumn 2016. In addition to the gourmet restaurant “Tobias Buholzer”, the host couple reopened the “Taverna Rosa” on the ground floor this spring, including a secluded garden terrace. A restaurant concept that satisfies various culinary demands. In the Taverna Rosa, the lunch menu is served for 23 CHF and the dinner menu is able to delight pasta and risotto lovers with moderate prices. One floor up, guests are spoiled with an exquisite menu of appetizers and droplets in the cosy dining room ambience (with tiled stove). The full program (7-course with wine accompaniment) costs 235 CHF per person. It is possible to order à la carte or to reduce the 7 courses to 4, 5 or 6 courses. You don’t necessarily have to know at the beginning how many courses you’re hungry for. The service team will be happy to ask after the main course whether there is still enough space for cheese, carrot cake and chocolate.

We both chose the full program with wine accompaniment. Instead of the veal shank for the main course, I ordered ricotta gnocchi. Again, no problem at all.

Fatty Nuts

Belper Trout

Colorful quail eggs

Glazed veal knuckle

Ricotta-Gnocchi

Raw milk cheese

Rüeblikuchen

Chocolate

What I particularly like about Tobias Buholzer’s cuisine is the sophisticated combination of unpretentious ingredients. I get annoyed in gourmet restaurants every time a course contains fois gras. Tobias Buholzer counters this with his own creation “Noix Gras”. A nut-based vegetarian alternative to the unspeakable stuffed foie gras. In addition to the Noix Gras terrine, the cheese cart with an exquisite selection of Swiss cow, goat, sheep and buffalo cheeses was a highlight of the evening. Cheese lovers are definitely in good hands here. And if you think I won’t be satisfied with seven small gourmet portions, let me tell you the following: a small foretaste is served before each course. To prepare for what immediately follows on the plate. We counted 16 smaller and larger “appetizers” that evening – we definitely didn’t return from the Pfnüsel coast to the big city hungry. Or rather, our wallet was even unplanned spared by 10 CHF because we shared the last course – the chocolate.

More information about the restaurant: Rose Rüschlikon (Dorfstrasse 42)

p.s. By the way, I bet that Rüschlikon will be able to boast a new Michelin-starred restaurant from this autumn.

p.p.s the garden terrace of the Taverna Rosa is the perfect Sunday stroll-lunch stop