How Chinese Food Can Also Taste – a Visit to Wesley’s Kitchen

Recently, my friend and I struggled to find a table at a restaurant for a Friday night dinner (something I miss about Bs As – almost no restaurant takes reservations there) and I finally suggested to go to Wesley’s Kitchen. My friend agreed and later admitted that she had prepared herself for sweet and sour chicken as she had read it  was a Chinese restaurant. Albeit Zurich offers a great culinary variety, Chinese cuisine is still mainly represented by chains that serve “sweet and sour chicken” and “fried rice” with peas and diced ham (think Suan Long). I don’t blame them, as long as the guests eat it, why should they change their menu. I am not sure about the cause, but some cuisines that became huge trends in other modern cities just haven’t made it to Switzerland (yet). One of these is Chinese cuisine, especially dim sum. Another example would be Korean cuisine, which became a huge trend in California and also in European cities like London already years ago. Luckily, Wesley’s Kitchen is one of the few exceptions and serves delicious Chinese cuisine, more specifically Shanghai cuisine. Foodies will know their “street food” speciality called Shanghai Bao (also called Xiaolongbao) from several festivals and from the Wednesday market at the Zurich mainstation:

These delicious fluffy little things would be reason enough to visit the restaurant at the Josefstrasse. For dinner, they offer a menu with Chinese “tapas”, which are small to medium sized portions, each priced around CHF 14-18 – made to share. I’d suggest some baos and then 1-2 tapas per person (or 2-3 if you are really hungry). We were especially excited about the crispy boiled beef with Hoisin sauce:

Also the five spice duck was yummy, although it could have been a bit more crispy:

I usually skip dessert at Asian restaurants, but thanks to Portugal occupying Macau for a while (i.e. for a bit over a hundred years, from 1887-1999), this restaurant serves excellent pastel de nata (a custard pastry):

 

The only downside that evening was that every now and then there was a wave of burnt garlic coming from the kitchen – ewwh. My advice would be to invest in a more powerful extractor fan for the kitchen. If CHF 40-50 to spend for dinner is too expensive for you, I’d recommend you visit them for lunch: You get dishes for CHF 14-16, all served with rice. I for example had salmon with a poached egg on rice:

My friend opted for chicken with a peanut based and slightly spicy sauce:

As all of them are served with rice, one per person is quite filling. The restaurant is rather small (20-25 seats), so a reservation is advised for lunch and dinner. And no matter when you visit this restaurant, one Shanghai bao as an appetizer is a must!

Wesley’s Kitchen
Josefstrasse 48, 8005 Zurich
Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 11.30am-2.30pm and 5-10pm, Sat 11am-10pm, Sun 11am-8pm
Reservation recommended
Additionally, you find a booth with their Shanghai baos at the Wednesday’ market in the Zurich mainstation hall from 11am to 8pm and a permanent booth at the main station entrance at  the Shilquai side.