Update: Sadly, the Kosmos bistro went bankrupt and does not exist in the below described version anymore.
Many places in the area between Langstrasse and Europaallee are crowded by young folks – hipster alarm – and are being hyped for no reason. This bistro isn’t one of them. Sure, it is located in this hipsterized area and guests are young and more or less hip, but they serve quality food, well cooked and handed to you with a smile. The menu is a blend of French bistro cuisine and North African influenced dishes. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner – one of the places that does it all. And surprisingly, they do it all very well. I was there a couple of times for breakfast/brunch, dinner and once for a business event during lunchtime and every single time, I left very happy and sated. And while they serve food all day, the menu is small and the food is made to order. The ambiance is lively and casual, while the furnishing is effortless yet practical. They have outside seating which is still a rarity in Zurich and thus much appreciated.
Breakfast
Breakfast is served daily; Monday to Friday from 8-11am and on the weekends from 10am-4pm, making it an option for brunch. While the breakfast menu items for me do not qualify as “brunch“, you can order most of the other menu items too, which includes croque monsieur, schnitzel and some small bites like dips, so that in the end you have a full brunch menu at your discretion. I used to be a fan of brunch served as a buffet, but came to appreciate the à la carte style in the recent years. In the pictures below, you see a perfectly cooked French-style omelet, fluffy with herbs, served with fresh baguette as well as a pain au chocolat, a cappuccino and a French croissant. Pastries can be ordered separately (CHF 2-3). I also included the croque monsieur, although this is not a specific breakfast/brunch menu item, I think it’s a great brunch dish. I can highly recommend it. It is crispy, the bread is excellent, the cheese and the ham are of very good quality and the bechamel sauce is fresh too. On top of it is a pickled parsnip which just adds a certain je-ne-sais-quoi and makes the dish perfect. For CHF 18, this is a steal.
Lunch
I must admit that I haven’t been there for a regular lunch yet. However, the lunch menu (weekly changing) looks promising to me and value for money is very fair (CHF 25 including soup or salad and water).
Dinner
As mentioned above, the croque monsieur is a good choice. Equally tempting is the Wiener Schnitzel which is served with cucumber-potato salad and lingonberries, enhanced with freshly grated horseradish. The only critique my friend had was that the potatoes were advertised as roasted, which they weren’t. Otherwise it was just delicious; to perfectly fry a breaded schnitzel is an art in itself.
As starters, I’d recommend some of the small bites. The eggplant-feta dip, served with fresh baguette was surprisingly tasty and and the mixed in dried cherry tomatoes just gave it the umami kick.
When it comes to dessert, up to now I only had room left for a single scoop of ice cream and chose sour cream, which was yummy. I’m sure to try some of the dessert menu items in the future and will add this to this review later on.
Worth mentioning are the different syrups and spritzer (Schorle) they offer. The ginger and lemon Schorle is very refreshing and not overly sweet. That makes up for the fact that they don’t serve Pepsi or CocaCola but only Vivi Kola, which I still just don’t fancy.
In sum, this is a new usual for me and my go to place in this area. 🙂
Bistro Kosmos
Lagerstrasse 104, 8004 Zurich
Out of business.
