A pop-up restaurant on the Polyterrasse
Five ETH Zurich alumni will be operating a temporary restaurant in front of ETH Zurich’s main building from 9 May to 5 June. They will be bringing research findings into the kitchen with their innovative dishes.
The restaurant is currently being built on the Polyterrasse. On 7 May, this pop-up restaurant with its less-than-conventional approach will be complete. The Tastelab is all about exploring the relationship between science and cooking. The organisers are eager to use these four weeks to demonstrate how it is possible to improve traditional recipes or create entirely new recipes through an understanding of scientific principles. Eggs will be poached in their shells, meat will be cooked for days in a water bath, carbonation will add a sparkle to fruit, and coffee will be brewed cold.
“Science has a lot to contribute in the kitchen,” says Remo Gisi, co-initiator of the Tastelab. He studied information technology at ETH Zurich and is an enthusiastic amateur chef. All five organisers of the Tastelab are graduates of various scientific disciplines at ETH Zurich. The head chef and driving force behind the project is Susanne Tobler, physicist and founder of the event and catering company Tobler Tastes.
“We want to show how new techniques and findings can be used to make cooking not just easier and more consistent, but better, too,” Gisi explains. “Carefully selected, seasonal produce will be beautifully presented in appetising dishes thanks to new cooking methods and creative combinations.” The scientific principles behind the cooking methods will be explained to the guests as a sort of ‘side dish’, with the ETH Zurich Main Building standing symbolically in the background.
Seven-course evening meals
The building, designed by ETH Zurich architects, is currently under construction and will be completed on 7 May, 2016. It will then be open from 9 May to 5 June. There will be seating for 120 guests indoors and 30 outside. “Every lunchtime we will offer a main course with a small starter or mini-dessert for around 20 francs,” says Gisi. The menu will be vegetarian on certain days, and brunch will be available at the weekend for 46 francs.
However, the temporary restaurant’s real focus is on evening meals. For 128 francs and by reservation only, these ETH Zurich graduates will serve a seven-course evening meal. “With each course we will demonstrate to the guests various things that can be done better or more easily with even quite simple scientific methods,” says Gisi. There will also be a café and cocktail bar, which will be operated by the owners of Zurich’s Bar Dante.