The two best steak houses in London are Hawksmoor and Goodman. I think Goodman started in Russia, it's certainly owned by a Russian.

A few months ago I was lucky enough to go to a meal set up by a blogger (Dine with Dos Hermanos) . . . it was a beef tasting and we tried American, Irish and British varieties with a variety of dietary finishes (grass and grain). Goodman was generous and hospitable and we had a tour of the kitchen, including the meat store, afterwards. The steak itself was just fantastic . . . great meat, great cooking. They've got a very serious grill.

And now Goodman's coming to Zürich!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-0...food-buzz.html

http://www.goodmanrestaurants.com/

Hold on to your wallets and get in shape . . . This will be a must visit for steak lovers and will put other Zürich grills to shame.

I can't justify going to a Steak Retaurant anywhere in the world because it is something so easy to cook yourself. You don't really need any ingredients as such except a lump of Angus Beef for a good steak.

I see that Switzerland has a lot of Angus Beef Cows:

"Aberdeen-Angus is the most numerous breed in the Swiss Beef Cattle Herdbook, with more than 3,000 cows, and plans are in hand to develop the Aberdeen-Angus beef brand in retail shops and restaurants," said Mrs Eggleston.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Boomin...e.-a0158862326

It's not just to do with the breed of cow, it's also the cut and the way the cow has been fed and looked after.

I can cook pretty good steak at home, but I can't easily match somewhere like Goodman's sourcing nor their cooking. My electric cooked at home is no match for a Josper grill.

If you really can't see the benefit of what somewhere like Goodman can do, it's probably because you've been influenced by sub-par steakhouses that you've seen in the past. This is a different beast.

400g Rib-eye is £29 in the Uk... do you think the Swiss prices will be inline with other steakhouses like Churrasco? http://www.churrasco.ch/hauptspeisenindex.html

I expect it to be expensive, but far better than Churrasco.

CHF 65 for 400 grams of steak; not even 1 lb in weight of steak.

You are having a Giraf.

I am just back from dinner at Goodman. They opened yesterday with no publicity, a soft opening feeling to the place - ten or so tables full when we left and the waitress said there were 45 people at lunch; so no problem getting a table and attentive service for the time being.

I was surprised to see that Goodman in London is the number 6 rated restaurant on Tripadvisor (for what that is worth), out of almost 8,000 restaurants. So we were expecting some decent food. I should say that my experience with steakhouses is NYC (Keen's being my favorite of the bunch), Canada (Hy's and Gibby's), and last but not least, M (formerly Morton's) in Frankfurt. As for steaks, let's just say that my Weber knows its way around a Porterhouse (which it can now find, dry aged nonetheless, at Coop in Wollishofen).

Enough about that.

The meat is a mix of US and CH. No Irish beef as in London. I am going from memory (dulled somewhat by the decent CHF77 bottle of Amarone), but the Porterhouse was CHF21/100g, so a 700g slice was CHF147. A good bit more expensive than London (and almost double the Bistecca Fiorentina at Italia). We ate US Rib Eye, 400g for CHF59, which was very good and, more importantly, cooked properly (rare). The waitress brought around a tray of meat before we ordered, the Porterhouse looked a little thin for my liking, the Swiss filet (250g for CHF49 if memory serves) looked exceptional. They age their meat themselves, by the way, and they are doing it properly if tonight's meal was any indication.

Started with a Caesar salad, it was good but, hey, we're not in New York (and they'll never understand that there is no such thing as too much garlic on a Caesar). The sides and starters are in the evolutionary stages at present - no truffle chips and (gasp) no tomatoes w Stilton; but the waitress promises that the menu will change as time goes by - truth be told it is a bit bland right now. Wine list is only OK by Zurich standards - heavy on the heavies, as it were, lots of Spain and Italy, nary a California Cab to be seen , but not priced out of control (a 2005 Tignanello was 130ish).

All said and done, especially considering that they have been open for all of 2 days, looks like they are headed in the right direction. The owner (or London manager?) has been there up until yesterday to whip them all into shape and they seem to have everything more or less under control (with the exception of martini olives). Location is good but not great, they'll do a good lunch business, but the place is too open and airy to "feel" like a real steakhouse.

Food: 8/10
Service: 9/10
Setting/Decor: 7/10
Value: 8/10

Overall: 8/10

Going Back?: Hell ya.

Ratbert, thanks for the review!!!

Could someone give the adress of it, please?

Yes where is this place? Have i missed the location mentioned somewhere?

There's a new steak house opening in Oerlikon/Seebach also - was wondering if its the same one?

Google to the rescue:

http://www.google.ch/search?sourceid...goodman+zurich

And? How did they all compare, if you remember?

The grain fed USDA was much richer and had a softer, unctious quality. The UK was grass fed but then finished on grain and this was my favourite. Memories are rather hazy due to the never-ending booze that was supplied (by Catena).

I didn't blog it myself, but you can find a write up by the organiser here:

http://www.doshermanos.co.uk/2010/02...s-allowed.html

Also another piece here:

http://foodurchin.blogspot.com/2010/...-eat-beef.html

And some pics here:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=blok...36477443%40N06

Why don't we have this kind of nice mix of social media and food in Zürich? I guess I should crank up my 'Food and Drink in Zürich' blog.

@GG, That looks like a phenomenal evening - although after last night, I get a little bit woozy seeing meat of any sort.

That said, here's a pic of a Porterhouse I picked up at Coop Wollishofen (as mentioned). They get it in every Wednesday, not sure where the aging is done, but I've had it on three separate occasions and it's been consistently good - similar in quality to the US beef from Globus. Hopefully they'll keep it up now that grill season is - for the Swiss at least - over.

I'm a little woried by the lack of discernible marbling on the meat in that picture. Is it the picture or the meat?

It's the meat. It's Swiss mind you, but the filet doesn't suffer and the whole package does benefit from the aging, leading to an overall good piece of meat. Especially considering that you can just stroll into coop and pick it up (for about 65 a kilo). The pictured piece was 1.5kg or so.

Definietly sounds good.
For me up until now Rolli's steakhouse Oerlikon or Kloten is by far the best steakhouse i've ever visited. On the Hotrock and you can get any size you want.
I'm from SA where we thrive on meat and are used to quality, and Rolli's has never dissapointed.

Thanks for the tip, I will definitely try it out.

Cheers.

I can unreservedly recommend Goodman.

At last, a restaurant in Zürich with some gutsy, convincing cooking.

I went for dinner with a couple of friends and had actually been intent on simply settling for burgers. Once we sat down though and had a look at the beef, we really couldn't resist. We started by sharing some herring. These came in a large-ish, Kilner-ish, jar (a sign of home pickling) and were accompanied by round of toasted rye bread, horseradish cream and cornichons. We decided that the Alpha Crux Malbec we'd ordered for the steak, wasn't a good idea for the vinegary fish and ordered some vodka instead. This whole combination was just terrific . . . juicy, fishy, sweet, creamy, crunchy, acid . . . nom AND yum!

Two of us opted for the 400 gram Goodman ribeye, my other friend had the fillet. The fillet was the only Swiss beef on offer that evening. The owner had determined that the Swiss sirloin and ribeye had not aged enough yet to be sold. This gave me confidence in the restaurant. The ribeye was prime USDA and had that unctious quality that you get from corn finished steak. The waitress had recommended that we get the ribeye medium and I hesitated as I normally like something quite bloody. When it arrived I could see why medium was a good idea for this steak, but next time I'll go a bit rarer. Accompaniments were variously, bearnaise, some rather good pommes frites. I studiously ignored the veg that my friend ordered.

Half way through chomping our steak, Roman Zalman, the owner, came and introduced himself and had a chat. That's was a nice touch for a new restaurant.

The room itself is nowhere near as characterful or charming as their Mayfair outpost, but I think that's the only bad thing I'd say. Oh yes, the vodka could have been colder.

All of that, including two bottles of the wine (CHF93 each and a great steak match) and beers at the start, came to about CHF 460. Not cheap, but I think this is reasonable value for this cooking.

I shall return to try their burger (they're open on Sunday evenings!) and I can't wait to try the Swiss steaks.

Completely agree, and I should also point out it was the best service I have received in a restaurant in Zurich; friendly, knowledgeable, and attentive...this may of course change as they get a bit busier, but I remain impressed with the service (relatively, that is)

Snap...the lunch menu is also good and keenly priced, being only CHF5 more for the burger compared to other standard pub burgers in Zurich, and the "Business Lunch" at CH34 is good value IMO. Reservations are advised for lunch as they seemed to be developing quite a brisk trade.

I've been meaning to post an update on here

I've been three times now!

The first time (Saturday evening) I shared an 800g Porterhouse with Spottydog. It was exceptional - some of the best steak we've ever had. The others with us had the bone in strip loin and the fillet and they said it was delicious. For starters I had the chicken Caesar which was tasty enough and came with a whole chicken breast. The others had the Carpaccio, which I've had since and was excellent. The only slight mishap they had was on the dessert: 3 of us had creme brulee, that had barely seen a blowtorch. The waitress, who had been serving our table, for whatever reason hadn't brought the desserts out. When we called her over, she didn't even need to ask what was wrong. She apologised profusely and took them back. 5 minutes later everything was hunky-dory.

The service was in our eyes perfect in our eyes - attentive, but not over-bearing, knew her stuff, subtly tried to up-sell us ("cognac with coffee perhaps?"). An absolute rarity for Zurich and a pleasant surprise. When the bill came, she informed us that she had taken two of the desserts and something else off the bill, because of the creme brulee. Again a mark of great service, to do so without being asked.

I've been back for lunch twice this week, to try out the burger and then for seconds. The burger is CHF 28, so not cheap, but they do a two course business lunch including the burger for CHF 34, which I think offers pretty good value. Reckon on CHF 40 for lunch with a soft drink. I've had the burger twice, both times medium-rare. Both times it's been one of the best, if not the best burgers I've had and my companions, an American and a Brit have agreed. Both times I've started with the Carpaccio, but the other options are bacon Caesar or veal consume. Mains include the rack of lamb, salmon or a 250g striploin for a CHF 15 supplement. Service hasn't been quite as good, but still of a high quality for Zurich.

They have already posted on their facebook page that you really should reserve for lunch. They haven't done any advertising, but word of mouth is spreading like wildfire. This place is going to be difficult to get into in a few months, so make a trip now. It's not cheap, but the quality shows. Having said that I've paid more for a fillet at Uto Kulm than they charge and it was far inferior.

Porterhouse cooked medium you can also see creamed spinach with cheddar and grilled vegetable side orders:

At CH 28 the burger is a whole CHf 3 cheaper than the Park Hyatt's. I'm willing to bet now that the Goodman burger will be better. The lunch deal does sound good.