Zurich Street Food Festival No. 4

My friend and I decided to take the train to Zurich in the morning. I remember visiting Zurich about two years ago with my family where we only stroll around Bahnhofstrasse. The high-end street still looks chic and expensive (my life as a university student). As the street food festival located near the lake in Seebad Enge, we passed Bahnhofstrasse to get to the food festival. We did a little shopping. Actually my friend was the one who did all the shopping as I’m kind of on my shopping rehab. A little tip for everyone who’s thinking to shop in Switzerland, don’t unless you like overpriced stuff.

Zurich Street Food Festival no. 4 is my very first street food experience. I don’t expect anything but an abundance of food and hoping to try each of the food in there. I did get that expectation right but let’s be real, hoping to try each of the food from 86 stands? Even after eating nine different type of food I can’t carry myself or walk. Regardless I went home with a big tummy, and I also went home with a big smile on my face and extremely satisfied.

The first food we tried is Zurich sliced veal in a morel cream sauce with Asian vegetables on crispy noodles nest (Züricher kalbsgeschnetzeltes an einer morchelrahmsauce mit asiatischem gemüse auf knusprigem nudeln-nest) from Rathgeb & Huynh Catering. The people from that stand are very friendly and explaining each of the dishes on the German menu that I can’t understand at all. We chose the small bowl of crispy noodles that priced CHF 9.-. The morel cream sauce was undeniably the one that makes the dish so delicious. Everything just makes sense with the sauce. As we eat and slowly indulging the noodles, one of the guy from Rathgeb & Huynh Catering brought the Euro-Asian kaiser roll on a lime sweet-chilli sauce (Euroasiatische kaiserrollen an einer limetten sweet-chilli sauce) which is a crispy vegetable spring roll and gave it to us for free. Who does not like free food? Especially when it’s very tasty and I’ve been eyeing that spring roll from their stand.

You know when you don’t know what food to try, but you see a lot of people eating it and then you’re curious about it and where to buy it? Well, I saw a lot of people eating the black burger and decided that I want that burger. Not only me who wanted that burger but a long line of people waiting in front of the BBQ Catering stand. My friend patiently waited for the black burger with pulled pork, and I waited in a long line of Takoyaki Hide & Helena. The perks of going to a food festival with your friend, you share food to try more food, you divide the task of lining up and the money. Black burger with pulled pork was priced CHF 14.- and it was worth every penny. The taste of the bun is just like any normal burger bun, but I never knew that pulled pork and burger bun are made for each other.

I am a big fan of Japanese cuisine. Everyone always fights their way just to get a piece of sushi at my university and for a while, humanity didn’t cross my mind when it comes for a slice of salmon. Takoyaki Hide & Helena is my very first takoyaki I’ve ever tried. I know, I know, how can I call myself a Japanese food fan when I never ever tried takoyaki before. Weirdly, I never know why I never try it too. When I chewed that takoyaki, my mind just screamed “why the hell I never try this delish snack before?” and blaming myself whenever my brother offer me takoyaki, and I dumbly reject. With just CHF 10.- you get five sticks or five takoyaki with octopus inside. You might think, “Ew, octopus for a snack?” but wait until you eat it. Takoyaki Hide & Helena stand also sells mochi with four different flavours, and we tried the original one with red bean inside. If you don’t know what mochi is, I can tell that you rarely eat Japanese food. However, as it been too long since my last mochi, my friend and I buy one mochi that cost CHF 5.-. I wouldn’t say it’s the best mochi in my entire life, but it’s been a long time since my last one.

Then we realised that there’s another side of the food festival. We scanned through the cool and unique concept from each stand and stopped in the Churros – Ein Stück Spanien stand. When someone say churros, everybody goes cuckoo crazy. Let’s just say that’s how the line was, cuckoo long crazy waiting for churros. We were crazy and patience enough to wait in the long line and ordered churros kit zimt und zucker (churros with sugar and cinnamon). At first it was quite bland, and we realised she didn’t give us enough sugar and cinnamon, so we asked for more, and that’s when the hot churros fuse and compliment each other. As long as you have the right amount (or plenty) of sugar and cinnamon, those churros are good to go to your tummy.

It will not be complete without at least one Swiss food stand. No, I didn’t see any cheese fondue sadly but Raclette Bar sells a Swiss dish that is raclette for CHF 9.- if you choose the raclette classic. I’m not an expert in Swiss dishes, but raclette is a dish where they scrape the heated cheese and serve it with potatoes, gherkins and pickled onions. Everything goes together especially the pickled onions, but when the dish gets colder, you’ll expect a bitter taste from the cheese which was not pleasant at all. So hustle up when you order raclette.

It seems like our food that we ate has no order at all. Only if we’re not emotionally carried away and awed by the food in front of our eyes. When I passed by Maria Dolores – Siente México stand, I have no choice but to buy tortilla chips mit guacamole for only CHF 5.-. I’m pretty sure the seller’s mom is Maria Dolores as she told me that her mom herself is the one who brought the recipe from Mexico, and you can buy it Globus. It is fresher than the massive production of guacamole from factories but it wasn’t that spicy, and it seems like it’s missing something. Maybe that’s why they put tabasco in their stand for customers to put it themselves.

If any of you are wondering if we drink at all, we kind of forgot to drink until suddenly we felt thirsty. Usually, food stands don’t sell drinks because there are stands especially selling drinks. My friend ordered passion fruit mojito from the bar, and it was CHF 16.- including the glass but if you return the glass to the bar, they will give you CHF 2.- back. It was a good mojito with the right amount of sweetness and alcohol.

Have you ever tried the cheese stick in McDonald’s? Get ready to be mind blown by Auyán – Tequeños – Venezuela’s Tequeños because they are taking cheese sticks to the next level. I don’t know what kind of cheese they use maybe mozzarella or Swiss cheese, but it was damn good. You will get four tequeños for CHF 10.- and it’s a bargain. I might sound cheesy, but I was slowly eating to make sure I will always remember the good taste of it.

And this is the part where I’m so full and felt like my stomach will explode. Regardless of my big tummy that made me hard to walk properly, as a big fan of tropical fruits, I bought coconut (CHF 8.-) and that is the end of my Zurich street food festival eating journey. I stopped eating, but I didn’t stop buying. Keksliebe is undeniably and extremely cute! The cookies they sell will last up to three months if you put it still in the box they provide. You also can put a writing on the cookie and of course, I have to write one. Various of selection from the colour of the cookies until the colour of the writing only for CHF 8.-.

I was impressed by the stands they have in the Zurich Street Food Festival No. 4. You don’t only see delicious and diverse food and drinks but also the cool and appetising ideas that bring up the cozy atmosphere even though the weather was cold. There are plenty of food that I wanted to try, but the capacity of my belly says the opposite. Each of the stands is remarkably creative and very distinctive from another. I can’t even choose which one is my favourite stand as they’re all beautifully expressive related to their food or beverage. You can say that I’m happy that I found out about this now I am addicted to food festival and can’t wait for Geneva Street Food Festival and Bern Food Truck Festival.

Thank you to Erin who went to the festival with me and patiently wait for me while I take pictures.

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