Reviewing restaurants is a fool’s errand in a lot of ways, one of which is that you have to qualify your opinion – like cars, you should sort by some combination of price range and ambition, and deliver a statement on the overall value. To extend the metaphor, in Zurich, as with the cars in its parking lots, the restaurants range from Lamborghini to Fiat 500 (there isn’t much of a Yugo market, in other words). This has hampered my thoughts of continuing this blog for some time – I used to cover strictly the cheap market, with the occasional Michelin launch piece or expensive dinner out thrown in. Five years ago, I made the decision that I couldn’t change the direction of the blog drastically to cover the kinds of places available in Switzerland and threw in the towel.
I’m going to reverse that decision and resume writing occasionally, even if the articles don’t exactly fit the original mission (which was, lest we forget, to tick restaurants off a list published over six years ago). I’ve been reviewing restaurants in my head for five years, and it pains me to admit that those thoughts have then gone to waste. Having gone over my posts recently while migrating to a new blogging platform, I realize the personal value of these posts in retrospect. It may not function as the blog my original readership liked, but it’ll function as something I like, and that’s enough. Perhaps some of you readers will come with me on this new journey, and if so, I look forward to your reactions.
I’m still in Switzerland, so the writing will skew heavily in that direction (although I’m excited to cover my myriad travel destinations as well), and I’ll run the gamut of restaurants that are available here. I will not pick and choose based on price but hopefully somewhat effectively on value for money – always a tricky subject to cover in Swiss Franc-land, but one after five years I feel practiced enough to have the hang of.
Hope you enjoy this relaunched blog and, as the Swiss say, “En Guete!”
-Mike
Twenty Bucks A Day 