Underwater love – gourmettrips

Visited April 2024
Dinner
Rating: without

At irregular intervals, three ladies offer a pop-up in Zurich’s Seefeld district, serving a five-course menu based on fish and seafood. I had already been here last year and quite liked it, so I was curious to see what they would serve this time. The menu is not announced in advance on the Internet.
The selection of wines, which are offered by the glass or bottle, is limited and also relatively special.
This time we started with a greenish aperitif in a low long-drink glass with aniseed, mint, sparkling mineral water, and ice.
It was followed by the first snack, which was also listed on the menu written in English.

This was a very nice treat for the palate. A folded brown baked toast rich in oil was filled with shrimp, which brought out the sweetness that is often characteristic of crustaceans. I did not notice the ginger. I didn’t use the as well skewered lime. It was a delight anyway.

Mackerel – rhubarb – cucumber – labné – bottarga

Mackerel tartare, rhubarb slices, and small pieces of raw cucumber formed a kind of salad with a nicely balanced vinaigrette with not too much acidity.
Good light bread with labné was served separately. Labné, which is Lebanese labneh, is a whipped cream made from hung yogurt. It can be used as a substitute for butter. Here, chives and bottarga di mugine, dried fish roe, were used as toppings.

Black tiger – fennel – pernod – feta – tarragon

A fried, half-shelled, large black tiger prawn was accompanied by pickled feta, whose chili pieces added an interesting spiciness. The plate also featured fennel cooked al dente and some tarragon. Pernod was used in the sauce.

Salmon – pomelo – castel franco – almonds
Wine: 2020 slobodne, majer blanc, slowakia

Very nice mild smoked salmon with a pleasant texture came on Castel Franco, a special type of radicchio salad, in the style of Cesar’s salad with pieces of pomelo fillet, roasted almonds, and a very fine vinaigrette. I thought I could taste coffee aromas. But these probably came from the poppy seeds, which were also sprinkled on top.

Yellow fin tuna – avocado – coriander – leek

A wonton cracker was topped with thin slices of yellowfin tuna, marinated mango, avocado cream, chili, and leek straw. The fresh coriander had been left out for me.

Monkfish – sorrel – asparagus – currant
Wine: 2021, dominó, foxtrot, alentejo, portugal

The main course used monkfish, the “poor man’s lobster”, in two forms as the central ingredient. On a bed of sorrel were pieces of fillet and liver seasoned with a little fleur de sel of monkfish, purple potato, green asparagus, and currants.

I had no more room for a dessert, which was on the menu as an extra course. It was as far as I have seen chocolate mousse with raspberries.

Summary

Good quality ingredients especially for the fish and seafood, interesting combinations, and proper execution make this a valuable dinner option for people who like food from the seas. The menu is announced to be “French-inspired”, meaning rather Bistro than fine dining cuisine. And that is exactly what it is.
Service was again flawless.

Website: Underwaterlove french inspired fish and seafood pop-up restaurant Zurich

Visited in October 2023
Dinner
Rating: without

I became aware of this pop-up through an article in the Zurich daily newspaper Tagesanzeiger (see link at the end of the article). Here, three women with various culinary backgrounds offer raw and cooked seafood in a different way. The pop-up is located in a casual restaurant in Zurich’s Seefeld, the Mame, where during the day other operators mainly offer coffee, small dishes, and takeaways like buns and bowls. As written, it is rather casual here. This evening, the pop-up was booked out. The menu consists of five courses. Dessert has to be paid extra. A four-glasses wine pairing is offered. Besides this, the wine list consists of seven organic wines, two of them of the natural kind.

The bread was good and even better with the smoked salt butter. I started with a glass of Jz velue muskateller 2020, zillinger austria

kingfish – yellowfin tuna – shiso – carrot . orange

The first course presented a kind of sashimi of kingfish and yellowfin tuna with pickled carrot and ginger, shiso leaves, fleur de sel, and a sauce in a separate small bowl. These accompanying ingredients did little to distract from the fish. The fish was of good quality, very tender, and had the right temperature.

salmon – stracciatella – fennel – zaatar – kiwi

The next was maybe my favorite on the menu. On the liquid core of burrata, melon juice marinated salmon tatar was placed and covered with thin-sliced fennel. Yellow kiwi added sweetness on the side, and the whole was spiced with zaatar, a culinary herb mixture from the Middle East with the main ingredient Origanum syriacum. I could imagine that I offer this at home one day.

I took a second glass of wine, La dame, chardonnay ariège France.

pulpo – yuzu kosho – soba – melon radish – chervil

Cold Soba buckwheat noodles mixed with melon radish Julienne came with slices of cooked octopus, which were spiced with yuzu kosho, a Japanese citrus condiment consisting of fermented paste made from chili peppers, yuzu citrus peel, and salt. Some black sesame and chervil leaves were also on the plate. The Octopus had the right bite, and I liked the overall composition.

razor clam – (cilantro) – lime – walnut – jalapeño

Very fresh razor clams served in their shells were marinated with lime. Thin slices of jalapeño added spiciness, walnut pieces some nutty taste. Besides this, grated lime zest and some green leaves completed the plate. The star of this course was, of no doubt, the razor clam, which one does not get often in Switzerland. Since I used chopsticks for the major part of the menu, cutting the mussel meat in half would have made it easier to eat. The cilantro was left away for me.

halibut – squash – baby kale – plum – mushroom

A tranche of halibut supposed to have been grilled came on a sweet potato squash puree with vinaigrette-treated baby kale leaves and pan-fried chanterelle mushrooms for Umami taste. A plum sauce with plum, salt and sour taste came with it that tasted for me like a liquefied Umeboshi. The halibut seemed rather poached because there were neither roasting aromas nor Maillard browning present. Nevertheless, it did not have any negative effect on the taste and this course exhibited a very pleasant composition.

Mirjam, who seems to be the main responsible for the kitchen, came to the table after the main course and asked how it was. Originally, I did not want to take dessert. As a courtesy, she offered a mini portion of the baba, which consisted of a mini baba au rhum gugelhupf, apple puree, whipped cream and a pink sour powder on it. This was a nice finish of the menu.

Summary

I enjoyed this very much. Good ideas, good quality ingredients, interesting combinations, and proper execution. Service was flawless, with Mai standing out, smiling all evening, showing real interest for the guests and exhibiting that she really likes what she does. A tip for the service: a rest for the chopsticks would be nice. I used the fork turned upside down for this.
If you like seafood, you should go as long as it is possible.

Website: Underwater love french inspired fish and seafood Zurich pop-up restaurant

Additional information:

Drei Frauen eröffnen ein Seafood-Pop-up, Mutprobe inklusive (Abo)

Dieses Zürcher Pop-up serviert rohen Fisch auf zugängliche Art