Ristorante IL Tartufo

I was given a wonderful opportunity to come here by my boyfriends aunt and uncle for his birthday. The owner of the restaurant knows his uncle and was very very friendly and informative.
We started off the meal with some bubbly. Then the waiter came over holding a bowl with rice in it. In the rice was what looked to me like a rock, with a wine glass covering it. He then greeted me and held the glass over my nose… I had no idea what to expect but BAM suddenly there was a burst of… flavor. It was the famous truffle mushroom. I didn’t know anything about this little gem before my travels to Europe but apparently it’s quite a prized possession. They have pigs and dogs search for these rare little mushrooms and people pay out the booty for them. I guess the most expensive one weighing around 1 kg sold for $ 330,000. I got to smell a pretty big one… be impressed guys. Apparently the one I smelled was around 5,000 CHF.
So anyway, that was an exciting event. We then ordered wine and salad– I decided to burst out of my shell (I did get to smell a tuffle pilz after all) and try the octopus salad. Btw pilz= mushroom. The presentation was fancy shmancy and downright beautiful. It tasted quite good and not exactly what I was expecting. It was entirely octopus, not many greens! But it was very very good.
Next came the main course. I ordered the angus beef with vegetables and pasta with the famous truffle pilz sauce. Bf got the veal rib with potato gratin and spinach. I tried both. The angus beef was pretty good, but I’ll admit the pasta was really special. The noodles were so tender and the waiter even came over and shaved more mushroom over the pasta. The man was basically sprinkling my food with money… it was a little funny. The veal meat was very tender and flavorful as well.
They were tricky when they asked us if we’d like dessert. Instead of bringing us a menu they showed us the actual apple tart… and of course we couldn’t say no. It came with ice cream and it was absolutely divine! I’d never had an apple dessert like it. The fruit was so smooth and delicious! They were cooked so nicely that they just melted in your mouth.
For the very end we were given a lemon liquor type of drink. I guess it’s quite famous in Italy but I had never heard of it before! It was very sweet and strong… I liked it a lot.
By the time we had left I was incredibly stuffed and almost drunk. Campaign, two/​three glasses of wine, and lemon liquor is a little too much for this girl. But everything was fantastic. Wonderful service, wonderful company, and wonderful food.
Wir haben viel viel essen fur der Geburtstag von mein Freund bestellt. Das Essen war mega fein. Das Fleisch, die Nudeln, der Salat und die Tarte waren am besten. Ich liebe das Innere und die Leute sind sehr fleissig und freundlich. Ich hatte ein wunderbar Zeit und meinen Freund auch.

Reminds me of Da Umberto in New York City. Warm neighborhood Italian restaurant on a side street (87 Lavaterstrasse) filled with simple wood tables covered with white table cloths. Our waiter was attentive and spoke excellent english. We came in around 8:30 pm and shared salads of mozarella and cheese and grilled asparagus and artichokes which we washed downed with a 1999 red Piatta (60% cab, 40% merlot). We then shared dishes of homemade pasta with fresh dark truffles from France and wild mushrooms. For dessert we had warm apple pie and chocolate cake with homemade whipped cream and ice cream. Of the ten restauarants I’ve sampled in Zurich over the past year, this is the only one worth coming back to for a second visit.

Das Ristorasnte il Tartufo gehört zu den Besseren aber auch teureren des Stadtkreises 2/​Enge. Es befindet sich an der Lavaterstrasse ganz in der Nähe des Mythenquais und der Rentenanstalt
Im Innern des Restaurants befindet man sich in über 100 Jahre alten Räumen, die sehr dezent renoviert und weiss gestrichen wurden. Das Täfer harmonisiert mit dem dunklen Holzparkett und den weissgedeckten Tischen.
Der Raum ist teilbar, somit gäbe es Platz für einen kleinen Raum à35 Personen. Sonst haben im Restaurant 96 Personen platz. Man kann für Anlässe das Tartufo mieten.
Die Qualität der Küche ist wirklich hervorragend. Davon konnte ich mich schon mehrfach überzeugen. Der Service ist meistens überzeigend. Manchmal dauert es einfach zu lange, bis man bedient wird. Da sollte das Restaurant wohl eine Aushilfskraft für die Businesslunch Zeit einstellen.
Die Fleisch und Fischprodukte werden laut Chef bis zweimal täglich angeliefert und das Gemüse wird persönlich ausgewählt und eingekauft.
Die Wienkarte ist umfangreich, eine gute Flasche kostet aber mindestens 38 Franken.

Bekannt als Feinschmeckeradresse. Wir fanden es besonders teuer dafür nicht besonders gut. Trüffel sind zwar erster Klasse, die Zubereitung aber nicht besonders. Wirt ist auch nicht besonders freundlich wenn man nicht zu den Stammkunden oder den reichen Besuchern gehört. Bedienung dafür ganz nett.