KLE — Restaurant in Zurich

I went out of my way to visit KLE on a day trip where we visited Zurich just for this and it was a mistake. I am vegan myself and I go out of my way to support vegan establishments, but KLE did not meet my expectations whatsoever. I cannot fathom how they have 1 Michelin star. I have travelled all over the world and have been to many Michelin restaurants and vegan restaurants without stars as well globally. There are many places that surpass KLE with flying colors, yet they don’t have a star.

I’ll start off by saying that their food is extremely acidic, sweet, and salty. The flavors are way too strong and clash with each other. The amouse of pillow bread, dips, and pickled veggies were way too salty. Even the bread was heavily salted. The tostada broke as soon as I took my first bite and flopped on the table. The only good dish, in my opinion, was the pasta, but even then they added a sweet balsamic sauce on it which I disliked as every “savory” dish was sweet already. The apple and horseradish plate was lovely, but way too acidic and again, sweet. I craved more carbs, less salt, more savory flavors, and less sweetness overall. Out of all the scrumptious desserts you can make, why make one with tofu, orange, and flowers that are too fragrant? It was so acidic that my mouth and my partners were stinging afterwards for an hour.

The service is not good. We waited quite a while to have any menu or water brought over. That’s another thing. They charge for tap water and while they say it’s for donation, they should inform you beforehand which they did not. On top of this, choose a side. You’re deliberately serving beautifully plated dishes that are quite tiny which is more high end, but then they are served in a casual environment on wooden tables with no table linen. It doesn’t click. At the end when we paid, we mentioned that we didn’t feel it was right to pay for the tap water as we weren’t advised of it beforehand which I guess they didn’t really like because we said thank you and goodnight upon exiting and we were met with an annoying stare and no response back.

The food is SEVERELY overpriced. 105 CHF for 5 courses per person for dishes that are the size of your palm is absolutely absurd. I left hungry and dissatisfied. If they want to donate, decrease the profit margin and donate what you make people pay for tap water. While I understand the space has to be paid for and local and seasonal ingredients have to be sourced, you should make killer food that makes the cost worth and actually representative of what is served.

All the food that was supposed to be warm was lukewarm/cold, and with snow pouring down outside, this was not ideal.

I believe that Michelin inspectors know what they’re doing for the most part, but they must think that vegan food can never be exceptional hence the rating for KLE, but I can assure you, I’ve been to many vegan restaurants that surpass this restaurant in every aspect and don’t have a star. I don’t recommend this place. Come to Amsterdam and London for a foodie trip and indulge in epic vegan food that doesn’t require steep pockets. I will be contacting Michelin as well as this does...

Speechless, truly an experience beyond just food.

We weren't sure where to go when we got into town and wanted to go to the sister restaurant Dar, but they were closed (moving to a new location). I am sorry to say that I'm glad that happened so that we could experience KLE.

We came in not knowing what to expect, which made the experience even sweeter! It felt inappropriate to take photos during our courses so I ended up only snapping a picture of dessert.

I don't know where to begin but will say this... Chef Zizi is an artist in every definition of the word.

From the very first dish we knew we were in for a complete treat. Often we got lost in the bites, you just simply have to see and taste for yourself. The presentation was spectacular and no detail is missed.

There's a course with a NYC style hotdog, and my husband fully had a Ratatouille moment where he was transported back to being a child in the city eating them. And same here, we could barely savor anything because everything was so tasty, we wanted to inhale it.

Every single ingredient is unbelievably fresh and cooked to perfection.

I'm usually completely disappointed with non-alcoholic pairings as they are typically awful zero proof disasters... that was the opposite of the case at KLE. While my husband enjoyed the epic wine pairings which he couldn't get enough of. The rose kiefer pairing was MARVELOUS and I asked for more at the end of the courses, haha.

The restaurant has such a nice bathroom, which was another signal to the quality of every single thing there.

If servers in Europe are extremely nice and attentive, you know it's about to be expensive (I mean this in the nicest way possible), it's a measure - hahaha.

I hope to make it back here again one day, anyone who has the pleasure to be near or travel to must not hesitate to eat here as soon as they can.

Pros: Extremely friendly staff, Boundless creativity in each dish, Beautiful...

I've been here before, many years ago and I was kind of unsure if I wanted to return because it has been hype so much ever since (and many restaurants change due to the hype). My first visit was such a lovely experience. Laid back, down to earth, a simple table outside but still, beautiful plates and bowls and top notch plating. One look on the plate and it was undeniable that here was a kitchen wizard at work. And she even came by, visited every table and genuinely asked if we liked the dishes. .. So, yes, still down to earth and still worth a visit.

My favourite dish was the flavour packed taco. I could have ordered a huge basket of it and call it a day, happily munching away on them. My partner in dine ordered bread and spreads over and over again as he loved it so much. I got excited when I read they had an nonalcoholic and indeed, an inspiring choice. Next favourite dish was the oh so crunchy trunip cabbage. It was "torched" but even more crunchy than a raw turnip cabbage. I was baffled how that's possible. And obliviously, it was beautifully cut like an accordion (I tried, you could endeed pull it and squeeze it). I loved the epazote herb in the cucumber drink. An amazing flavour. Next herbal sunshine of the spotless mind was the oh so cherished shiso leaf in the dessert! I adore shiso but I mainly ate it in rather savoury dishes. I loved the surprising combination.

The service was wonderful. I really enjoyed that they knew what they were talking about. One of them even brought the bag of Swiss rice to the table because I was surprised they'd use Swiss Jasmine rice. They've used it to make a drink and I loved it.

I'm happy to see they are still down to earth while...