MARU Japanese Comfort Food - Zürich HB — Restaurant in Zurich

Really wanted to try Maru as it’s a relatively new place in HB. The place is not too small, featuring quite some seats with the distinguished Japanese minimalism you would experience in Japan. Whether for take away or eat in, you can expect both cold and warm options, ranging from the well known Karaage and Udons, to other interesting alternatives. They also offer a wide range of matcha beverages (hot, latte, mango, espresso), and prices are Zurich standard ones. I went there for the matcha shot and was slightly disappointed, as it was more bitter than I thought. After a recent trip to Japan, I can say that I was disappointed. Still, the matcha didn’t leave sediments at the bottom, and was clearly prepared with the right instruments and techniques. Perhaps there was too much water compared to the powder, however I wasn’t expecting the bitterness, which I never experienced in Japan. On a more positive note, my Yuzukosho shake don rice with yuzu mayo and cooked salmon featured pink pickled ginge, mung bean and a flavorful sauce. The service is also very efficient and friendly (although if you go between 11:30 and 13:30 they’re going to be full). So I definitely recommend it for food, and matcha, well, that depends on...

The food is ok. Far from great, but considering it's a "fast" food place in a train station, that's better than many other fancier Japanese restaurants in Zürich. However the matcha latte was a disappointment, especially considering they claim to have the best one in town. The ingredients were surely good but: first, I took it to go, the cup was something like 300ml? and half of it was foam. Paying 7chf for 150/200 ml matcha latte is crazy. Then, it was super watery. I guess they mix the matcha with water and then add milk, but it's not supposed to be so watery, it's supposed to have the fatty texture of milk, otherwise it's a milk tea or something else. The foam, which as said was taking half the space of the cup, was super airy and not at all creamy (like a bad cappuccino/caffelatte foam). Honestly, one of the worst matcha latte I've had. Only good side: they didn't add sugar and being the matcha itself good quality, it wasn't sweetened, but the people making it don't seem to know how it...

I was hungry and arriving at Zürich HB and wanted some hot food. Maru is the highest rating Japanese inside the station and the picture looks nice so I thought why not. I must say, I was disappointed. And it's not easy to disappoint me when I am hungry... Ordered Katsu don with extra Onsen egg. Let's start with the Katsu, the pork was dry and thin and separated from the "skin"(as you can see from the photo). It was crispy but oily. The sauce was too sour and I regretted I didn't ask them not to put the sauce on top of the Katsu. The Onsen egg, it must have been taking an ice bath!! So cold. And it's not really Onsen egg standard. It's what I would call totally undercooked egg. Salad was good. And the rice was under cooked. I know I prefer slightly softer rice, but these ones were cooked with not enough water and not enough time. Inside of the rice is still hard.

Again, I am hard to disappoint when I am hungry but somehow I was.

Won't be going...