Good dishes but decreasing service quality over time: Restaurant Zunft zum Schlüssel (8. Dezember 2019)
When you enter the Zunft zum Schlüssel you can find kind of two restaurants. The bistro and the actual restaurant. Tonight I had dinner at the bistro which offers a smaller menu. I went for the “soup of the day” which was a “saffron soup with king prawns” (CHF 12.00). The soup is prepared in a nice way as firstly, the plate with one king prawn is placed right in front of you …
… and then the soup is poured in your plate, so you end up with a nice soup with a king prawn in the middle. And it was actually quite tasty overall.
The “Classic Caesar Salad (Caesar’s Salad with bacon, croutons and Grana Padana cheese)” (CHF 23.00) was okay as well. It looked prettier than most Caesar Salads but in any case, it wasn’t an overwhelmingly great salad in terms of taste. Definitely okay though.
For dessert, we decided to share a “Coupe Bacon (caramel-bacon and vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce, roasted bacon and whipped cream)” (CHF 12.00) which is one of the weirder desserts I have tried in my life. The caramel ice cream didn’t taste too much like caramel but had actual chunks of bacon in it – which was a bit weird as you would just chew tiny meat pieces while eating the ice cream. Somehow not really too great a combination but definitely interesting.
The place is generally quite traditional and I think they also use the location for carnival for ‘Schnitzelbänke’ …
… but it is definitely traditional and somehow appealing. The area where the restaurant is, is definitely the prettier area of both though.
All in all, the service quality wasn’t maintained throughout the evening. In the beginning the waitress was super friendly and helpful and also rather swift while in the end it took her way too long to bring the bill or get to us with the card terminal to let us pay. In any case, the Zunft zum Schlüssel is a good recommendation when you are in Basel and feel like eating something. Reservations are recommended – even for a Sunday evening where you would expect it to be slow (the place was almost fully booked out).
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Contact Details:
Restaurant Zunft zum Schlüssel
Freie Strasse 25
4001 Basel (CH)
Tel.: +41 61 261 20 46
Homepage: http://www.schluesselzunft.ch
About the Author: Sven
I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org.
Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City. 
