21. February 2010: Restaurant Il Gallo
The restaurant Il Gallo is located under the Hardbrücke in Zürich, Switzerland, and probably easily reachable by public transportation. Finding a parking lot in the evening can be a bit difficult though.
The restaurant doesn’t really fit in the overall environment as it looks much better than most of it around. Especially when you enter the place, it’s welcoming you warmly and with its wooden interior design you’re immediately feeling cozy. It looks like a classical Italian place (with white tablecloth, salt, pepper, oil, acceto balsamico on the table, etc.).
The waiters guide you to an assigned table and as soon as they brought you the menu, you’re being asked for your drinks’ order. The drinks are brought quickly and you get enough time to select from the menu. While waiting, you’re being served bread which is quite tasty.
As a starter we had a tomato soup which was good – especially because it still had real tomato pieces in the soup and wasn’t only a liquid red something as usually. (It doesn’t look to good on the picture, but I only had my cellphone with me, so sorry about that).
As a main course I had a plate of “Gnocchi con gorgonzola e salame” which were on the one hand quite good as the combination of the gnocchi with salami and gorgonzola was tasty but on the other hand were a bit boring as you didn’t taste too much of the gorgonzola and the sauce itself was a bit too liquid.
A good point though was the freshly made parmeggiano cheese offered by the restaurant (you get a rasp and the piece of cheese and “help yourself”).
The price for the whole dinner including wine (3 dl) and mineral water (2 bottles) was okay (for Switzerland) but can probably be considered a bit expensive for what you actually get (although good and the waiters are very friendly and helpful, I’d still say the prices are a bit too high).
All in all, the Il Gallo is good place to go to if you want to have a nice meal (maybe before going to the movies, the “abaton” cinema is located within 200 meters). It’s recommendable not to spend too much on wine as this is the part which makes it expensive.
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Contact Details:
Restaurant Il Gallo
beim Escher-Wyss-Platz
Hardstrase 324
8005 Zürich (CH)
Tel.: +41 44 271 02 40
Fax: +41 44 440 45 19
Homepage: http://www.ilgallo.ch
E-Mail: email@ilgallo.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. 
