St. Alban Stübli is a small place that has been in business for 2 years and is very popular. It is in a building that is more than 100 years old with bench seating along 2 of the wood walls. The double cloth covered tables were of various sizes and set with medium starched matching napkins. The painted white wood ceiling added to the light in the room as well as windows to the street on one wall. No music is in the background but with the number of people there was a low hum, however conversation was very easy. We were lucky to get a server that spoke good English. At lunch they offered a special meal or menu of 2 or 3 courses, with 2 choices for each course. We chose the 3 course menu but picked different options. The food here is simple but very good and the staff was exceptionally friendly. I would recommend it.
Bread service was slices of a nice moist dark bread that was doughy in the middle with a moderately crisp crust. It was served with a very tasty butter.
An amuse bouche was tomato jelly with a crisp chip. It was very tasty.
The soup was a cauliflower that had bits of cauliflower in the very creamy broth. It had a good depth of flavor.
The salad option was a good sized, well dressed bowl of various greens and fresh vegetables like carrot, radish, cucumber and tomato. They called the dressing French dressing but it was certainly unlike any French dressing I’ve had in the U.S. and way better. It was well seasoned with bits of mustard seeds. It was really good.
The middle course was fish or ostrich steak. We both had the ostrich which was really tender and covered with a great sauce. It was cooked a nice medium to medium rare and very tender. It was a nice sized portion and really tasty. It came with fresh cut French Fries that were cut small and perfectly cooked. They had a nice blistered exterior with a creamy potato inside. Wonderful. On the side were vegetables – yellow beets, orange carrots, squash, cauliflower and tomatoes – that were all exceptionally fresh and cooked perfectly.
For dessert you could have cheese which was 3 kinds of cheese with and pear relish and fruit bread. It was very good.
The other dessert was a cake with chocolate mousse and chestnut foam and topped with a piece of fruit. It was a good combination of textures and pretty sweet.
We finished with coffee that came with a housemade version of the Swiss traditional biscuit Basler Läckerli as well as some packaged version. It has lots of herb in the flavor and an intense flavor. It is traditionally made with honey, hazelnuts, almonds, candied peel and Kirsch and it formed to be a flat baked spiced biscuit.
