Brasserie Les Trois Rois

Brasserie Trois Rois is one of the restaurants located in the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel Switzerland. At the time of my visit it held no Michelin stars but it had been awarded a Gault Millau score of 15/20, a score held by many 1-star restaurants. They had recently changed chefs, so there is speculation that a star may be in their future.

The restaurant’s cuisine and atmosphere was generally that of a high end hotel eatery. I was seated facing the window, which gave a nice view overlooking the Rhine. Service was polished but not stuffy, clearly accustomed to the well-heeled clientele of the hotel but no less welcoming to non-guests like me just looking for a good meal. The restaurant offers a tasting menu but I opted to order a la carte.

The food

My meal began with bread and butter (not pictured directly but present in the peripheries of the pictures below). While definitely less remarkable than most of the breads I had on this trip, it was still enjoyable and above replacement level bread found in, say, typical American steakhouses. I also had a bespoke non-alcoholic mocktail made by the bartender, a sort of lemonade with basil and lemongrass, that was very refreshing.

I started my meal with a salad. It was a basic affair, mixed greens cherry tomatoes, radish, cucumber, and a balsamic vinaigrette. Even so it was executed well. Salads, particularly in the United States, frequently suffer from being afterthoughts thrown together with low-quality ingredients. It’s no wonder that command little respect in the eyes of the average American when our typical salad is a flavorless, fibrous affair that’s palatable only after a thorough drowning in a dressing of oil and salt. But decent quality vegetables, nuts and croutons in appropriate ratios, and a proper aged balsamic can make for a plenty satisfying appetizer and that’s exactly what I had here.

For my main, I decided to try a classic Swiss dish: Emince de veau Zurichois, also known by its local name Zuri-Gschnatzlets. It’s a dish of sliced veal cooked in a mushroom cream sauce and often served with rosti, a pan-fried potato pancake. This was a delicious meat-and-potatoes dish, with the sauce carrying a bit of acidity to cut the richness. The potatoes tasted as though they’d been fried in the juices of some meat, possibly the veal they were served with.

For dessert, I made a couple of selections from their dessert trolley. My first dessert was a St. Honore cake, a light shortcrust pastry filled with two types of cream and decorated on the outside with choux pastries covered in caramelized sugar. My other dessert was an ile flottante, a “floating island” meringue in a creme anglaise custard sauce. Clearly I was set on getting my fill of cream in this meal. Coronary health aside, the desserts were actually quite light, which was welcomed after having a heavy main.

Final thoughts

Brasserie Trois Rois gave me a very nice meal. While I’m not sure that I’d put it at the same level as 1-star restaurants I’ve been to, I still found it thoroughly satisfying. For those in Basel looking for a nice meal with a more old-school bent this is a solid option.