200 kilos of fish per week. For six years now, Luca Paiano has been head chef at Ristorante Bianchi in Zurich, a joint ven­ture by the Bianchi and Bindella fami­lies. „We recei­ve fresh fish from Bianchi twice a day,“ says the 46-year-old chef, who pre­vious­ly work­ed, among other places, at the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz and the Hotel Palace in Lucerne. Around 150 to 200 kilo­grams of fish, shell­fi­sh and cru­stace­ans are deli­ver­ed each week. Freshness is one of the cor­ner­s­to­nes of the restaurant’s suc­cess, whe­re 40 to 60 guests are sea­ted twice a day. And, sur­pri­sin­gly, the restau­rant is par­ti­cu­lar­ly suc­cessful with Chinese tou­rists – word has spread the­re about the qua­li­ty of the dis­hes. They are very open guests with a gre­at deal of know­ledge of fish cui­sine, says head chef Paiano.

Close to the water. Like seve­ral restau­rants in the Bindella fami­ly company’s port­fo­lio, „Bianchi“ is, in a sen­se, a fri­end­ship pro­ject. „It was bold and visio­na­ry to base an enti­re restau­rant con­cept on fish. Since 2008, the ristor­an­te of our two fami­lies, Bianchi and Bindella, has pro­ven its­elf in the mar­ket – a won­derful suc­cess!“ says Rudi Bindella Jr., who now steers the company’s for­tu­nes. The loca­ti­on was no coin­ci­dence: at the time of the ope­ning, the Bianchis’ for­mer Comestibles shop was still loca­ted on Limmatquai in Zurich, and the view of the Limmat’s slow-moving waters right out­side the door per­fect­ly suits the culina­ry mega-theme.

Open to the world. While Luca Paiano and his long-stan­ding sous-chef Luigi D’Agostino prepa­re the lunch ser­vice in the kit­chen, the expe­ri­en­ced restau­rant mana­ger Joao Jordao takes pho­ne reser­va­tions, over­sees repair work and says that „Bianchi“ cui­sine in Zurich is very well recei­ved. Jordao has work­ed for the Bindellas for 25 years, and has recent­ly taken on the new role of mana­ging direc­tor at „Bianchi“. Among the most popu­lar dis­hes is a com­bi­na­ti­on of crab tar­ta­re, tuna tata­ki, miso soup, fer­men­ted gar­lic and beech mush­rooms. Head chef Paiano explains the sur­pri­sing Asian note with his culina­ry phi­lo­so­phy: „My foun­da­ti­on is Italian cui­sine, but we are open to the world,“ he says with an easy matter-of-factness.

Lobster, von­go­le, Dover sole. This style also suits the half lob­ster, ser­ved on a salad with toma­toes and cele­ry and a dres­sing with Pommery mustard. The spa­ghet­ti von­go­le, for which Luca Paiano pre­pa­res a fish and shell­fi­sh stock espe­ci­al­ly, are almost clas­si­cal­ly Italian. „We work a lot with fish and lob­ster stocks – they are the foun­da­ti­on of many dis­hes,“ says the chef. „Fish cui­sine is deman­ding,“ Luca Paiano adds, which is why many chefs pre­fer to avo­id it. „The pro­ducts are expen­si­ve,“ and hit­ting the right degree of donen­ess requi­res a deli­ca­te touch, he explains.

The hig­hest level of enjoy­ment. With the who­le Dover sole pre­pared on the cont­act grill (plan­cha), the degree of donen­ess is spot on. This is evi­dent not least in the way the fil­lets slide off the bone with only mini­mal pres­su­re when car­ving. With con­cise, con­fi­dent move­ments, Joao Jordao sepa­ra­tes the fle­sh from the ske­le­ton and places it on a lar­ge pla­te. It is ser­ved sim­ply with pota­toes and spin­ach: fresh sea­food cui­sine redu­ced to the hig­hest level of enjoy­ment. This is ano­ther decisi­ve fac­tor in the suc­cess of this char­ming ristorante.

» Ristorante Bianchi
Limmatquai 82
8001 Zurich
www.bindella.ch/gastronomie/bianchi