Christopher Eckstein
Friend, Restaurateur, and Bonvivant
The search for the beautiful things in life has connected us for more than two decades. San Francisco, London, Malaysia and the island of Bali – we have travelled to a few places together in our time. Always on the quest to see new destinations, hotels, restaurants and especially discovering and eating food.
Chris is the co-owner of two of Zurich’s most popular places in the old town, the Cranberry Bar and the Rathaus Café at the river Limmat. My friends know, the Cranberry bar is my favourite bar and for over 20 years a place I feel like home. The team is friendly and the cocktails excellent.
In March 2002 together with partners, Chris opened the Osoba one of the first restaurants in Zurich to serve fusion kitchen, inspired by the trend coming from countries around the Pacific Rim. That was one of the reasons we travelled for inspiration to San Francisco in 2001 to visit restaurants like The Slanted Door, The Betelnut and others. I did the graphic design for the restaurant, creating the logo, website and menu cards. It was an excellent and stylish restaurant; unfortunately, it closed again after a couple of years. In my opinion, Zurich was not yet ready for that kind of food at that time.
Over the years I had the privilege to create most of the logos and print designs for Chris's projects. And sometimes I even overhauled my creations when a fresh appearance was requested.
His next gastronomic project – amongst others – was and still is the small neighbourhood restaurant Bottega Berta serving delicious pasta dishes and other Mediterranean inspired cuisines. It’s this restaurant; I had my first challenge as a guest chef cooking together with Denise Weibel a private dinner for guests. Thanks to the professional knowledge and the support of Chris and the generosity of having the chance to prove ourselves at the Bottega Berta it turned out to be a wonderful evening.
More of Christopher's creativity
Chris invites to the Mediterranean–Mexican inspired dinner.
