We admit; we stopped updating the blog for our restaurant and food reviews because we find that updating in Facebook easier and faster. Now that Facebook has failed us (see post before this), we’re glad we updated this website recently and there are a few posts that are up-to-date. We’ll also start posting about the restaurants we try here.
We’ll start with a newly-opened restaurant which only has three mains in their menu. Pretty easy to write about eh? So hello to SWISS BUTTER, your newest friendly neighborhood steakhouse in Riyadh. What’s with the name and why are there only three mains in the menu? The concept of Swiss Butter is probably inspired by thre L’Entrecote restaurants in France. They also only serve a main dish of steak with their famous sauce. In the case of Swiss Butter, they only serve proteins: beef filet, salmon, and chicken lathered in their signature sauce.
Their secret Swiss Butter sauce is the one emphasized here. It’s the secret to their success having started in Beirut, Lebanon and has since branched out to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and now here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Swiss Butter sauce is made up of butter and 33 herbs and spices. It’s such a well-kept secret that we’re interested to know what’s the taste of this sauce that launched a few Swiss Butter branches.
Their location in Riyadh is in the new swanky Century Corner along King Fahd Road. Quite a nice, known area but also a bit quiet since it has been quite a while since there was anything exciting in that area. The restaurant stands out with its green lighting and brown, modern interiors. They have the usual drop lights and an outdoor dining option which will be good this coming winter.
Service was attentive as we were immediately seated. There’s no menu handed to us; we were made to look at the menu on their wall. For those who can’t see clearly (like me), that is a problem, haha. Thankfully, their menu was short. We ordered their mains (one of each beef filet, chicken breast, and salmon) which already include mesclun salad, white or brown baguette (we chose white), chili flakes, and fries or baked potato. They came in a wooden tray and the meats were in a pan. For SR 88 each, we think these are proportioned nicely. However, to get the best bang for your buck, it’s better to order the Beef Filet because well, how much is a piece of one chicken breast and a slice of salmon right? Well, you can order half and half though.
Of course, we tasted the sauce first (or maybe we did try the fries first). It’s surprising at first; like we couldn’t pinpoint what it tasted exactly. We definitely tasted the butter and a bit of sourness, and maybe some mustard? Plus a lot of various herbs and spices here and there. After eating it with the meat, we were enlightened: they went well together! It gave the meats a fuller, more well-rounded flavor and everything tasted better. Everything made sense! Haha.
The salad was simple; it served as a fresh break from the meat and sauce. We like the length and size of the fries as they were just right; not too thick to be cloying. I love the Baked Potato, not on its own because that’s bland, but with the sauce. I think I enjoyed pairing the baked potato with the sauce more than the meats. The Beef Filet though was tender and juicy. It looked small in servings but it was cooked right, medium as we requested. The Salmon and Chicken Breast were average.
For dessert, we wanted their Molten Chocolate but they were just starting to bake them and it might take some time so we went for the Pain Perdu, the French’s version of French Toast. This staple food in France literally translates to “lost bread” which describes the stale bread used in making this so it doesn’t get lost. Swiss Butter’s Pain Perdu is topped with soft cream and caramel; the latter tasted commercial. The bread was super soft and moist in the middle but I liked its edges better because it was a bit firm. All in all, a good dessert with ice cream on top.
Overall, eating at Swiss Butter was a nice experience. However, we won’t probably be back again and again because one of the disadvantages of having limited menu items is that once you’ve tried it, you won’t probably be eating it again any time soon. After all, Riyadh has a lot of restaurants that are opening. And knowing us, we want to try them all!
WHAT WE ORDERED:
- Beef Filet, SR 88 – 4 stars
- Salmon, SR 88 – 3 stars
- Chicken Breast, SR 88 – 3 stars
- Pain Perdu, SR 45 – 3.5 stars
- Spanish Grape Juice Carafe, SR 40 (on the house) – 2.5 stars
- Restaurant: SWISS BUTTER
- Operating Hours: 12:00 PM – 12:00 AM
- Menu: https://www.facebook.com/butterswiss/menu
- Website: swissbutter.com
- Socials: https://www.facebook.com/butterswiss/ AND instagram.com/swissbutter/
