Financial advisor to trendy baker.
Intro
How Seri Wada delights the gourmet city of Zurich with his baguettes and croissants.
Zurich.
The cosmopolitan city by the water combines creative urban life with nature in all its glory. Zurich is abuzz with activity day and night with its countless events, diverse museums, own food festival and Switzerland’s most vibrant nightlife. And if you’re after rest and relaxation, you can be in the Swiss mountains in less than an hour.
Hint
Seri Wara unlocks the doors to the shop at Les Halles just before midnight. The venue is located in trendy Zurich West. The shop, where Zurich residents buy pasta or wines by day, is Wada's realm at night.
A modern oven is installed here. Diners can be heard – they're enjoying one last beer. Wada has no time for that: work awaits. His nimble hands are gentle with the dough.
Dough's alive. If I'm nice to it, it says thank you by turning into a good baguette.
Water, yeast, salt, flour.
His mission is to bake the best baguette.
He needs just a few ingredients: water, yeast, salt, flour. Above all, he needs patience. That is why he gives his dough up to 36 hours. This way the loaves have lots moisture, the baguettes stay fresh.
The 45-year-old never had time before. Just three years ago he was a stressed customer advisor. The job didn’t make him happy, he says, as he slides a new tray into the oven. Wada didn't do a baker’s apprenticeship; he’s entirely self-taught. The half-Japanese with a side parting is a perfectionist.
“Through this work I've become part of the city.” Seri Wada
He leaves nothing to chance; he delivers his goods in person:
to cafés, gourmet shops and restaurants across Zurich. Because of this, he meets lots of people and sees the loveliest places. “Through this work I've become part of the city.” Today, Wada is known well beyond the food scene. He holds lectures about his life change. Wada drops off his final delivery at the Tritt Käse shop.
Just after he is leaning against the ViCafé, sipping coffee and looking up at Prime Tower.
Wada and Zurich have lots in common.
While Zurich used to be a financial city, today it is a food mecca. Wada peers into his coffee and says: “Maybe I'll open a café soon where I'll sell my baked goods.” Everything's possible in Zurich, he says.
36 viaduct arches, 1 market hall. The market hall in Zurich West is now a major meeting-point for gourmets. Farmers and grocers offer their wares here.
Im Viadukt.
From udon soup, beef pie to wild oysters: the delicatessens in the market hall have something for almost every taste. The restaurant, also called Markthalle, has authentic cuisine with regional products. The food mecca is the heart of the railway viaduct arches, built in 1894. Studios, galleries and fashion labels have settled in alongside the caterers across 500 metres under 36 arches. Locals come here to stroll and shop, eat and drink.