ameiden
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Posts posted by ameiden
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Go to Tristan (see my recent report in the Mallorca thread), this place has vastly improved over the last few years and seems to be keen to get the third Michelin star. A real treat in my view.
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Yes, do go to Grand Vefour if you have the chance to. This is one of the most traditional, most authentic dining rooms in town. The set lunch is a steal, same as the one at Taillevent for the same price. It was three courses the last time I went and the dishes were more simply prepared than the more elaborate a la carte choices. I second the advice to go to Ledoyen. This in my view would be an even better lunch although also significantly more expensive.
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Thanks for the report; your photos add so much to the review. I assume from your avatar that you are a devotée of one of my favorite restaurants in Vienne.
You are absolutely right, Laidback. If I had a time machine, I would travel back 60 years and go for dinner at La Pyramide ...
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Had a wonderful meal at Tristan not so long ago. The location is as breathtaking as ever - right on the marina of Puerto Portals opposite many expensive yachts ...
The seating is very comfortable, the breeze from the sea a blessing. Lots of people are walking past during dinner time which leads to a permanent "see and be seen" atmosphere.
We went for the Gourmet Tapas menu, consisting of lots of different tasting courses -
Crema Catalana of cauliflower with broccoli and Matjes
Cold soup of melon with tomatoes and Caldereta mousse
Spring roll with lobster and Okra
Ravioli with window, stuffed with chanterelles in jelly, carpaccio of atlantic lobster and Inoki nage
Espuma of buffalo mozarella with oregano sauce, duck liver and salami
Home made noodles with parsley-chilli-pesto and summer truffle
Emince of angler fish with liquid potatoe salad, chive-Argan-oil vinaigrette and Gazpaco pearls
Fresh Majorcan anchovies with two different caviars and Lagrima of fried potato
Cote de boeuf grilled with ravioli of Merguez, leek, onions and Barbecue sauce
Cornetto stuffed with Camembert, blue cheese and chocolate bread
Creme brulee of Crue de cacao with ice cream of plum core oil
Overall, this whole menu showed that Gerhard Schwaiger is after the third Michelin star. Every dish was perfectly presented and incredibly tasty without being over the top. I have eaten here ten years ago, and what an improvement he has made! The service consists predominantly of young German ladies who are mostly fluent in both English and Spanish, too. (Only the sommelier is a Spaniard. Thanks to his advice I had a wonderful 1999 Chardonnay from Chivite, Navarra.)
At the end, we got some tasty and nicely arranged petit fours
and when we ordered a coffee, a trolley arrived full of jars with coffee beans!
Although this was pretty gimmicky, it is great to be able to smell different coffee varieties and have such a great choice.
All in all, I can highly recommend a visit to Tristan these days. We also went to the Valldemossa Hotel and Koldo Royo (both were quite good), but Tristan is in a different league alltogether.
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The Black Forest - what a wonderful place to have a restaurant in!
Not just any restaurant ... Germany's highest rated three-star restaurant ... the Schwarzwaldstube!
My lunch started with a sublime variation of sturgeon, this is the standard that (free) appetizers always have here!
On to the starter, a delicious crab salad with green asparagus and a lime marinade. Perfect on a hot summer day!
Then I tried a soup as an in-between course. This is a veloute of lightly smoked sturgeon with a langoustine flan and poached fine de claire oysters, topped with some caviar. The sea has never tasted that good!
For my main course, I went for a potato tourte, filled with sweetbread, duck liver and braised veal cheeks, finished with chanterelles and truffle jus. A highly aromatic dish creating a perfect harmony of all ingredients.
The cheese selection has always been good at the Schwarzwaldstube. I went for a variation on the theme of French hard cheeses.
And the dessert was the best I have ever had here! Strawberries provencale style, with a basil parfait and a soup of Cavaillon melon. Rosemary, lavender, basil, melon, ice creams, parfaits, compots ... This was a great summer opera.
After so many perfect dishes, chef Harald Wohlfahrt made his round through the restaurant. He was surprisingly calm, especially since one of Germany's most famous food critics was in the restaurant, apparently well impressed like all the other diners.
For me, this was another proof of the fact that this is the best restaurant in Germany by far and one of the very best in Europe. I got up, not without having some of these first ...
... and went for some fresh air and a good walk in the forest just outside the restaurant!
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It was a lovely summer day on the banks of the river Ill.
If this looks familiar to you, be aware - the house of Haeberlin has changed. After passing through a new reception area, one enters an environment that reminded me more of a seventies spaceship than of a rural village in Alsace.
The Haeberlins have totally redecorated their Auberge, with the help of the same interior designer that helped Alain Ducasse at the Plaza Athenee (so I was told). So the contrast couldn't have been greater when I ordered some of the a la carte classics - starting with the Salmon souffle in a wonderful Riesling sauce.
This is still a great timeless dish worth three Michelin stars. And if you are greedy enough like me, you have it as a starter! Went down well with a 2001 Riesling Frederic Emile from Trimbach.
My main dish was another Haeberlin classic, the famous Lobster Prince Vladimir.
It still passed the test of time, the lobster and spinach were wonderfully tender, only the sauce seemed a little rich these days. Some gnocchi were served by the side.
To finish my lunch off, I had the Peach Haeberlin, poached and served with pistachio ice cream and champagne sabayon. As good as ever!
All in all, yet another delightful experience in Illhaeusern despite the new decor taking away much of the old atmosphere. To see Jean-Pierre Haeberlin (whom I associate so much with the tradition of this place) walking around on this funky new carpet, between the groovy plastic designer chairs, seemed a bit strange to me. But I suppose this the flow of time ... Marc's more modern dishes have taken over most of the menu and needed a new design to go with them. Although there was still a fair amount of Foie gras terrine being served, most diners seemed to have chosen the more modern options. Well, after I had a nostalgic trip this time with some of Paul's dishes, next time I will try some of Marc's!
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May I strongly suggest Bocuse, Collonges au Mont d'Or. There you will still find the classic grande cuisine of way back when, something that seems to lack a bit at the hyper avantgarde Troisgros these days. (Last time I went Michel had even taken the sorrel salmon off the menu!)
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I suggest "Le Gavroche", one place where I have never been disappointed. Great classic French dishes, elegant clubby atmosphere, one of the best (if not the best) front of house crews in the country, tremendous wine list.
If you fancy something more adventurous, more modern in style, try lots of little dishes at "Maze".
"The Square" has always been good but is let down by a lack of atmosphere in my opinion. It feels a little bit unpersonal, a little bit sterile for my likings.
Should you want to go for a very good Indian, try either Tamarind or Benares.
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And now finally, there is the place I am sure you have all been waiting for - the Auberge de l'Ill in Nagoya, Japan.
Being located in a scyscraper, it is probably not quite as picturesque as the original. But who cares if foie gras, salmon and grenouilles taste just as good?
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I suggest you try Roussillon, before working your way up to The Square, Capital, Pied a Terre and Petrus.
With Le Gavroche being my favourite restaurant in Britain, I always found a comparison to the Waterside Inn highly interesting. The kitchen style of the two Roux cousins appears quite similar to me.
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To me, this is some kind of Walmart on a higher scale. It feels very much like an American department store, a little bit sterile that is. There is massive choice, but is bigger always better? I kept thinking how much nicer, say, Fortnum & Mason is. AA Gill is right in his report that most of this extravagance is about wastefulness. The amount of food that goes to waste from those incredible displays of fish, meat, cheese and salads (let alone the hot food buffets) must be incredible.
True, not everything is organic, but they certainly draw in the public with the idea that everything would be. Looking closely at the prices, it is not as bad as some of the press has reported.
The wine department contains undoubtedly one of the best selections of Californian wine in London. But the really serious bottles are still to be found elsewhere. If AA Gill wrote a sceptical report, then Michael Winner praised this new foodie store in the same issue of the Sunday Times. No wonder, Whole Foods seems to be targeted at posh Holland Park housewives and the likes of Michael Winner.
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Last week I went to a tiny little shop that specialises in forgotten British foods, A. Gold in Brushfield Street, just opposite Spitalfields market.
Great selection of all that hard to get stuff of yesteryear, mostly in jars and tins and packets, but there is a fresh range, too. Pretty much the opposite of what is going on in that massive new foodie market in Kensington High Street.
A preview can be found on www.agold.co.uk
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I have been to the Gavroche about a month ago and would certainly never go there without a jacket. In fact, I would feel uncomfortable not wearing a tie!
This is regardless of what the dresscode may be or what Silvano may allow diners. I would simply feel out of place wearing "just a shirt" in this clubby basement between all these distinguished gentlemen and beautiful ladies in little black dresses.
So dress for the occasion, you are in for a treat. I tremendously enjoyed my last visit. Lobster Mousse with Caviar and champagne butter sauce, Scottish beef fillet with foie gras and truffled macaroni gratin, Chocolate and praliné indulgence all confirmed: This is as good as fine dining gets in this country. The silver service was perfect as always, and the wine selection outstanding.
By the way - the air conditioning was very effective that night, it is highly unlikely that you will overheat in a suit.
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Thanks for this great report. I have been to the Auberge three or four times so far and have my next table booked in July. On my last visit I also had the terrine and the mousseline, followed by another classic, the peach Haeberlin - all of which I enjoyed tremendously. To be honest, I am far more tempted by the classics on the menu than by Marc's new creations. Wonderful that places like this still exist and survive!
Yes, it can be very busy, but I felt we were well looked after by Paul's daughter. The waiters are very efficient and Serge Dubs, the sommelier, has to divide his skills between dozens of tables. We also saw Jean-Pierre, bless him, and when we said to him how good he looked he told us that he survived a stroke just a few years ago. Long live the Haeberlins.
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Generally I think you can say that a three star restaurant is not imaginable without a very good sommelier. But this does by no way mean that in places with a lesser Michelin rating there could not be sommeliers with the same or even higher skills.
The best example is Philippe Faure-Brac who is "Meilleur Sommelier du Monde" but works in the relatively modest surroundings of his own "Bistrot du Sommelier". Also think of David Ridgway of "La Tour d'Argent", certainly one of the very best sommeliers worldwide, but only one Michelin star.
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Went to Santceloni a few days ago and will certainly not return.
There are a lot of waiters working there but the service gives a routine performance without any empathy for the customer. They work in quite a hectic way and we felt rushed. Our main courses arrived about three minutes after we had finished our starters. Not very pleasant!
The signature dish, braised lamb shoulder, is a huge portion of meat in not enough sauce and served with nothing but caramelised shallots that were still raw on the inside. No vegetables, no mash or anything else.
Prices are high and although the food is well prepared in general, it does not meet the expectations of a two star restaurant. No wow factors throughout the evening, instead we got some rather bland green bean pudding as an amuse bouche.
Although the setting is spacious and elegant, it has a few hideous features like copper pans hanging in the middle of the restaurant as decorative elements. Better save your money or go to a more traditional place for Cocido, for example to Taberna de la Daniela which we found much more enjoyable.
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According to the British press, the London three-star chef Gordon Ramsay will open a restaurant in Paris later this year, in addition to his already 10 restaurants in the UK, as well as in New York, Tokyo and Dubai.
I believe it is the first time that a British three-star chef (admittedly one who has Joel Robuchon and Guy Savoy amoung his mentors) goes out to challenge the best restaurants of Paris. Does anybody know more about what is coming up and where the restaurant will be?
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Tarte Tatin,
Thank you so much for this wonderful write-up and the beautiful pictures!!!!
They bring back my own memories of this place which I visited only once 15 years ago with a friend who a few years later sadly passed away. When we arrived upstairs and got out of the elevator, the waiters were also lined up, Claude Terrail appeared, greeted us by name and took a bow almost to the floor! I would probably be crying if I went in there again today ...
Glad to see the quenelles still look exactly the same, glad to see the glass ducks are still on the table, glad to see the silver is still shining. I wouldn't dare drinking a Condrieu that old but I suppose it would go quite nicely with the nostalgic atmosphere in this old fashioned place.
The treatment you got from the sommelier reminds me of the one we got at the time. We went for quite a pricey red burgundy to go with our duck and the sommelier steered us to a different vintage of the same wine ("plus souple, plus fruité", etc.) We followed his advice, enjoyed the wine and found out later that this other vintage was about 50% more expensive than the one we had chosen initially.
Also funny thinking about a "bargain" lunch menu of 70 Euros if you then have to pay another 50 Euros for two aperitifs. But let's not talk about money, this should not be an issue in a place as memorable as this. I still have an unopened bottle of Tour d'Argent Armagnac which I bought as a souvenir at the time, I own all of Claude Terrail's books and a shiny menu. The old times may be lost but it really is time I go back here ...
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Has anyone been here since Michelin awarded the second star? What is the experience like these days?
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I even observed an entire table of four gentlemen once (in the local slang one would say "lads"), all in Jeans and trainers, with their shirts untucked, no jackets whatsoever. This seemed to be entirely acceptable at the Fat Duck which after all used to be a village pub not too long ago. A few yards round the corner in the other three star place they most likely would have gone into trouble for this kind of appearance!
Regarding cocktails, as part of the wine menu going with the tasting menu, there used to be a Bucks Fizz, out of all things.
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Strange. If you type in Stuttgart and tick the box with the Michelin star, you get them all (and then some in the near area).
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I feel badly all my compendium activity has driven your thread way down, so hopefully this will resurrect it and generate some responses. A quick look at the Michelin site reveals 3 one star places an one smiley face Bibendum which is good news indeed. They are:
Zirbelstube 4 knives/forks one star, mentioned by ameiden
Olivo 3 knife/forks one star
Délice 2 knife/forks one star
Wörtz zur Weinsteige 2 knife/forks and a smiley face Bibendum
This list is not quite complete. The restaurants
Top Air (inside Stuttgart Airport)
Zum Hirschen (in Fellbach)
Breitenbach
Wielandshöhe (the above mentioned chef Klink)
all have a single Michelin star, too.
The above mentioned Speisemeisterei has of course two Michelin stars.
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If you are staying central, try the Zirbelstube in the Hotel am Schlossgarten. Very nice wood panelled room, cuisine with mediterranean influences and strong on fish. Is a candidate for a second Michelin star. Outstanding (female) sommelier with a depth of knowledge and always exactly the best matching wine by the glass.
If you have time for a little excursion, try the Speisemeisterei in Stuttgart-Hohenheim (in an annex to the Schloss). This is one of the Top 10 restaurants in Germany and it shows. A real treat, unfortunately quite far away from downtown, but fairly close to the airport.
Vincent Klink is certainly not bad but the two above mentioned addresses beat his Wielandshoehe in my opinion.
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(even though they've both been demoted to "lowly" two-stars this year)
BackwardsHat,
just for the record - Grand Véfour has managed to maintain its three stars this year despite all rumours. In the case of Taillevent of course, the rumours were true. It is now the best two star restaurant of Paris :-)
Hell's Kitchen 2008
in Food Media & Arts
Posted · Edited by ameiden (log)
In a recent interview MPW said he only accepted the offer to do Hell's Kitchen if the program would focus more on food than it has done in the past. Yesterday, other than his analysis of the miscooked eggs there was not much else about food in 90 minutes. Hopefully, we will actually see some of his classics being prepared from start to finish in the future.