Schwarzwaldstube v. Bareiss

[ulterior epicure]

...but have not been able to find any recent reviews. Would appreciate input, as I have secured reservations at both.

Thanks eGulleters!

Cheers.

U.E.

[PauloR]

...but have not been able to find any recent reviews.  Would appreciate input, as I have secured reservations at both. 

Thanks eGulleters!

Cheers.

U.E.

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Both restaurants are good. Bareiss Hotel is very nice and all restaurants very good.

Bareiss restaurant is what you can expect of a classic 2** Restaurant. Good wine list and very good service.

Schwazwaldstube is only the best restaurant in Germany, and one of my favorite restaurants in the world. I have been there last time in 2001, and the dinner was fantastic.

Very good wine list, impecable service. Not easy booking there.

I friend wo went there last year, told me it was realy very good.

Edited January 31, 2006 by PauloR (log)

[cmling]

Reservations at BOTH?! You are fortunate. If you did not make the reservations for the same time/meal (which would have been rather naughty), you might want to compare them yourself.

I might as well add that I consider the Schwarzwaldstube one of the very best restaurants I have ever had the pleasure to visit (several times, and it seemed to just get better and better).

[ulterior epicure]

Reservations at BOTH?!  You are fortunate.  If you did not make the reservations for the same time/meal (which would have been rather naughty), you might want to compare them yourself.

I might as well add that I consider the Schwarzwaldstube one of the very best restaurants I have ever had the pleasure to visit (several times, and it seemed to just get better and better).

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Yeah, I've actually had a surprisingly easy time getting in at otherwise impossible places... God is smiling on me... can't explain it... come to think of it, I've not had a single 3 or 2 star deny me a reservation in the past five months....

U.E.

[kerriar]

Any of you Germany experts able to give an update on the Wald und Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe?

Michelin gives them one star and four fourchettes.

We will go there sometime later in the year (it's a prize with no choice - awful things) and I want to get some idea about what to expect - regional food, wines etc. - although I strongly suspect it will be a German interpretation of French cuisine.

[vigna]

From my post of April 28, 2004:

Also near Schwäbisch Hall is the Prince of Hohenlohe estate, which contains the Wald und Schloss Hotel Friedrichsrühe and its Michelin starred restaurant: I spent one night in this elegant hotel, with an elegant room in the Schloss (chateau) at an off season rate of 135 Euros. The hotel has indoor and outdoor swimming pools and nice woodsy grounds for walks. The restaurant is a very formal room with red fabric walls and green upholstered arm chairs. Tasting menus are offered at 108 and 82 Euros, but they did not seem that interesting so I ordered a la carte. Two amuse gueles were brought to the table -- a little medalion of tuna with asparagus in aspic, and a very small piece of turbot on a bed of wild rice and yellow peppers. My first course was a seafood soup (Krustentierkraftbrühe) with sweet/sour cherry tomatoes. This turned out to be close to a Provençal fish soup without the garlic, aoili, etc., but with delicious cherry tomatoes that had been pickled in some way -- a very delicious and interesting dish (12.50 Euros). My second course was Seeteufel (lotte) with an olive crust served with a lemon flan and broad beans and peas (17 Euros). I found this course to be a bit boring despite the excellent ingredients. Third, I had a lamb course, which consisted of lamb cooked in two ways -- a rare piece of loin wrapped in a thick piece of lamb fat, and a well done piece of leg (I think), served with diced red and yellow peppers, white beans, and a pureé of what might have been kohlrabi. Although the components of the dish were of good quality, the dish did not have that much character and was the least interesting of the courses. I ordered three wines, all from the Hohenlohe estate, by the glass. The Riesling was dry, mildly fruity, but not particularly destinctive. A Sylvaner was very dry and astringent, but went well with the Seeteufel dish. A Pinot Noir was quite ordinary (and in fact the waiter had suggested a Bordeaux, but I wanted to see what they could do with red wine here). Service was formal but efficient. This was certainly the least successful of the four restaurants, but one could see flashes of excellence from the kitchen. Of the four restaurants I am writing about, the Friedrichsrühe was the only one where there were smokers and it was quite annoying.

(The other restaurants were Schwarzer Hahn, Deidesheim; Erno's Bistro, Frankfurt; and Wolf's, Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental). Since then, I did get to eat at the Schwarzwaldstube, and had one of my best meals, ever! Definitely at the same level as a number of other three star Michelin restaruants that I've enjoyed in the past two years: Bras, Arzak, L'Arnsbourg, Gordon Ramsey (but perhaps not equal to my very favorites at this level, Le Calandre and Dal Pescatore). I haven't yet been to Bareiss. I found the food at Schwarzwaldstube to be inventive in incorporating a number of German food traditions into the generally French style, making it quite unique. The service was friendly and very attentive, without being uncomfortably intrusive. The wine by the glass suggestions were great, and included not particularly expensive excellent German white wines.

[kerriar]

Thanks vigna for the rapid and useful reply - you have given me a very clear idea about what to expect. I took the opportunity to go back to your original posting and found some useful additional information about eating in this part of Germany. We will eat in the Hotel Friedrichsrühe on just one night and were looking for guidance.

[kerriar]

Some notes on a recent dinner at the Wald und Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe.website

The hotel is what expects brings people to a Relais and Chateaux member – comfortable, discrete and, for some, reassuringly expensive.

Although the staff said that there would be no problem about varying the dinner menu, it seemed ok as it was so we stayed with it. The only pity here was that anybody in the dining room who asked for a variation got a visit from the formidable chef/manager Lothar Eiermann to discuss the options so we missed that.

The house champagne was blanc-de-blanc and came with two amuses – one a tiny spring roll with a game filling and a sauce which seemed to come from a concentrated game stock (hard to be sure with such a tiny morsel). A single de-veined shrimp, beautifully presented, followed.

The first course Sautierte Jakobsmuscheln auf mariniertem Fenchel mit Ingwergelee und Kardamomjus was a pair of slightly seared scallops on a thin slice of marinated fennel with a soft ginger jelly and a cardamom mousse. This may seem like a lot of different flavours but they were both intense and perfectly balanced. The fennel in particular made me want to go into the kitchen to ask "how did you do that?".

Loup de mer im Bouillabaisse-Sud mit zweierlei Tortellini – simple and near-perfect.

Gratin von Bretonischen Hummer mit Hummernudeln was a piece of claw meat from the lobster with a light slightly creamy sauce but the lobster based pasta was incredible – intense and clean. Here I stopped wanting to go into the kitchen as clearly Herr Eiermann was using techniques which went beyond anything I would attempt.

Etouffée-Taube in Salmis-Sauce mit Blumenkohl-Mandelpüree und Bulgur. The pigeon breasts seemed to bet the main reason for requests for change from other diners. Pity – because what we got were like tiny magrets, perfectly cooked, pink and tender. The cauliflower (yes, really) was surrounded by an almond puree and was divine – this I will try.

Crépinette von Brie de Meaux mit Apfel-Variation. A small piece of soft ripe brie in a light, lacy pancake with variously cooked sharp apples – this scarcely does justice to either the presentation ot the balance of tastes.

Erdbeeren unter Limettengelee mit Verveine Tee-Eis – strawberries with Limetten (what the hell was that? I've forgotten) jelly and and a tea flavoured ice-cream

Hausgemachte Petits Fours came with the coffees.

Wines were a 2004 Verrenberger Verrenberg dry riesling from the rather grandly styled Fürst zu Hohenlohe. I drink a lot of German rieslings but this is from an unfamiliar region – it was fine, slightly severe but nothing memorable. Our red was a Saint-Emilion 2001 Château Piney, again not immediately a familiar name. The nose was of ripe fruit balanced by some traces of tart cherries and it drank softly, giving up flavours consistent with the nose but with not a lot in the way of "arrière goût". Nothing exceptional but both wines were "correct". They came with the fixed menu and, should we return, I would look again at the wine list.

This was really an enjoyable evening and the food was inventive and perfectly balanced. Herr Eiermann deserves his one star from Michelin. For most people, the hotel is not really on well trodden routes and, as a destination, involves some travelling. Friedrichsruhe is a pleasant spot and the hotel has a golf course which would rank with what you might expect on the outskirts of any unexceptional Irish country town.

Perhaps one unique selling point – the Australian soccer team used it as their base in the 2006 World Cup and seemed to have enjoyed themselves a lot.

[legourmet]

Erdbeeren unter Limettengelee mit Verveine Tee-Eis – strawberries with Limetten (what the hell was that? I've forgotten) jelly and and a tea flavoured ice-cream

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What you had was "Strawberries with lime jelly and Lemon-verbena-tea flavoured icecream"

[ameiden]

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!