Hotel Restaurant Hirschen (Sulzburg, Germany)

Hauptstrasse 69
D-79295 Sulzburg
Germany
+49 (0) 7634 8208

http://www.douce-steiner.de/index.php?de_home-2

Steak with Oxtail Chocolate

Our Europe Correspondent's report on Hotel Restaurant Hirschen completely failed to prepare me for the experience. To be fair, as well written as it was, I'm not sure any words could have readied me for a dinner that has a strong chance of being the best restaurant meal we'll eat at this year.

Restaurant Hirschen is modestly appointed. We went after a long day of traipsing about the Black Forest and our boots were a bit muddy, our hair a bit wild, and some of our pants a bit... corduroy. The pleasant staff didn't bat an eye at our condition and made us feel at home in the comfortable, pale yellow dining room, whose painted wooden walls evoked the feel of an old country house.

Each table in the small restaurant is used for only one group of guests per evening. There is a new, tapered white candle on each one, lit as you are seated, and there's no hurry at all to finish at any particular time, even when the candle burns low. The food and service reminded us a bit of experiences in California's Napa Valley, interestingly: Both food and service are unpretentious and there is a focus on using very high quality ingredients, prepared in a manner that highlights their extreme freshness. Flavors are similarly clean, here, though not necessarily as simple and straightforward as Californian cuisine tends to be.

Justin and I ordered the five-course tasting menu, a condensed version of the seven-course "Menu Douce" (named after chef de cuisine and co-owner Douce Steiner, a very charming woman who seems to greet all her guests in the dining room). The Europe Correspondent (a.k.a. Stefan) and the Un-Swiss Miss (a.k.a. Charlotte) ordered the intimidatingly long black truffle tasting menu. To judge by the groans of ecstasy we heard throughout dinner, they seemed to enjoy it.

Fist Amuse Bouche

The kitchen sent out two amuse bouche while we waited. The first of these was I believe a fried, breaded clam with a slight hint of "curry powder" (garam masala heavy on the cumin). There were vegetal notes that included beet and possibly sweet peppers and cucumber. I'm not usually a fan of "curry powder" in non-Asian dishes because preparations tend towards being acrid, but this was such a slight touch that it actually worked fairly well with the other sweet, savory, herbal and crispy components in that bite.

Second Amuse Bouche

The second amuse bouche included salmon three ways, each sitting in a thick sauce of what tasted like creme fraiche with cucumber. On the left was a nori-wrapped, tempura-coated maki filled with a salmon salad like substance. The piece at the center was unadorned, thickly sliced, cured salmon with a bit of dill and parsley. The piece at the right was another thick slice of lox filled with soft, mild cheese. It was an adventurous presentation for a German / French restaurant and honestly not entirely to my taste -- but I give the restaurant major props for thinking outside their usual parameters.

Assortment of Foie Gras

Unfortunately, the delicious-sounding listed first course of Rosa gebratene Taubenbrust und Gänseleberröllchen mit Granatapfel, drei Pfeffer (pink roasted pigeon breast and with garnet apple, three peppers) was not available. However, much to our delight, the kitchen replaced it with the Unsere Gänselebervariation mit Sauternesgelée und hausgebackener Brioche, an assortment of foie gras preparations with Sauternes gelee and house-baked brioche that completely floored us. From 12 o'clock, the assortment included: the "regular" (unadorned) foie gras; foie gras with black truffle and celery root; foie gras with pear; foie gras with artichoke; foie gras with orange; and foie gras with balsamic and pear sorbet. The piece in the center was prepared like a truffle, coated with cocoa. The diamond-shaped little yellow jellies between foie gras variations were pieces of Sauternes-spiked aspic. Each one of these flavor combinations was surprisingly apt, though none was as perfect as the cocoa-covered foie gras presentation. It was a helluva lot of foie gras and I don't think I would've been able to power through the entire meal if I hadn't had help with this plate. Probably not many human beings can eat that much foie gras and live to tell the tale.

Poached Cod with Celery Foam

The next course, Skreikabeljau pochiert, mit einer Sellerieremoulade, Sellerieschaum und Kresse (poached cod with a celery remoulade, celery foam and watercress), appeared to be a roulade of cod filled with more cod mixed with chopped herbs -- parsley, I think, or possibly celery leaves. The fish was fresh and good on its own. But the celery foam -- I think made of mild celery root since it had none of sharp astringency of celery -- brought a simultaneous depth of flavor and lightness to the dish that was absolutely artful. This is not your grandmother's poached cod. Nor is this your usual molecular gastronome's frou-frou, insubstantial foam.

Beef fillet with Oxtail Chocolate

Our final savory course was the US –Rinderfilet und Ochsenschwanzpraline mit Schalottensauce, Spinatpüree (U.S. beef fillet with "oxtail chocolate", shallot sauce and pureed spinach). I was fairly flabbergasted that a region with such incredibly high-quality, well-produced meat would choose to import American beef of any sort. But this was quite good. The most delicious component was the wonderful oxtail terrine-like concoction, rolled into a ball, spiked with cocoa, and perched on top of the steak. The cocoa notes are so subtle, you hardly notice them, but they add an extra dimension of richness that really fills out the flavor. This savory confection contrasted with the tender, refreshing  lightness of sliced green beans, a thick and oddly decadent spinach puree, tender beef (notably fresh despite having been imported from the U.S.) and an incredibly intensely flavored sauce, which tasted like barely diluted bouillon. My dish's only flaw was that the beef was overcooked by my standards (medium rather than medium rare or rare); Justin's came rare without him having to ask for it that way.

Friandises were varied and incredible. The cakes and pastries plate included everything from miniature apple and cherry tarts to multilayered cakes flavored with various fruits and tiny wedges of cheesecake. The truffle plate included mint, dark chocolate, lemon and praline truffles, each more delicious than the last -- literally.

Bouton D'Or Cheese Cart

Next, we were faced with a daunting Rohmilchkäse vom Wagen, Affineur Bouton d ́Or (cheese cart from the Bouton d'Or affineur), which included a selection of about 25 cheeses, served with a slice of fig pressed cake, grapes and bread. I actually have very little idea of what cheeses we picked, since Justin and I just pointed at whatever we thought looked interesting. I really enjoyed a very young chevre presented as a tall, truncated cone on a stick and what I think was a Pave Sauvage, though I think these were insufficiently stinky for Charlotte and Stefan's tastes.

Tangerine Dessert

And finally, as if we weren't stuffed enough and feeling piggy enough to be served for dinner, ourselves, we had the Ein erfrischendes Dessert von der Mandarine (a "refreshing tangerine dessert"). This confection was actually quite true to its name. The combination of what I think was mandarin orange pudding with mandarin orange sorbet and mandarin orange sauce, served with a small pastry that smelled like a buttery, orange-infused madeleine, was not entirely light. But the slight bitterness of orange peel and the acid really were very refreshing after the heavy cheese.

I won't comment on Charlotte and Stefan's black truffle tasting menu, since I didn't taste any of the dishes in their entirety, but I'll include the food porn for your viewing pleasure.

1) Knusprige Gänseleberkugel mit Topinambur, schwarzen Pfeffer Perigordtrüffeln (crisp foie gras ball with sunchoke, black pepper and Perigord truffles)

2) Carpaccio von Jakobsmuschel und Trüffel, Limonenolivenöl (scallop and truffle carpaccio dressed with lemon and olive oil)

3) Gegrillter St. Pierre in einem Zwiebelfond mit Kalbskopf und schwarzen Perigordtrüffeln (grilled St. Pierre fish in onion sauce with an Alsatian calf head terrine and black Perigord truffles)

4) Winterliches Wurzelgemüse in einer Trüffelbouillon, Maronencreme (Winter root vegetables in truffle bouillon with chestnut cream)

5) Hausgemachte Trüffelwurst und Ibericopluma mit Trüffelsauce und Spitzkraut (home-made truffle sausage and Iberico pork shoulder loin with truffle sauce and "spitzkraut", a type of smaller, tender cabbage)

6) Vacherin Mont D `Or mit Kartoffelschaum und Trüffel (Vacherin cheese from the Mont D'Or affineur with potato foam and truffle)

7) Valrhona Zartbitterschokolade Auf einer Vanilleessenz, schwarze Perigordtrüffeln (bittersweet Valrhona chocolate with vanilla essence and black Perigord truffles)

8) Friandises -- Oops, I just realized that Charlotte and Stefan were supposed to have friandise, too, and Justin and I ate all of them. Oh well. Please reference above section for pictures. :)