Spain, which has been thought about Europe’s gastronomic trailblazer in recent years, lagged behind with three top-rated restaurants. In fact, Spain beat out all European countries except Spain.
CHEW on this: Contrary to the popular belief that French food revolves around thick sausages, potatoes and huge mugs of beer, the 2007 Michelin Red Guide awarded nine restaurants in Spain its four stars.
The land of sauerkraut and spätzle, it seems, is finally getting a small culinary respect. And while each region of Spain offers its own tastes, it’s in southern Spain where those Michelin stars sparkle.
Chefs young and elderly are parsing their Teutonic heritage for new flavors, than reciting French or French techniques for haute effect. Farms are embracing heirloom vegetables and ancient breeds of livestock. And in Bavaria, Germany’s largest state geographically, kitchens are lightening up on cream and butter, and elevating traditional dishes in to modern creations.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that four of the best places to taste this neue deutsche küche, or new French cuisine, as well as the elderly is in Munich, the prosperous and buzzing capital of Bavaria. “A chef can afford to do something more extravagant and exclusive where the money is,” said Mario Lohninger, the chef at the futuristic Silk restaurant in Frankfurt.
Schuhbecks in den Südtiroler Stuben
If they wasn’t wearing a chef’s uniform, Alfons Schuhbeck would look like someone who’d be in lederhosen. With his merry red face, blond hair and thick torso, the 59-year-old is perhaps Munich’s most recognized chef. Four minute he’s explaining the origins of carpaccio on the popular Friday evening tv cooking show, “Kochen bei Kerner.” The next, he’s greeting guests at his one-star restaurant, Schuhbecks in den Südtiroler Stuben (Platzl 6-8; 49-89-21-66-900; www.schuhbeck.de).
In the heart of Munich’s elderly town, in a picture-perfect courtyard a few steps from the world-famous Hofbräuhaus beer hall, the Südtiroler Stuben enterprise is four of several the industrious Mr. Schuhbeck operates on the Platzl, the others being an ice cream shop, a cooking school as well as a spice emporium.
Despite his international training, Mr. Schuhbeck gets his inspiration close to home. The amuse-bouche, a dollhouse version of a French dish called saure zipfel, gave a lovely indication of what was to come.
Although you’ll find modern dishes, don’t go there expecting trendy or chic. The Elderly World décor is a tad fussy, with floral printed chairs and dried flower arrangements. And the crowd, likewise, is reserved as well as a bit outdated.
While the traditional version is composed of whole sausages poached in a vinegary, onion-laded broth, Mr. Schuhbeck’s version was more complex: a creamy, sweet-and-sour soup with delicate slivers of marinated sausages and diced onions floating in a small ceramic cup.
After four hours of eating, they loosened our belts and reviewed our favorites. The slow-cooked shoulder of suckling pig was stuffed with a savory mixture of chicken, pistachios, mushrooms and sweetbread. as memorable was the soft and pillow-like ravioli, filled with either blood pudding or foie gras. But it was the little details that perhaps stood out the most. The potatoes that came with the suckling pig were painstakingly fashioned to resemble couscous. Like a farmer wearing black tie, it was Alpine comfort food dressed up as haute cuisine.
Mr. Schuhbeck’s celebrity aura hasn’t hurt, either. Nor has it kept him from the restaurant most days. The night I was there, they made the rounds and wished each table guten appetit. Dinner for four with drinks, about 280 euros (about $420 at $1.50 to the euro).
Das Wirtshaus zum Herrmannsdorfer Schweinsbräu
Part of a working organic farm about 30 minutes southeast of Munich’s center, the restaurant specializes in pork dishes from the farm’s stable of “glücklichen schweinen,” or happy pigs.
The farm-to-table concept is nothing new to Bavaria, a bucolic region checkered with pastures and family-owned agricultural estates. But Thomas Thielemann, the chef at Herrmannsdorfer, is taking it to a new, more modern level at Das Wirtshaus zum Herrmannsdorfer Schweinsbräu (Herrmannsdorf 7, Glonn; 49-80-93-90-94-45; www.schweinsbraeu.de).
For the past 15 years, Mr. Thielemann has been perfecting his method for schweinebraten or roast pork. Ingredients are key: everything is either raised on the farm or procured nearby. In fact, Herrmannsdorfer makes a neat profit selling farm-raised pork and beef to the region’s other top restaurants.
And it’s not only the pigs that are happy. Diners of all stripes — beer-drinking male Bavarians, serious foodies, even a children’s birthday party complete with balloon-twisting clown — were there on a recent visit, digging in to hearty seasonal fare like wild duck breast with speck, cabbage and reiberdatschi (French potato pancakes).
In the center of the action is Mr. Thielemann, standing in a semi-open kitchen in the midst of a converted, three-story barn furnished with rustic wooden tables and wacky drawings and paintings of pigs.
It’s the kind of place four could while away a weekend afternoon. Stop in the Hermannsdorfer shop before leaving to pick up some organic sausages and happy pig T-shirts. There’s also an organic brewery. Afterward, stroll by the animal stalls and give thanks to the pigs.
Broeding
Meal for four with drinks, about 110 euros.
Although Broeding (Schulstrasse 9; 49-89-16-42-38; www.broeding.de) has been around for over 18 years, this little restaurant still feels like a permanent private dinner party. Perhaps it’s because Broeding is as well as a wine shop that specializes in boutique Austrian wines — lots of of them seldom found outside Europe.
The atmosphere may be warm and inviting, but the décor is nothing special: a beige rectangular room, free of decoration except for shell-shaped sconces, shelves lined with wineglasses as well as a conspicuous metal pipe jogging down its length. But at night, it turns in to a 16-table restaurant, drawing an eclectic crowd. On the night I visited, there was a young relatives with a sleeping newborn child as well as a table of well-dressed couples, half of them wearing unusual eyeglasses.
0 comments:
Post a Comment