What might look a bit like a haunted mansion within the high rise buildings of Shanghai, actually is a very charming old Tudor house and represents a beautiful setting for wine and food.

For our last dinner in Shanghai I went online and made some research about what the Shanghai fine dining scene has to offer. There are a few branches of international 3 star chefs (The Pourcel twins and Boulud) which I suspected might only be less good copies of the originals. Then there are those much talked about hip restaurants such as “Mr. and Mrs Bund”, which might actually be worth a shot, but also bear a big risk for disappointment. But we wanted none of these, and rather picked a restaurant with a wine theme that seemed to offer a reasonable package: Napa Wine Bar and Kitchen. Read the rest of this entry »

In das wohl schmalste Restaurant Frankfurts kommt man, wenn man mit dem scheinbar schmalsten Aufzug der Stadt in den dritten Stock dieses Minihauses direkt am Main fährt. Hier befindet sich das Reich der jungen Köchin Kimberley Unser, die vor kurzem erst vom Gault Millau zur “Entdeckung des Jahres” gekürt wurde und dort -so der Wortlaut des Restaurant-Guides- “essbare Landschaften” kreiert. Read the rest of this entry »

Das Küchenteam: Vater und Sohn Buggle stehen gemeinsam an den Töpfen.

Fernab vom Großstadtrummel, so ziemlich auf halbem Weg zwischen Frankfurt und Köln liegt das idyllische Balduinstein im Lahntal. Dort führt die Familie Buggle seit Generationen schon das schöne, direkt an der Lahn liegende Landhotel zum Bären . Doch nicht nur übernachten kann man dort, sondern vor allem auch sehr gut speisen. Neben der Weinstube und dem schönen Speiseraum mit Kachelofen gibt es auch das Gourmetlokal “Bibliothek“, welches aktuell vom Gault Millau mit 15 Punkten bewertet und vom Guide Michelin mit einem Stern geadelt wurde. Read the rest of this entry »

Restaurant “De Pastorale” in Reet.

At the beginning of the week, the Belgian “chapter” of the Gault-Millau guide also unveiled its ratings, showing a handful of restaurants on the move.

In particular, I am very happy to see Bart de Pooter awarded “Chef of the year“. Our meal at his restaurant “De Pastorale” back in June was a stunning parade of ingenious dishes with compelling purity of flavors. This well deserved title is underlined by a rating raised to 18 points.

Further, I am glad to see Sang Hoon Degeimbre‘s “L’Air du Temps” received 18 points, although this rating is unchanged since last year. The meal we had there was equally stunning, with molecular techniques only used as a clever means to an end, putting the product in the center. I am sure the new restaurant which is currently under construction will further boost Degeimbre‘s creative cooking. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s that time of the year again when all restaurants in the World are being rated anew. In Germany, the two most important guides, Michelin and Gault Millau just published their new books, awarding many new stars and points to chefs all over the country.

Now there have been many blog posts about it, but as far as I can tell, there was none in English. So I thought it might be useful to wrap-up the essence of it for the international crowd. Read the rest of this entry »

After a spree to the Rheingau wine region on a beautiful sunday we were looking for a place to have dinner. While we couldn’t come up with any casual restaurant that day, we had the sudden inspiration to go for Patrick Kimpel‘s fine dining restaurant within the Hotel Kronenschlößchen in Hattenheim. Read the rest of this entry »