Schwarzwaldstube - Baiersbronn
View from Traube Tonbach hotel, the restaurant is on the road just right of center
Rating: 18/20
Where: Baiersbronn, Germany
When: Dinner for 2 on 10 April 2022
Cost: Tasting menu 215-265 Euro
Accolades: 3 Michelin Stars
Why: Germany’s most famous three star restaurant; delightful French cooking with subtle German influences
Schwarzwaldstube is, as it name suggests, a restaurant in the Black Forest region of Germany. Located in Baiersbronn, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from the Frankfurt airport, it is a German institution. It has held three Michelin stars since 1993, the longest in the country. And moreover, it has been a proving ground for several of the three-star chefs working in the country. At one point or another, many of them worked here to hone their craft. One of these three-stars, Bareiss, is even in the same town, this apple didn't fall far from the tree indeed.
Given its position in the German culinary universe, and relatively small size, getting a reservation at Schwarzwaldstube is notoriously hard. Well, at least on short notice - I made the reservation 6 1/2 months before the dinner date.
At the time of our visit, the restaurant was in a "temporary" location. Its traditional home in the Hotel Traube Tonbach burned down a few years ago due to a nightly kitchen fire. But the owners quickly moved operations to a nearby building that is much more modern than the quaint hotel itself. There is nothing really that seems temporary about the current location, I just assume it exhibits a very different vibe from the prior dining room. I quite liked the modern ambiance with a view of the nearby hills.
Right after being offered an aperitif, we were served our first amuse bouches. A cracker with crab ("Taschenkrebs") and avocado creme was topped with local herbs and a flower. A nice crunch, very good avocado creme 19+. Less successful was a piece of hamachi with plankton "caviar" and plankton creme. The hamachi was cured, but not at the level you'd expect from, say, a good sushi restaurant 17. Finally, there was a beef tartare with onion rings and onion mousse on top of a "roesti" cracker. The tartare was delightful, the onions a perfect complement, but the cracker was very hard, as in "creating work for your dentist" hard 18.
Next, there was a lull in the service, we were waiting for 5-10 minutes for the menu to arrive, and then five more minutes for the next amuse bouches to show. An odd lag given that there are only ten tables or so. Luckily, the rest of the dinner proceeded more apace.
There are three tasting menus (five or seven courses, and a vegetarian menu), and plenty of a la carte options. Our server indicated that the tasting menus could be modified if there was something we found really intriguing from the a la carte choices. We went for the full seven course tasting menu.
The final amuse bouche was cured Faroe salmon tartare with a buttermilk sauce, herb oil, a apple horseradish salad and local herbs. This was very nice, the buttermilk sauce in particular making this dish feel "German" for me - you're unlikely to find this flavor combination elsewhere 19.
First among the "real" courses was duck liver, presented three ways. Twice as a terrine, one marinated, one cooked, and layered with a chicken jelly. A third preparation was cubes of liver that were fried and topped with truffles. Some peach and other fruit and cashews lent a more "sweet" touch to the dish, and a slice of brioche was served as well. Different components in this dish worked better than others. The terrines were underwhelming, not having much flavor even with the topping of spice made from more duck liver. The chicken jelly was more noticeable, but it seems odd that this would be the dominant flavor in a duck liver dish. The truffle-topped fried liver was wonderful, pretty much as good as this can get. The brioche felt a bit dry. On average maybe 17.
Better was the following lobster (served as meat and claw) on top of a coconut red pepper sauce, reminiscent of a Thai tom khai soup, and a good one indeed. The lobster meat was on the chewy side, but that was pretty much the only downside of the dish. Very nice indeed 18.
Another step up: pike perch served with fennel two ways (caramelized and blanched), with a beurre blanc sauce. The caramelized fennel was delicious, as was a the sauce. The fish might have been a tad overcooked, but overall this was still a delightful dish 19.
The final savory course was pork, something rarely seen at the three-star level, but feeling somehow appropriate for a German restaurant. The pork was raised on a farm nearby, and the meat cooked perfectly. Covered with truffles and served with sides of morels and peas, it was accompanied by a pork jus made from brisket and pork face. The pork was served in two pieces, one with just meat, the other one with a healthy layer of fat - the latter was a bit too much for me, and we didn't finish the fatty part. The sauce and morels were great, but the peas were on the tasteless side. We've had amazing peas the previous month in France, so it was unfortunate that these didn't seem as high quality, even though they should have been in season. Overall 17.
Cheese was delightful, and while not having as wide a selection as one would expect in France, what we did have was nice enough.
The first dessert course was kind of a souffle, with lemon sorbet and raspberries. A winning flavor and texture combination, this was also very light, always appreciated after a long dinner 19.
The second dessert was a combination of chocolate and cherry (two components of the famed Black Forest cake). This was a fine dish, but it felt too heavy at this particular point. I would have enjoyed this more if I had not been eating nonstop for the last four hours 16.
Petit fours completed the meal, pleasant but not mind-blowing. The mini canele's ratio of crust vs interior meant a bit too much crunch for my taste 17.
Overall: This was a wonderful dinner, with minor quibbles but no big downsides. I liked that even though this was clearly French cooking, there were some flavor combinations and ingredients (buttermilk sauce, fish with fennel, pork) that nodded to German cooking. Nothing too overt, but enough to not mistake this for a dinner in Paris. Personally, I would have preferred if these influences were even more noticeable. Interestingly, the menu didn't come across as highly seasonal, much of the dinner could have been served at almost any time in the year 18.
