Eichhalde - Freiburg
A modern interior to match the food
Rating: 14/20
Where: Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
When: Dinner for 3 on 22 June 2025
Cost per Person: Tasting menu 89-215 Euro ($100-$250), Wine pairing 77-127 Euro ($90-$145)
Accolades: 1 Michelin Star
Why: Modern Italian cuisine with unusual preparations
Freiburg im Breisgau is a mid-sized German city nestled into the southwestern corner of the country, about 45 minutes from Switzerland and even closer to France. Freiburg's picturesque old town with its Gothic cathedral draws a fair number of visitors, and thanks to one of Germany's oldest universities, the streets are always full of young people. As a high-end culinary destination, though, the city seems to punch a bit below its weight. The true local heavy hitters are abroad: among others, Cheval Blanc in Basel or formerly three-starred L'Auberge de l'Ill across the border in France.
Nevertheless, Freiburg has a few fine-dining restaurants. Located in the residential neighborhood of Herdern is “Eichhalde”, a one-Michelin-starred establishment that, despite its very German name, is actually an Italian restaurant. A modern Italian restaurant, in fact - the chef used to work at Italy's Reale, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant that is definitely at the avant-garde end of modern cuisine. (A bit too modern for my taste when I visited a few years ago.) Would this type of cuisine work in a quaint German city, or had the cooking been toned down to cater to local tastes? On a warm summer night in June, we settled down for a four-hour meal to find out.
Eichhalde serves two tasting menus: a 3 or 4-course traditional menu, and a 5 to 9-course modern menu. The choice between the two menus had to be made at reservation time, since the kitchen prepared only the ingredients that it actually needed. We went for the modern menu and the full nine courses, mostly since the restaurant's signature dishes were only included in that longest version of the menu - a curious setup. It turned out that nine courses were a substantial amount of food, so it's probably a good idea to skip lunch beforehand. Wine pairings were offered along with the modern menu, and consisted almost entirely of Italian wines. Our server/sommelier/restaurant co-owner admitted that some of the wines might not be ones that one would drink by themselves, but claimed that they all went well with the food. I agree on both counts. That said, all wines were decent, and a few were quite good.
The dining room was decorated in a contemporary, straightforward style, with some modern art on the walls and wood-topped tables. On the evening of our visit, only three of the eight tables were occupied - likely (hopefully?) a result of this being the last day of a two-week school vacation. In addition, some guests were sitting on the restaurant's outdoor patio where appetizers and drinks were served.
Our dinner started with some bread and a few smaller bites - all served before the wine pairing began. On a metal “tree” we found some taralli, a classic bakery item made from flour, white wine and pepper. It had a crumbly, soft crunch with a hint of pepper 15. The sourdough bread from a local bakery was served warmed up, and had only a light flavor, but a very crunchy crust 16.
Our first appetizer looked a bit like a Cornetto ice cream. A little cone was filled with veal liver and topped with chopped hazelnuts. At the bottom of the cone was a bit of balsamic vinegar from Modena. The taste impression started with the nuts and a hint of acidity, before continuing with the liver and finishing on the (not very acidic) vinegar as a palate cleanser. I appreciated the intention here, but the noticeably bitter liver in the middle felt too heavy to me. It would have been nice if some ingredient had lightened the dish up a bit 13. A little tartlet had been made almost entirely out of mushrooms. Champignons appeared not only thinly sliced, but also as a powder and as a cream seasoned with marjoram. This dish was also pretty bitter, and didn't taste so much of mushrooms as merely earthy. There was some nice crunch from the cracker underneath, but otherwise this was a lackluster bite 12. Cod had been breaded and fried in a ball shape that was topped with lemon jelly and lemon zest. This was the only one of the appetizers to be served warm. Taste- and texture-wise, it was a dead ringer for fish sticks with a hint of lemon 13. Finally, we had a cannoli filled with crème fraîche and chives that was topped with some beef charcuterie. This bite was surprisingly light: both the cannoli and the cream were almost airy. Its main taste came from the intensely flavored beef 15.
The first of the nine “official” courses was also the first of the chef’s three signature dishes. This presentation had a close to minimal number of ingredients, namely only three: barely cooked spinach surrounded an almond mousse that was topped with a little basil oil. Our server emphasized that the mousse was made entirely from Sicilian almonds, with no additions of seasoning, cream, olive oil, or anything else for that matter. I would never have guessed, since the mousse (ironically) didn't really taste of almonds, or any other nuts. In fact, it had hardly any flavor, just lots of creaminess. So tastewise, the lightly salted spinach became the star of the show, and it was fine, but not revelatory 14.
Sous-vide cooked cuttlefish was served with two sauces made from white asparagus (one of them colored black using squid ink), and a salted zabaione sauce. The dish was served only lightly warmed, and the cuttlefish was pretty firm. Overall, this presentation had a light white asparagus flavor with a hint of pepper 14.
Time for signature dish number two. Fried squid was served with a carrot puree and a white wine/garlic foam. On the side came the reduced broth that the squid had been cooked in. Unusually, we were also given headphones and an audio player to listen to the street noises of Naples. We were told that the squid broth used to be a street food staple of Naples, and that the chef remembered it from his childhood, when he tried it together with his grandfather. And the broth was indeed magnificent: very salty, but also boasting very intense flavors. Astonishingly, though, no salt had been added, the saltiness came from massively reducing the broth after cooking a lot of squid (a 17 by itself). The squid itself was cooked to a quite soft texture, and the foam added a light garlic flavor. Fine, but not as amazing as the broth (maybe a 15). Overall 16.
A somewhat traditional dish (similar to a tuna-free vitello tonnato) was served in an unusual form. Veal was topped with shredded ruccola and encased in a pink-colored port wine cream. The dish was served cold, and the veal was pretty firm, with no juiciness and hardly any flavor - oof. There was a hint of bitterness from the salad. The best part of the dish was arguably the sauce, which was creamy and slightly sweet - it almost could have been used in a dessert 14.
The third and last signature dish were spaghetti, dressed with alpine butter and topped with Imperial caviar. The pasta was cooked nicely al dente, the sauce very buttery and quite salty, and the caviar added a notable seafood flavor. Simple, but executed very well 16.
A second pasta dish presented long noodles in an unorthodox way: broken into smaller pieces. Breaking pasta is apparently a big no-no in Italian cuisine, the only exception being dishes made for children that don't know yet how to eat long pasta. This dish was meant to recall such a soup from the chef's childhood. The pasta was served with red shrimps, parsley, a garlic foam and a shrimp bisque. The pasta was again cooked perfectly al dente, the shrimp meat soft and a bit sweet. The most intense flavor came from the crustacean sauce. I wish that my grandmother had made dishes like this one 15.
The last savory course was a piece of nine-hour-braised wagyu tongue, served in a sauce seasoned with red vermouth, rosemary and bay leaves. On the side came a bowl of pickled vegetables and fruit, and a steamed bun made with parsley and lemon. The beef tasted a bit plain, as did the steamed bun. There was much more flavor in the lovely sour pickles that also had a hint of sweetness 14.
Five different cubes of Parmesan cheese, aged for 18, 30, 40, 60 and 80 months, respectively, were served with balsamic vinegar from Modena that was meant to be eaten with the two oldest cheeses. This was an interesting range of cheeses, from somewhat soft to crystallized crunchy, changing quite significantly in flavor along the way.
The predessert was served in egg shells and meant to resemble boiled eggs topped with pepper. In fact, it was a (white) panna cotta filled with an (egg-yolk-colored) mandarin jelly and topped with (black) vanilla powder. A nice combination, and a cute presentation 16.
Our main dessert was inspired by a traditional pastiera tart and contained ricotta, candied orange peels, blood oranges, lemon sorbet, a vanilla foam and a cracker tuile. A great combination of different textures, as well as cold and warm temperatures 16.
Finally, we received a (very hot) cinnamon brioche with a zabaione foam. This was pretty similar to a cinnamon roll and a dip 15.
Overall: A modern Italian menu with unusual, creative dishes. However, their majority tended towards “interesting” rather than tasty, often with a note of bitterness similar to what we had seen at Reale. Much better were the few traditional dishes, such as the lovely spaghetti or the squid broth. That made me wonder whether the traditional menu might actually have been more up my alley. Maybe next time… 14
