Victor's Fine Dining by Christian Bau - Perl
Main dining room
Rating: 19/20
Where: Perl, Germany
When: Dinner for 4 on 16 August 2025
Cost per Person: Tasting menu 345 Euro ($400), Wine pairing 175-250 Euro ($205-$290)
Accolades: 3 Michelin Stars
Why: Flavorful dishes, inspired by Japanese and French cuisines
“Victor's Fine Dining by Christian Bau” received its third Michelin star in 2005. Back then, Christian Bau was the youngest German chef to ever achieve that honor. And now, twenty years later, he is the chef who has held three stars the longest in the country. None other than fine-dining authority Andy Hayler once named Victor's as his favorite three-star restaurant currently operating in the world. Since our one and only visit had been almost eight years ago, it seemed like high time for a return.
The restaurant's name alludes to its location. It is part of the “Victor's Residenz Schloss Berg”, a five-star hotel close to where the three countries Germany, Luxembourg and France meet. The hotel and its associated casino feel a bit past their prime, but the three-star restaurant is still going strong. So strong in fact, that according to its website it was fully booked on the day that we wanted to visit. Luckily enough though, the restaurant had an additional table, next to the regular dining room, that one could book only by phone. It didn’t have white table cloths and a bit more foot traffic from the dining room to the kitchen and the bathrooms. But that was a small price to pay in order to enjoy a three-star meal. In fact, we actually preferred this semi-private alcove to the closely spaced tables in the main dining room, where we had sat in 2017.
What hadn't changed during the last eight years was the title of the menu: “Paris to Tokyo”, emphasizing the inspirations that the kitchen took from both French and Japanese cuisines. The restaurant served a single tasting menu, but there were several more dishes that could be added to be menu. Well, at least in theory, since our server warned us that “the regular tasting menu is already a lot of food”, and that he had rarely seen anyone order additional dishes and still be able to finish the entire meal. (To be fair, he stated that the additional courses did taste amazing.) At the point when we had this conversation, we had already finished several rounds of (not exactly small) appetizers, so this seemed an entirely believable assessment. We still ordered one additional course - two servings to be shared among the four of us -, but that was probably the most that a person with a normal appetite should commit to. It made us wonder though: why have such an extensive a la carte list if you effectively steer diners away from it? Why source ingredients that are likely to go to waste? I can only assume that the most likely answer is “regulars”, i.e. frequently returning guests that are happy to forgo part of the (familiar) tasting menu and choose from the a la carte options instead. Not really applicable to people like us, though, who visit only very infrequently.
There were two five-glass wine pairings available (priced at 175 and 250 Euro, respectively, about $205 and $290), as well as a non-alcoholic pairing for 105 Euro ($120). We tried both wine pairings. They went pretty well with the food, and the wines were also quite enjoyable on their own. However, the two pairings were pretty similar - a blind tasting might have had a hard time figuring out which pairing was the pricier one. Unless something catches your eye in the fancier pairing, it's probably safe to stick to the more affordable one. Since the wine pairing started only after the appetizers, ordering an aperitif was not a bad idea. I tried the house aperitif, a mixture of a local sparkling wine (Sekt) and yuzu syrup for 18 Euro ($20). Not too sweet, and with a light yuzu note, it was a good accompaniment for the food, just like the champagne ordered by my dinner companions.
The appetizers were served in three rounds of two dishes each. In each serving, one of the two dishes was leaning more towards Japanese cuisine, while the other was more Western.
The first pair of appetizers focused on shrimp. One was a cold broth containing some gamba rosso (shrimp), sweet tomatoes and cucumber pearls. The shrimp tasted sweet and were of great quality, and the broth was reminiscent of a very flavorful tomato water soup. A very intense, and slightly fruity experience - a great start to our meal 19. Next to this came a cracker cup filled with amaebi shrimp and uni (sea urchin). This different variety of shrimp was also quite sweet, and the cup was nicely crunchy. The rest of the dish's filling was very (maybe too?) creamy. I couldn't detect the uni - it was probably hidden by the rest of the creamy filling. If this sounds overly negative, it's actually just nitpicking - the result was still very tasty. Another excellent dish, only a smidgen below the gamba rosso broth 19.
The next serving again consisted of two different dishes, this time without a common ingredient, but possibly following a similar color scheme (white, orange, green). Another cracker cup was filled with salmon belly, salmon roe, edamame and myoga ginger. The salmon was lovely, the ginger added more flavor, and the edamame provided some light crunch that contrasted with the cup's more pronounced texture. A bite that was full of flavor 18. The second dish was an apple macaroon topped with unagi (eel) and goose liver. This was a variation on a signature dish of Martin Berasategui’s eponymous three-star restaurant near San Sebastian. Even though it had liver as an ingredient, this was still a light bite. Crunch from the macaroon, creaminess from the liver, plus some smokiness that reminded me of bacon. Nice 18.
On to the last two appetizers. A nori cracker tartlet was filled with koshihikari rice, hamachi, wasabi and a bit of caviar. Maybe a reconfigured version of a hamachi maki roll? The fish was of great quality, the rice fragrant and the nori added flavor and crispiness - wonderful 19. Finally, we received a cigar-shaped cracker filled with wagyu tartare, crème fraîche, chopped chives and (like many dishes in this menu) topped with a dollop of caviar. Creamy and salty with a smoky beef flavor - lovely 19. The pescatarian version of this dish used tuna instead of beef, and might have been a tiny bit better.
The following seven courses constituted the “main” part of the tasting menu, and each came with a paired wine. First up was a Norwegian king crab, lightly steamed, and served over soba noodles with Japanese citrus fruits. It came with some caviar and a “Kyoto dashi”. The dashi followed the recipe of a chef from Kyoto, getting reduced repeatedly for a very intense, citrusy flavor. The crab was excellent, the soba was lovely as well with a great texture, and the caviar added some saltiness to the dish. A fantastic combination 19.
Sashimi-style akami tuna was served in two forms - sliced and chopped -, and came with crunchy seaweed and daikon cones. Next to the plate was a seaweed crisp sprinkled with furikake. This dish had very intense flavors: seaweed, some herbaceousness, a bit of wasabi, and a creamy sauce underneath the lovely tuna. The cracker was nicely seasoned as well. My only nitpick would be that the paired Riesling seemed too sweet for this dish 19.
The following dish was not part of the regular tasting menu - we had ordered it off the “Specials” menu. Toro crudo was very finely chopped and was served with a slice of brioche, lots of caviar and a shoyu vinaigrette. The sauce was truly amazing: very rich and made with a high quality soy sauce, providing lots of umami. Together with the creamy tuna and the delicious caviar, this made for another terrific dish 19.
Two kinds of bread were served, a plain sourdough and a seeded bread, together with two raw milk butters: one lightly salted, the other seasoned with an aged soy sauce. A nice enough course, I particularly enjoyed the salted butter 17. The bread course also heralded a shift in the menu. Whereas most dishes so far had been heavily inspired by Japanese cuisine, the remainder of the savory courses were essentially classical Western/French cooking. Given the order of the menu, maybe it should be renamed to “Tokyo - Paris”?
Truffle agnolotti had been filled with a farce of veal and frog legs, and were served with veal sweetbreads, an onion cream, a cress cream and sliced truffles. The agnolotti's meaty filling was quite flavorful, but I would have been hard pressed to guess what kind of meat it was. The sweetbread at the center of the plate was lightly fried, with a more meaty consistency than normally seen for this ingredient. For me, this dish didn't taste very much of truffles, and was quite salty 17. The pescatarian, or rather vegetarian, alternative did without the meat fillings and sauces, and had a fresher, greener taste, but was also inexplicably salty 17.
Blue lobster from Eastern Scheldt (an estuary in the Netherlands) was served grilled, with a jus made from the lobster's head. On the side: a broccolini tempura, hearts of palm and a mousseline made of crustacean butter. More sauce was left at our table to be added to the dish as desired. The lobster was excellent: flavorful and very tender without being overcooked. The sauces were also full of flavor, but the mousseline was unfortunately extremely salty. The heart of palm felt fresh with a light crunch, but I wasn't a fan of the overly bready and flavorless broccolini. The rest of my dining party disagreed and thought that the tempura vegetable was great - you can't argue about taste, I suppose. In any case, a very compelling lobster dish 18.
The last savory dish of the night featured a pan-fried filet of turbot from Normandy. Next to it were some spinach, an herbal salad, artichokes and the jus made from the roasted head of the turbot. The fish was tender, full of flavor, but also a bit salty. The spinach and artichokes were lightly bitter, and good complements to the fish 18.
A palate cleanser of sorts arrived next. Kiwi sorbet sat on top of a yogurt foam and a matcha cream. This was a generally light, sweet and refreshing dish. We particularly liked the little white balls of sake granita. The matcha with its bitterness added a bit of heft to the presentation 17.
The main dessert featured a “Baustein”: literally translated a “building stone”, but also a play on chef Christian Bau's name. This little square's flavor was supposedly based on pandan, but mainly reminded me of a vanilla mousse. On the side were little cubes of exotic fruits: kiwi, dragon fruit, and caramelized pineapple, as well as a coconut-yuzu sorbet. A light, citrusy combination of flavors, and a wonderful way to end the meal 18.
After that, we were served some petit fours and some fruit, the latter reminiscent of what might conclude a dinner in Japan. But first, we tried a “Japanese iced coffee” - really a coffee ice cream topped with cream. The ice cream in particular was delicious 19. A tartlet au chocolate was a bit too heavy on chocolate for me 16. An almond-raspberry tartlet was a bit lackluster, not too fruity and I also couldn't taste the almonds 14. There were three chocolate pralines: one with a peanut-yuzu filling that had only a light peanutty flavor 14, a coconut-passion fruit praline that was sweet with maybe a tad too much white chocolate 15 and an olive ganache that was chocolaty but had an odd aftertaste 13. A pate de fruit made from Japanese clementines was sour, and very fruity 16. Finally, the fruit: a mango from Okinawa was sweet and quite nice, but a far cry from the sweeter ones that we had had in Hong Kong earlier in the year 16. A musk melon topped with lime zest was light in flavor 14.
Overall: A menu in two parts: the first half inspired by Japanese cuisine, the rest by modern French cuisine. The Japanese dishes were without fail extremely strong: bursting with flavors, yet still balanced. Not exactly authentic Japanese cuisine, but reimagined for a Western audience that is used to stronger flavors. The kitchen used high quality ingredients, and had an affinity for acidity. The French half of the meal was also very good, but a small step down from what had came before - of course, that could also be my personal preferences speaking. My dream meal would be to replace all the French dishes with the Japanese ones from the Specials menu. Maybe next time... 19
