On Friday (2/10/23) at 4:30 p.m. I picked up Donata and then we drove the 122 km to Fürstenhagen in two hours.
Why did we drive into the wintry nothingness of the Feldberg Lake District on a cold, dark, rainy evening? Because the Hotel Alte Schule is there with the Klassenzimmer, which received a Michelin star under the leadership of the Austrian Daniel Schmidthaler and his wife Nicole. I've wanted to eat there for years. And if I should sell the car next week, that would have been the last opportunity for a little trip.
The man cooks according to the concept: what does the immediate area have to offer? That's being processed. That's why there is no set menu, but (I think it works more convincingly in summer) a surprise menu.
We booked the 7 course meal as an overnight package and after dropping our toothbrush in the freezing cold room, we were seated in the lovely dining room.
Apart from us, there was only a group of four guests.
As an aperitif, they poured us a very good crémant, which accompanied the first greeting from the kitchen.
We were given a board with miniature potato and sourdough loaves each, along with Wagyu prepared like roast beef (delicious), Austrian potato cheese and butter.
As Amuse Gueule then came three little things:
Our favorite of the evening was a tender, crispy potato dough (called pombär) with fennel and garlic. That was sensational. Unbelievable what flavors exploded on the tongue. Then there was a tiny piece of turnip with paprika and a mini carrot with yoghurt, both very tasty.
One thing I like about restaurants in this category is that each course comes with a rehearsed explanation of what that is and what wine is served with it. It's like getting the short version of a chapter from a book of fairy tales, which you then perceive much more intensively and consciously with the preparatory information.
The first course followed with the first wine (fatal... with each course a different, excellently selected and unusual drop).
A fried piece of bread was draped on a tranche of Saitling, arranged with shiitake mushrooms, some cheese and a highly aromatic sauce with a hint of cucumber, the aroma of which was also reflected in the wine. My second favorite dish. Such complex flavors! Pure umami. Yummy.
At this point we asked for another small potato sandwich. It was so good it was gone in no time. The next course was two-week-aged walleye and char with kale and celery. That was very good, but still didn't make me a friend of the kale. The sauce was really good here, too, and for once I really liked the caviar.
This was followed by small radish roulades made with pumpkin, calf's head and a forest floor oil (yes, really, that's what it says on the menu), topped with some very mild mustard seeds. Great aroma, only the radish was a bit too firm/tough in the combination for me. I would have liked to have licked the sauce off the plate. Don't worry, I can behave myself in an emergency.
Now followed a piece of skin-fried fish (I can't remember what kind) with pickled onion (like pickles), juniper and a delightfully delicious leaf of chicory.
Then, and this course doesn't make me a fan of salsify either, we were served this very plant, with hazelnuts, a fantastic sauce and, served extra in a chilled bowl, an iced grape jelly with shaved buttermilk ice cream poured over the salsify was given. Precious. I would probably have found it even better with asparagus, even if it were of course completely different flavors.
The main course wasn't my thing at all. Venison (soft as butter) in a strong smoked eel sauce (irks!!!!!!), with raspberry puree and powder and black cabbage (similar to savoy cabbage). It was intense in a way that was so unpleasant for me that I didn't like it, didn't even taste the deer and, for once, didn't scrape the plate with a spoon. I only tried the corresponding wine (as well as that of the previous course; it was too much alcohol for me).
For reconciliation I got a delicious elderberry ice cream with foam from sunflower seeds (a cracker!!!!), with tarragon (I didn't taste it) and radicchio (whose larger stalks I sorted out; a dessert can be a dessert, I think). I don't necessarily have to ambitiously add a bitter aroma). For the desserts there was the last alcohol, a fabulous Vin Santo, which tasted intensely concentrated of nuts, dates and raisins.
And then there was a final greeting from the kitchen, a nut pancake with tangerine ice cream. Very tasty, but not that spectacular.
Here are a few more impressions and the order of the dishes that we got after the espresso:
That was great fun. Was very expensive. Well, other people buy TVs and stuff like that. Definitely worth it as it was an experience to remember.
For those wondering what the small portions are for, I think if I got a filling portion of any of those courses, it wouldn't have tasted good anymore, that would be overkill. And it's also much nicer to eat your fill of lots of exciting little things.
Donata fell straight into bed, I went for a little walk. The breakfast looked nice but wasn't remarkable (apart from the amazing bread).
Then we took a leisurely gondola home, only checked on things in Himmelpfort during a walk and enjoyed a coffee.
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