It doesn’t get any more elegant in Düsseldorf, there is no finer address than Königsallee 1A, and the house she occupies does justice to her dignity and burden. It is the Steigenberger Parkhotel, an old-school grand hotel that belongs to the exclusive circle of the chain’s seven most emblematic hotels and whose gourmet restaurant is of course the most glamorous eatery in the entire city – a single extravagance that resides in a winter garden with soft pink plush armchairs and deep pink arches, with shiny brass grilles and golden floral decorations, visually stunning floor coverings and monumental wall photographs of very beautiful, very cool women. All of this makes us feel as if we are sitting in a golden cage.
But of all things, this exalted stage is played by a steadfastly calm Sauerlander and a completely unpretentious East Hessian with a sunshine spirit: the chef Benjamin Kriegel and his wife, sommelier and restaurant manager Ramona. And at the end of the evening we will have understood that the two of them in the “Pink Pepper” bring a cuisine to the table in which, on the one hand, their own completely anti-Königsallee down-to-earthness and, on the other hand, the spectacle of the colorful expressionist interior are ideally combined.
Here the simple is combined with the profound
“Welcome to Düsseldorf” is how we are greeted in three ways by the kitchen, both cosmopolitan and local patriotic: a pork belly roll with coleslaw, a deconstructed Rhenish sauerbraten with red cabbage and a roll of fried fish, langoustine and kimchi in fried filo dough, three technically flawless miniatures, which leave no doubt that Benjamin Kriegel does not want to give up his recently awarded Michelin star under any circumstances.
He also combines the simple with the profound, the local color with the internationality in his pea soup, which is served under the Rhineland name “Ahzehzupp”, but which is not only stripped of all the crudeness and coarseness thanks to the fine sea urchin instead of a bockwurst as an accompaniment – and We immediately understand that this chef enjoys taking on such challenges because they are most appropriate to his desire and love for cooking.
A well-rehearsed couple at work and beyond: Ramona and Benjamin Kriegel. : Image: Pink Pepper
Kriegel wanted to be a chef since he was a child, and his stints with his teachers always encouraged him that he had made the right decision. He was with Berthold Bühler in the “Residenz” in Essen and with Christian Jürgens in the “Überfahrt” on Tegernsee when the third Michelin star came, then became Volker Drkosch’s sous chef in the “Victorian” in Düsseldorf and then cooked for himself a few streets away his own star in “Fritz’s Frau Franzi” 2018. Since March 2022 he has been at the stove in the “Pink Pepper”, which owes its name to the pink pepper from Brazil that gives joy to life and where he can draw on the full range of a gastronomically ambitious grand hotel – but with a voluntary self-restraint out of ecological responsibility: Kriegel buys as much as possible regionally, sources his salmon trout from the Bergisches Land and his lamb from the North Sea and completely avoids fresh ingredients and wines from overseas.
The interior is glamorous, but the food lacks any glitz: a look into the dining room of the “Pink Pepper”. : Image: Pink Pepper
However, there is not the slightest hint of a lack of economy in the menu, on the contrary. Kriegel often juggles so many flavors that we worry about whether they will actually find each other happily. The pickled salmon trout is not only combined with two types of vinaigrettes of smoked fish and buttermilk, but also with gherkins, mustard seeds, bronze fennel, a tower of turnips and a horseradish cream – and the whole thing works out fabulously because the polyphony is like an orchestra of flavors harmonized and even the smallest triangle nuance is used with sense and understanding.
The “Sea and Coast” course is even bolder: sole, ox cheek, dashi beurre blanc, mushrooms, passepierre, potato, onion, apple, it sounds like a lot of chaos, but it ends on the best of terms because sole is not the main ingredient disputes, but willingly puts himself at the service of their taste. The cheeks, for example, appear modestly as two tiny cubes and thus provide a clever contrast instead of cheeky competition.
Home cooking at a high kitchen level: Even a simple bouillon becomes a taste event at Benjamin Kriegel. : Image: Pink Pepper
Of course, not everything that glitters in the “Pink Pepper” is gold, of course there are weaknesses, but who would blame a thirty-five-year-old chef for that. The scallop, which is cooking at the table in a pan full of salt with added water, tastes as inconsequential as scallops taste, and is a stranger to the second part of the course, a marinated sea bass with artichoke, Roscoff onions and fermented chili, which in turn remains just as lonely as the shell. And with the roasted back and braised shoulder of lamb in a potato ring with chili sauerkraut, bean gremolata, lamb ham and a lamb jus with brandy, there are many good ideas, but also many loose ends.
But with the rabbit back, Benjamin Kriegel shows again what potential he has. He covers it with an almost invisibly thin pancetta and places it together with wild garlic, sage and a rabbit kidney on a disk of pasta, under which an eminently fine rabbit fricassee is hidden – another plate that creates astonishing sophistication from its supposed simplicity.
Jakob Strobel y Serra Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 15 Jakob Strobel y Serra Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 12 Jakob Strobel y Serra Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 18
As we eat the cheesecake with chervil, peas, strawberries, rhubarb and elderberry capers, it has long been dark outside, so we finally have the impression that we are sitting in a golden cage, cared for, almost like a family, by Ramona Kriegel and fabulously cooked for by her husband – and can don’t understand what’s wrong with golden cages.
2023-09-08 13:11:03
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