ntv chief presenter Christoph Teuner and Alexander Oetker, ntv France expert, test restaurants. From star cuisine to home-style, from vegan to carnivorous, from the Far East to regional. This week our expert travels between Baden-Baden and New York and clarifies something about Oetker.
After these crazy years, a trip to Baden-Baden is like an excursion into a world that seems completely lost: there are the splendid buildings, palace, spa and casino, the theater and the drinking hall. Incidentally, the number of Porsches and bathing caps are in balance.
And then there is the venerable Brenners Spa Hotel with its green and white awnings, in whose scenery of floral wallpaper and Persian carpets the guest would not be surprised if Agatha Christie was just around the corner. Who then actually comes around the corner is Burmese cat Kléo, who elegantly roams the corridors here every day. Everything somehow patina and charm of days gone by.
So it’s all the more surprising when the guest steps into “Fritz & Felix” in the evening, which the hotel has given its own entrance in order to open it up to the city – and to clear up a German misunderstanding: namely that hotel restaurants are always a compromise must be made of Caesar salads and club sandwiches.
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Rather, it is the case that renowned hotels have the financial backbone to give their city a culinary beacon – like the Oetkercollection here (The author of these lines is only an Oetker by name, there is no financial conflict of interest).
The ambience of this restaurant sets it apart from the Baden-Baden charm in a pleasant way – dark wooden tables meet New York sofas and all tables are grouped around the large glass pane in the room, behind which the Galician Charcoa grill does its job, including the show fire. Everything that is stored in chef Farid Fazel’s maturing cabinets is smoked, tossed and placed on the grill plate. Grilling is the spirit of the times, meat and fish are popular, all over the world, including here. It’s full in the “Fritz & Felix”, it’s like that almost every evening, and the people of Baden also come here in large numbers.
Silky yolk mousse and almond puff
But the very beginning proves that the zeitgeist is not being chased here, rather the chef sends his guests on a culinary journey of discovery, with very interesting chords, especially in the vegetable kitchen: With “Beetroot & Radiccio di Castelfranco2” (18 €) the omnipresent Pray for their flavors al dente as vegetables and lukewarm as a deep red brew, the light green salad from Veneto balances the dish with its lightness, pomegranate and almond puff provide bite.
Signature is the “Fritz & Felix” tartare (22 €). The insatiable, i.e. me, is actually a tartare purist, in Paris I would always dress the beef fillet myself. Here, however, the plate is the composition and it works brilliantly: the fillet is roughly cut with a knife and seasoned sharply, small capers and egg yolk mousse bring silkiness and the coarsely grated Belper Knolle cheese creates a depth that this tartare saves as something worth remembering .
I am kindly allowed to order a dish from the neighboring gourmet restaurant “Wintergarten”. The kitchens of the two restos work together, chef Alexander Meyer from Dinslaken has been responsible for the emblematic restaurant with its wide windows overlooking the spa gardens for two years. He sends the chicory cooked “sous vide” with aged Parmesan, buckwheat, Taggiasca olive and Amalfi lemon (27 €). And that is really a dish that you visit a restaurant for: the finest vegetable cuisine, with a French basic product that is always far too short in German cuisine, but there are also bitterness and spice, pure umami – the Meyer here, with al dente buckwheat and the wonderfully sour-bitter combination of olive and lemon masterfully.
The room – one big conversation
The Wagyu beef from Oberammergau for the main course proves that the grill deserves its place in the box, tender and tender and cooked to perfection. But again it’s the vegetable side dishes that set them apart from the fries and spinach monotony of other establishments. Yellow beets, parsley root with amaranth or winter vegetables accompany the meat and the guest embarks on a journey through Europe’s vegetable garden. That is very successful.
The service, led by Maître Matthias Pfundstein, is very courteous and at eye level, the whole room is one big conversation. In addition to wine, sparkling cocktails also come from the neighboring bar, which give the restaurant an even more cosmopolitan touch – and when new guests come in shortly before 10 p.m., Baden-Baden actually feels like a real metropolis – and the “Fritz & Felix” like his canteen.
The wine tip from “Fritz & Felix”:
The wonderful sommelier Kristina Schantz is from the Palatinate, so her recommendation is a local one: The 2019 Riesling Dürkheimer Fuchsmantel Quetschenbaum from the Karl Schaefer winery is, with its deep minerality, a great companion for all vegetable dishes, with apple and peach notes perfect for these spring days.
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