Stefen F.
Yelp
I came to visit Munich for the weekend in order to experience some new culinary experiences because I have been working in Belfast since August. I am very familiar with all the fine dining restaurants there and was ready for a new adventure.
I had great expectations for a 1-star meal in the fine dinning portion of Schwarzreiter and was curious how "young Bavarian cuisine" would be. However, the food at this restaurant was lacking that level of quality in nearly every aspect. The flavors in most dishes just weren't exciting and distinctive. Sure, there was lots on display with ever plate, however, it all seemed to taste the same. The worst additions in that regards were numerous purees of different colors accompanying every dish, they had the texture of baby food and equally bland flavors. The worst offender in terms of "covering up" the star ingredient of the dish was the "Bavarian garnele" ... locally farmed, good-sized shrimp that were covered in so much curry-based batter that the delicate crustacean was lost both in regards to volume, taste as well as texture. It was a rather large dish and there wasn't enough flavor here because the chance to spice things up with the curry crust was missed. The asparagus plate was okay, but again, too many things to dip and mix in, muddling what are delicate flavors. If the description of the dishes read like odd combinations on the menu, the plates themselves will be even more so because there are many other elements going on that aren't listed. Had to try the rabbit. The center loin piece was nicely cooked (not overdone) however, it was wrapped in some green paste casing which just confused the pure flavors of the meat. The rest of the plate was utterly unmemorable. The air-dried beef was also well cooked, but just too salty. And the rectangular little pile of aubergine slices that sat alongside the meat was so overdone that there was no texture nor much flavor left. The sturgeon and caviar was equally bland and disappointing. The dollop of caviar was nothing other than a visual component. It had no crunch and no pronounced caviar flavor, really nothing to add another dimension to the dish. Again, the piece of sturgeon was cooked nicely, but lacked anything else on the plate to play up its subtle flavor and texture. We also noticed that all of the 5,6 hot dishes that we ordered arrived at the table lukewarm. I went with the wine pairing while my dinner partner did not. It was a great choice, but a chef doesn't get a star for wine pairings.... At the end, I was utterly stuffed but still longing for a plate of 3,4 perfectly paired ingredients to create a dish with acidity, a blend of salt, sweetness, even a little spice and an edge of heat. I would have exchanged the whole 5 course meal for one of those. Needless to say, we skipped desert since the two options just sounded overly sweet. I seriously would like to have a chat with the critic who awarded this recognition to the chef. That was back in January, maybe the chef already moved on and the restaurant is now heading downhill. No wonder the place was only half-booked on a Saturday eve.
We are going to have lunch at Matsuhisa today and I imagine our palettes will be rejuvenated by some clean and fresh flavors. I'll report back on that. :)