The Restaurant Rutz is located in the heart of Berlin at Chausseestraße 8 behind an unassuming exterior. Can you spot the award-winning restaurant here? If not, don't feel too bad. I almost walked right past it the first time. However, once you experienced their offerings once, trust me: you will never walk past it again.The restaurant features two Michelin stars, 18 points in Gault Millau, and a load of other awards that go with this level of dedication. It is situated within easy walking distance of several other Michelin starred restaurants; the area seems to be striving for paradise and luckily, it is not far from my home.
Split into two floors, the lower floor features a high-class, yet casual wine bar which also offers food a la carte.
Arrival
However, on this Thursday night (thanks to my spontaneous decision in the morning to treat myself to something very special indeed), I am immediately whisked to the upper floor and delivered into the very capable hands of the restaurant manager Falco Mühlichen.Immediately? Well, not quite. It appears yours truly's signature dress code - meaning all black, from shirt to suit - is also that of the staff at Rutz, and I am at first mistaken for a new colleague. If only my skills were up to this level!
The restaurant, too, avoids being overly formal. The other guests on this night vary widely - from the visiting gentleman via the distinguished couple from Austria to a casually dressed and informal group at the other tables, and the restaurant will not fill up completely this night. Dining alone, I am placed in what is actually my favorite position in any room: a corner with the wall at my back, the window to my left, and the view of the space ahead. Score!
There is also a terrace facing the courtyard, but it is not open tonight.
An introduction
That said, I must apologize to them, and to you, dear readers. This account will fall short of the experience I had, because I was not ready. Not only because the decision to start writing about my adventures was spontaneous; nor was this the first Michelin starred restaurant I visited. I usually was able to recall and describe my meal the next day without too much trouble, at least when referring back to the menu. Yet repeatedly, my mind was overwhelmed; when they asked me after each plate whether I enjoyed it, there were multiple times when I couldn't even answer and just shrugged in defeat. Next time I am going to be taking written notes. And take more pictures (only with the permission of the restaurant, of course). With that out of the way:
The choice
The food
The drinks
Next up - Alexander Seiser, their sommelier. Of course, they offer wine/beer pairings, but I declined - as a rule, I don't drink alcohol. I like the taste of certain spirits, but even the thought of mild intoxication is not for me. I am quite used to this implying that I end up drinking water all night long, which is perfectly fine. And, since the Rutz does not advertise anything else, I was - this was a theme that night - not prepared for Alexander's face lighting up and him offering an experimental pairing with his home-brewn, fermented potions. We ended up playing a game where he would place a glass filled with a sip of something in front of me, and I'd have to taste and guess. I am proud to say I got it mostly right, so apparently, my palate is not totally bad - except he totally stumped me with the last pairing of the day.I have a hard time keeping secrets
And I admitted to being confused; when you have something this delightful, why not advertise it? Because apparently, he only ever prepares small batches, so they want to keep it a bit of a secret - advertising something that they could not reliably deliver would not meet their philosophy. When asked why they just don't make more, it seems that because of uneven demand, it then has a tendency to go bad.A classic bootstrapping problem. To which there is only one solution: increase demand so that it is viable, nay, required to scale up. Frankly, some of these creations are plain amazing. For me, the availability of non-alcoholic pairings influences my choice of restaurant; whether it's amazing teas or extracts of juices or a choice of waters, I appreciate the additional dimension this brings to the meal.
And yes, had I done my research on the team prior to attending, I could have saved myself the embarrassment of mentioning that the only other time in Berlin I received a pairing of this quality and thoughtfulness was at the Horvàth; Alexander was chef de rang there prior to Billy Wagner leaving as Rutz's sommelier to start the Nobelhart & Schmutzig and can someone just draw me a network diagram of the who is who, thank you very much. That said, the La Degustation Bohême Bourgeoise in Prague also does amazing work.
I hope the Rutz, and Marco Müller, recognize the talent at hand, and he is given the room for growth in this space. I certainly would very much enjoy that.
The experience
At this level, talking about the impeccable craftsmanship is pointless. Any minuscule mistakes that happen will never leave the kitchen and reach the guest's table. There are no mistakes - and if there are, they are true and utter exceptions. But if something arrives on your table, there is a better than five-sigma chance that it has been prepared and presented just as the chef intended. And neither does it make sense to talk merely about whether the food was good or bad. That'd be similar to saying that Munch's paintings are good or bad; or that Bach's Art of Fugue was.Thus, if an outstanding chef (and their team) puts a plate in front of me, the question is not whether or not I "liked" or even "enjoyed" it. It is not craftsmanship; it is performance art. It becomes a question of reception; how does this art impress, inspire, or challenge me?
Impressive
This part is going to be plain boring. Every single course or plate was impressive. Yes, the craftsmanship was perfect. The ingredients incredible, the sheer effort that went into each plate unbelievable. Whether it's picking every last bone from a fish and then gluing it back together, or first cooking a carrot to then drill out its core to refill it with tarragon foam, every single plate implied more effort than most of us put into an entire meal. To prepare this dinner, work started days, if not weeks, ago. It is an incredible privilege to be able to afford and enjoy.But first and foremost, the flavors and textures were, to my palate, just right. Flavors were combined in both traditional and complementing ways. Recreating a fish sauce from regional fish, which perhaps provided a hint of what garum might have been like. And, departing from the regional theme, the essential oil was prepared from the buds of spruces imported from a friendly Eastern Europe woodsman because they were just better quality. It is this level of dedication, no, obsession with perfection that is just astounding.
The garden carrot was paired with a potion that combined a sweet juice made from the carrot greens and a green carrot oil, thus adding not just flavor, but two different textures.
The first amuse-gueule featured a tiny bite of lamb tartar, and this perfect cut of meat from the Müritzer countryside would make a reappearance in the later part of the menu; both were amazing and I would not even know where to buy meat of this quality.
The dessert course highlighted oxalic acid - Holsteiner Rhubarb, red sorrel (also fittingly called oxalis) sorbet, wheatgrass foam, and natural yoghurt droplets - was simply beyond divine.
And I did sample a sip of the the Rutz Rebell, a pure Chardonnaysparkling wine from Germany, bottled especially for them. This might have been the first champagne I actually really liked, a perfect balance between fruit and dryness.
Unfortunately, (non-alcoholic) drink pairings were not available for every course. I hope this evolves going forward.
Inspiring
Unripe pickled strawberries that tasted like pearl onions with a hint of tonka/woodruff. Pork chin - normally, a part of the animal that is only used in sausages - stars as an amazing, immensely flavorful yet tender cut that just might be my new favorite part. And when I read "Broiler Heart" as an ingredient, I certainly did not expect it to arrive roasted, dried, and grated like fine hard cheese over the plate. Roasting a red beet in the oven so it forms a hard shell and then only serving it's earthy, rich heart and bringing the taste of the typical Berlin cellar to the table.The dried horseradish though did not work for me; I believe the plate would have benefited from the fresh sharpness.
But the potions! Pear quince vinegar? Red currant kombucha? The "matcha" that revolved around a sorrel granita whose slow melting kept changing the flavor and the texture? Or, finally, that reduced pear kombucha with vervain that I had mistaken for a bitter orange reduction? Is he already married?
Challenging
As explained earlier, I don't believe reducing this to dislike would be appropriate. While most parts of the experience had me delirious, a few were challenging my palate through the stark contrasts and intense flavors they brought. But these were not accidents or mistakes; they happened exactly as they were intended because Marco Müller wanted to make these points. So whenever I encounter these in a fine meal, I welcome the challenge to broaden my horizon and see where that leads.For me, there were three points that night that fit that bill. One of the amuse-gueules made with steamed cabbage brought a very strong horse stable association to my mind. Yes, that is very regional for Brandenburg, but it was unexpected and an intense flavor.
The other was the tomato tea; I found the intensity of the taste overpowering. Yet it cleared the palate for the more nuanced flavors of the mackerel and solidifed milk.
And, finally, the barley reduction served as an espresso that accompanied the perfect, tender rose cut of lamb was a just such an overpowering red eye gravy prepared from "chicory coffee" (a German abomination born in times when real coffee was not available or too expensive). But it provided the perfect contrast to highlight just that tenderness.
This is, perhaps, the one category where more is not automatically better. Thus, my scaling of three out of five is not meant to convey any detraction, but convey an appropriate balance.
The service
As would be expected, the service too was wonderful, friendly, and always knowledgeable. I will not praise Alexander again, because otherwise I'll sound like a fanboy, but what can you do. Everyone was always courteous.There were only one or two truly minor issues - such as laying out the incorrect cutlery. And, for one or two courses, I would have appreciated a knife along the spoon and fork; or perhaps a spoon with a serrated edge; this would for example have made cutting the carrot or rhubarb easier.
Yet, for someone dining alone, an average of twenty-three minutes per course is slightly too long. While granting one time to fully appreciate and recover from the previous and clear one's palate is welcome, I would suggest to aim for not longer than fifteen minutes. This bordered on taking away from the meal, and that would be a shame.
In summary
Marco Müller and his entire team have granted me not just an outstanding, but one of the best culinary experiences of my life so far. I am guaranteed to be back in the next season and see how they interpret the richness of late summer.While I have experienced restaurants that, in one way or the other, subjectively might have done slightly better in any of the categories, and comparisons at this level are slightly insane to start with, I believe that, in total, this rates as one of my top three dining experiences.
And, again, reducing such an occasion to a subjective rating hardly does it justice. Such scaling will certainly evolve over time, and I am not going to start by handing out the highest possible ratings unless I am absolutely convinced at my absolutely most pedantic. For a more complete perspective, please refer to the discussion above.
- Ambiance: ★★★★☆
- Meal:
- Impressive: ★★★★★
- Inspired: ★★★★☆
- Challenging: ★★★☆☆
- Drink pairing:
- Impressive: ★★★★☆
- Inspired: ★★★★☆
- Challenging: ★★☆☆☆
- Service: ★★★☆☆
To "review" a restaurant like the Rutz in Berlin feels presumptuous. At two Michelin stars, this is clearly beyond...
Posted by Lars Marowsky-Brée on Monday, May 29, 2017
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