Billy Wagner (formerly the sommelier at the Restaurant Rutz) opened his restaurant in February 2015, and my first dinner there was in July 2016. Thus time to visit again!
A note on photography
In my last post, I promised pictures. Alas, as mentioned, the Nobelhart & Schmutzig does not approve of guests clicking away. And because it is never a good idea to annoy a great chef, the pictures that you do see are those they kindly allowed me to use from their press kit. (Though they do not cover the current food.) However, this time, I did bring my notebook to scribble in to share a better account of my evening.Arrival
Philosophy
We are given a brief refresher of the restaurant's philosophy. And this will also be apparent throughout the meal - the focus is on "radically" local and regional produce from around Berlin, and looking at our dinner, I would say within a 150km radius or less. They maintain close relationships with their suppliers, farmers, bakers, and, very importantly, fishermen, striving to acquire only the best possible ingredients. In return, say good-bye to pepper, tuna (which you should not be eating anyway), vanilla, and other exotics - unless global warming takes a turn for the worse. Thankfully, exceptions are made for the beverages.The focus is thus on preparing and presenting those exceptional and sometimes unusual (at least nowadays) ingredients so that their unique qualities are highlighted, and not taken away from. None of the plates served was very elaborate - however, they showed great respect and skill for every detail. And that is humbling in quite a different manner than being confronted with an impossibly intricate dish that shows you the limits of your own kitchen and cooking skills (mine at least): yes, you could probably do this or at least get close, if you took the same care and respect, starting from the time needed to even find a supplier for this quality and rejecting everything else.
This is what our regional food can be, if we want it to be. This is what even a mere young carrot can be, if we treat it with this level of respect. Why don't we?
You walk away from this dinner not overwhelmed, but with a renewed respect and appreciation of what is right around you - though let's not jump ahead of ourselves, we have time before our evening is over! Time to place our order.
The choice
The food
The drinks
The menu includes filtered (sparkling or still) water, which I applaud. I find being charged for clean water slightly ridiculous.It comes as no surprise that a restaurant founded and operated by Billy Wagner, who was recognized as sommelier of the year several times, excels when it comes to wonderful wines, spirits, craft beer, and other alcoholic fermented products. And the menu for this is a truly impressive and inspiring tome. If this is what you enjoy, you will have a very enjoyable evening indeed, and I could tell from the diners around me that they did.
However, if you avoid alcohol for any reason like I do, perhaps this aspect of the Nobelhart & Schmutzig experience is going to be perceived as slightly sub-par. That does not mean there are no alternatives - they have quite the (un)usual soda selection, four kinds of tea, two kinds of coffee, and (this night) three specialty juices on offer. (Which I will discuss further below.) But even that is limited.
This is an area where I feel the experience could be improved. Different kinds of water (I might then even pay for them!), non-alcoholic ferments from vinegar to kombucha, dairy, fruit and vegetable juices (soured or plain), emulsions, regional herbal teas or extracts, ... Even accepting the reasoning why they don't operate an espresso machine, it's not hard to argue that Turkish/African mocha (as prepared, say, in the elaborate ritual over at Bejte) or a French press are by now at home here? After all, the wines are from all over Europe too, and the coffee is certainly not grown regionally anyway.
As such, a further dimension of crafting and serving regional beverages is not fully exploited and could elevate the experience. If not done in-house, perhaps suppliers could be found?
Our dinner
We started with a somewhat unusual aperitif, because we both had somewhat long working days - the Five Elephant Keny - Kamviu AA, prepared as a cold brew. Five Elephant is a local Berlin coffee roaster focusing on artisan coffee, carefully selected from sustainable and fair suppliers.I selected this cold brew for a perhaps unusual reason; for I had been given a bag of these beans awhile ago (I usually appreciate strong Kenyan coffee, and in fact this Kenyan wild harvest from Food Kaffa is my current favorite), and with French press and a strong black brew as my preferred preparation for appreciating specialty roasts, had condemned this one as "undrinkable": acidic, overly fruity, plain sour - for my palate. Never one to give up easily, I wanted to find out how some other coffee fanatic might prepare it and where that would lead me. I choose the cup tempered with rather heavy, unprocessed milk, and my accomplice had the plain version.
The cold brew is, indeed, served cold (and not like in some preparations as a strong cold extract diluted with hot water, Americano-style). As the milk was poured, I could already see the acidity is not only in my mind - the milk even curdled a tiny bit. However, tempering the coffee indeed turned it into a pleasant, tea-like drink with definitive coffee notes. It would still not be my favorite bean, but definitely better. (The version without the heavy milk tasted exactly how I remembered, even though my company liked it; for me, the least said about it the better.)
And with that, it was time for the first plate - the Nobelhart & Schmutzig does not believe in amuse-bouches, and in line with their philosophy, what you see is what you get.
Young vegetables
Imagine a plate containing "only" a very young carrot including the greens, a radish with the greens, and a kohlrabi (you guessed it, with the greens). The green appealing and bright and very fresh, the root stems themselves tiny still because they have just begun to grow. (Specifically planted for the restaurant, too, and sourced from Grete Peschken.) Sprinkle on some pumpernickel crumbs roasted in butter, and drizzle mild vinegar on the leaves. Done.Yet, this plate captures the freshness of spring really well. I especially enjoyed the taste of the tender kohlrabi, which at this age has not yet developed the strong cabbage notes nor its thicker skin. The carrot was sweet and had the perfect crunch. The radish alas lacked the sharpness I usually appreciate in them.
And, yes, you do eat the leaves (if it's on your plate at Nobelhart & Schmutzig, you can eat it); the parts you'd normally cut off first thing. You will find even they are tasty and tender still. (Our neighbors were warned about the leaves of the carrots being somewhat stringy, but I did not notice.)
At this point, we ordered our first real drinks too. Two of the juices on offer were prepared in-house, so that was an easy choice. I went with the rhubarb in which the leaves and stems of currants had been macerated, and then served with a dash of sparkling water. The oxalic acid - for my tastes - went well with the next courses, but perhaps would have been better with still water. My company went for juice infused with fennel and hay, which was also quite tasty.
Eel
The next plate was perhaps the most minimalist of the evening in its presentation - two tidily square pieces of eel (confitted, then quickly seared), with a single leaf of lovage on top. The eel is from the Müritz region and a small fish farm, whose produce will make an appearance in a later course again. A few flakes of kosher salt.And. Oh. Wow. This was mind-blowingly good. The bite of tender, succulent, aromatic eel perfectly accentuated by the lovage's freshness and slight pungency and citrus note. I may have spontaneously sighed.
This dish exemplified the entire concept - excellent produce, prepared in a way that perfectly preserves the ingredient's taste and amplifies it, balanced with a regional herb. And presented just as that - no deception, no playfulness. This is it.
Bread and butter
The bread is the one part they don't prepare themselves at the restaurant, but source from Alfredo Sironi (though with a recipe customized for them; you can however buy it at the bakery on days the restaurant is open). A spelt sourdough bread made with thirty percent whole grain flour. As anyone who has made their own real bread or rolls from scratch will agree, spelt is not the easiest grain to work with, and tends to be on the dry side. This bread wasn't; it had a moist, elastic crumb and a nice bite to the crust (though that could be marginally more delicate). Most importantly, it had a rich yet subtle flavor without being overbearing. A great balance to cleanse the palate and be delicious in its own right.
But, the butter! Oh, the butter! Prepared in-house from unprocessed - meaning not pasteurized or homogenized - very heavy cream (supplied by Erdhof Seewalde from an old breed of cattle fed on the meager, sandy meadows), soured with a yoghurt starter and beaten to butter. The butter is then stored in custom-made jars (that look like half-sized sauerkraut pots) for one to two months to ripen, giving it a slight cheese flavor and intense aroma.
Take your fancy caviar and serve it to someone else, can I have another scoop of this butter please? (Spoiler: we did end up needing another serving of it later in our meal.)
Potato and Dill
Our next dish was mashed potatoes from the last season, finished with smoked butter (hah!), and a side of whitefish caviar (again from the Müritz region), topped with sprigs of fresh dill.The caviar added some texture and crunch, but the main star were the "aged" potatoes (having turned mealy over the months) and their smoked butter flavor, with the freshness of the young dill as a counterpoint (also a traditional herb for seafood, complementing the mild caviar) which even had some parsley notes. A tasty combination.
Pike and Onion
And more seafood from the Müritz! The pike was delicious - confitted in brown butter, all bones picked out carefully and meticulously, it was served al dente and had a great texture. For me, the star of this course though was the stock it was placed in - made from young onions and finished with sweet, subtle yogurt whey. Some bread was needed to sweep up every last drop of it. (And I really need to extract the address of their fishmonger.)Yolk and Herbs
This is the season in which you can get perfect fresh herbs. Instead of using them as mere highlights on other dishes, why not build a plate just around them? And here we are! An assortment of bright, ranging from green to red, shiny, extremely fresh, aromatic herbs, with all their flavor and texture.Underneath the herbs, a lightly poached egg yolk which serves as a sauce and whose richness adds a creamy flavor. To my liking, this was almost too rich for the delicate herbs, but I solved that by trying all herbs individually first, and then mixing the yolk with some herb - the bread was a welcome help yet again and the plat returned sparkling clean.
Time for another drink; the final juice is the specialty apple juice from "Ananasrenette", so named because the taste has notes of pineapple. It is a rare breed of Malus domestica, and if you have a chance, you should try to sample as many different apples and their juices as you can. Or mints. Or cresses. Or fruits in general. All those we refer to as generics ("apples", "bananas", "mango", "cress", ...) in fact come in so many different flavors and breeds that often taste nothing alike. This was a very subtle juice, not very sweet, and reminded me of that from my grandparents garden. What more can you ask for?
Well, another cup of course! Alas, this was the last bottle, and my company could not have one. A shame - did I mention it's a rare variant yet?
Asparagus and Black Salsify
At this time in Germany, you really must serve our national pride - white asparagus. This one was cooked very al dente, but without being chewy or bitter at all (a common risk easily avoided if you have the secret of the best suppliers, so maybe not so easily after all), lightly drizzled with golden flax seed oil. Add a few young ground ivy leaves as a tangy contrast.The remaining black salsify was cut up and reduced to a dark, black syrup at the end of the last season. It provided a strong, earthy, yet sweet sauce that reminded me of sugar beet molasses.
The ground ivy is a flavor I quite like - sparks of fir, spruce, and forest in general. At first, I was skeptical about the combination with asparagus, associating them more strongly with lamb or game. But combined with the syrup, it really did work - even if for some reason I suddenly had flashbacks to korean bbq flavors. Our minds are strange places!
Lamb and Green Asparagus
We've already made it to the main meat course already. As part of their mission and respect for the living creature, Nobelhart & Schmutzig does not just prepare the traditional "best" cuts of meat, but the whole animal. The animals are also raised in the Müritz region (the need to drive up there and sample everything in person increases), just like that excellent filet I enjoyed at the Rutz last week. So along with excellent stir-fried green asparagus which had been marinated in pear kombucha, yielding a crisp bite with sweet-bitter notes, I received a cut from the shoulder which was slow braised, and one from the haunch that was grilled in the corner of the kitchen and I could see and smell the flames from my seat. (The neighboring seats later had a cut of the tongue; I admit to being slightly jealous!)So, first, the shoulder - truly excellent. Perfectly tender, juicy, soft like butter. Amazing. Succulent, and rich in flavor without being overpowering.
Alas, the haunch cut. There's no other way to say this - it should not have been served. Though very rare inside, it was too burned on the outside. And worse, the texture was chewy and stringy. The neighbors were also not impressed with theirs and returned it.
That said, Billy Wagner was truly apologetic about this accident, and took the plate back to the chef to taste. He offered to serve the plate again (which I declined because I simply was not that hungry anymore). And this morning, I woke up to a late night mail from him apologizing again and offering to send me a discount voucher for my next meal. I admit I took up that offer - sampling the Nobelhart & Schmutzig in the next season was on my list anyway, and now I am obligated, am I not?
No hard feelings; while this was disappointing, I admit it is also heartening. It's not just me who has bad luck sometimes! And one should avoid becoming blasé to the wonder that is award-winning, and more importantly, outstanding cuisine, and the privilege of being able to compare cooking at this level. Onward!
Rhubarb and Juniper
Another traditional partner to asparagus and strawberries: rhubarb. And one of my favorite stems, ubiquitous all over Germany. I love the woodruff-reminiscing flavors, the sour notes, the slight astringency, and the various textures to which it can be prepared. If you ask me, it goes well with everything, but especially dairy products (which temper the oxalic acid).The heavy cream from which the butter is prepared made a reappearance as the backdrop for the rhubarb. The rhubarb itself was very crunchy yet delicate; and I had guessed right, it had been vacuum-compressed and only carefully blanched to preserve the texture and taste.
The inspired touch was the juniper essence which added an entire other dimension to the flavor of the rhubarb and cream. Very well done, and again, very delicious.
Yeast and Fennel
A yeast ice cream, sprinkled with roasted fennel seeds and dusted with powdered hay. (From the same hay that feeds the cows.) The first taste had a beautiful salty twinkle, even. The slight bitter notes of the hay flour and the tangy fennel essential oil complemented and balanced the rich cream with a very mild yeast flavor. (If you are likely to experience hay fever, you may want to let them know. I certainly felt it, though thankfully, my affliction is minor only.)I enjoyed this dessert for its unusual flavors and because "bitter" is an underused one. Neither of the two desserts was very sweet, which I also appreciated.
Alas, we now are at the end of the plated dishes! All good things must come to an end (even though I admit to never having quite understood why). Since it was late, and we had started our dinner with the coffee already (and the Nobelhart does not serve decaf), we decided to retire.
Sweet Chamomile
But fear not; you are not sent out the door without provisions for the road! This time, it was a sizable chunk of creamy, tender butter caramel infused with chamomile. The floral notes really enhanced the caramel, and I am not ashamed to admit it did not last the whole way home.The service
The service was impeccable and always courteous and knowledgeable about the food, and gave us the background, origin, and preparation. Absolutely no complaints here. And I also appreciated the timing of the courses at about fifteen minutes per plate. Well done, very friendly, and yet casual.In summary
Their philosophy truly was visibly present in every single plate. (With one accident.) Highlighting regional ingredients, no games, minimal presentation, everything focused on the products and produce. Two, maybe three components that complement and enrich each other without detraction, but not without the occasional contrast.Billy Wagner and his chef Micha Schäfer have served an outstanding meal that was both an antithesis to the elaborate preparations in avant garde cooking, yet just so exemplifies its values. All while remaining casual - in everything but the dedication to the food.
As discussed before, any suggestions at this level are to be taken with a pinch of salt; you will not go wrong in this restaurant, and it truly showcases the wealth of the region. Yet, I would not mind if the choices for non-alcoholic beverages received just such a pinch more love, and while the dishes were all impressive and inspiring in their own right, I would not mind a bit more of a challenge for my palate.
But I shall definitely be back and taste the next season, and can hardly wait!
My star of the week quest continues. Up this time: an outstanding dinner at the Nobelhart & Schmutzig.
Posted by Lars Marowsky-Brée on Saturday, June 3, 2017
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