High End French Gastronomy is Alive and Well in Germany: Part 1 (Waldhotel Sonnora)

A Symphony of Balance and Depth

Chef Helmut Thieltges was neither a globe-trotting culinary superstar, nor a creative “genius” pretending to revolutionize the art of eating. Instead, in the vein of some of the best chefs of the last century, such as Fernand Point, Alain Chapel, Freddy Girardet, Joel Robuchon (Jamin period), Harald Wohlfahrt, etc., he stayed in his kitchen, searched for not only the best of available seasonal products, but also luxurious ingredients, and tirelessly prepared complex sauces from scratch and without shortcuts, worthy of Escoffier. Instead of pursuing trends and turning high-end gastronomy into a quasi-theatric medium to express the celebrity chef’s boundless ego, he always put a premium on preparing flawless and delicious dishes to satisfy all his clients.  I dined there several times and thought that he was one of the last practitioners of Point’s famous maxim that “cooking is for capturing the taste of the food (main ingredient) and then enhancing it, as a composer may take a theme and then delight us with his variations”.

His early death in 2017 was a tragedy, reminiscent of the great Alain Chapel’s unexpected departure. Was it the end of an era? I thought so until I tasted his second in cuisine Clemens Rambichler’s dishes. Honestly, had I not known about the tragic event, I would not have been able to tell that there was a change at the helm of the kitchen here. It is obvious that like all great cooks, Thieltges transmitted all his knowledge and experience to his assistant Clemens who is now constructing harmonious and delicious dishes.

In 2022 I dined there a total of four times, twice in May and twice in October. Was this too often? I think it was not enough given that we could not try everything, and there are dishes I would not mind having every day!  The young chef, who is not the biological child of his predecessor, is respecting his legacy more than many young chefs who succeed Michelin starred fathers.  There is another maxim attributed to Point that “perfection is lots of little things done well”.  This was the operating principle of Thieltges’ cuisine. The same principle now underlies Rambichler’s approach and practice.

The display of perfectionism begins with the amuses here. When I went there on two consecutive days, they brought different amuses, but with no difference in terms of quality. They are all delicious, bursting with flavor.  For instance, we were offered razor clams with an orange vinaigrette and cauliflower cream;  Passard (Arpege) level delicate little tarts with beetroots, horseradish cream, and veal tartar; and a trio of a Gilllardeau oyster with dill and caviar, salmon label rouge with wasabi ice cream, crab with sea beans and a coulis of tart apple. In all three sets of amuses, grassy, crunchy, and refreshing herbs combined well with sweet-briny seafood, or earthy-meaty elements, such as beetroot, while a touch acidity felt in each bite (from the citrus) sharpened our taste buds.  One notices that optimum calibration of different elements and textures served to enhance the flavor of the shellfish, as opposed to masking or obfuscating its flavor.

Following the amuses, the diner can either choose a la carte or order the menu Sonnora which is actually a relatively good value at 220 Euro and changes not only seasonally, but even daily. Many signature dishes are usually on the menu, such as the “beef tartare with caviar served on potato rosti”. One can also order this dish a la carte, which is preferable since it contains 20 grams of caviar, instead of 15 grams as part of menu Sonnora.

There are plenty of a la carte choices. The carte is composed of four sections: Starters; Fish and Seafood; Meat and Poultry; Desserts. There are typically four dishes in each section. The menu Sonnora, on the other hand, is composed of five savory dishes (with a selection between two for meat), the cheese course and two desserts. We typically go for a la carte one day and opt for the menu the second day.

We have tried almost all of the starters, and they are consistently good. We always get the beef tartare with caviar, the 20 gram version. This is a fabulous dish which has balance, depth, and focus. The tartare of veal is the level of fassona beef tartare from Piemonte, and the caviar is plentiful and supplied by N25. This rich combination works on its own, but what elevates this dish to a superlative level is the combination with rosti.  It is very light and crunchy, and the three elements together, combined with crème fraiche, create a unique alchemy.

Foie gras marinated in ice wine with walnuts, and oysters with caviar, are also excellent, but another starter that merits a perfect score is the scallop dish. (In May it was on the menu, but not in October.)  It is presented in two services, not together as many restaurants do, but one at a time. First, thinly sliced raw Dieppe scallops, marinated “en rayure” with kohlrabi, tarragon oil, and lime.  Second, “chaud-froid” and foie gras “Cru” with 50 years old balsamic vinegar, pine nuts. and a chive, olive oil vinaigrette. The first part is presented in a large scallop shell. The sliced raw scallops sit on a crustacean jelly, and some dollops of N25 caviar adds further brine to the sweetness of the scallops, balanced by citrus acidity and the earthiness of the gelee. The second serving is more assertive yet equally harmonious. The combination of excellent quality scallops with tiny slivers of foie gras and the chive vinaigrette enriched by sweet syrupy balsamico creates small gustatory explosions on the palate.

If one decides to go a la carte, one will face a conundrum:  lobster, turbot, or sole…. They are all very good, and chef Ramblichler is an accomplished saucier. For instance, take the turbot. Waldhotel always procures a very large Atlantic turbot weighing seven to eight kilograms in excellent condition, since it is killed by the ikejime method to preserve its flavor.  When you order it a la carte, the chef cuts a thick slice from the bone, hence does not lose the best part, i.e., the flavor of the gelatin and the dense viscosity of the fish. (Contrast this with the cottony soft texture of turbot in the high-end Scandinavian restaurants that I reviewed here.) In spring he offered turbot from la Rochelle with slices of marinated scallops and parsley in “nage” from old Riesling 1992. In Fall, it was the turn of grilled Turbot from La Rochelle with bouchot mussels from “St Brieuc” in a sauce containing anise, fennel, and Iranian saffron. Both were prime examples of Point’s maxim that cooking should first capture and then enhance the taste of food.

Turbot, sole, and lobster are all excellent choices, but I have a soft spot for the langoustine, probably because I adore the taste of langoustine which is subtler and sweeter than lobster. I also rarely encounter prime quality large langoustine from Brittany or Galicia. I would be more than pleased with langoustine grilled whole in the shell, but I can’t think of a more captivating sauce than Sonnora’s version. Grilled langoustines “Royale” with spicy mango “Par Avion” and lime-butter sauce “Beurre Bordier”. He serves a jumbo langoustine tail of top quality. The langoustine is first grilled and then pan fried in brown butter, and served in a sauce of shellfish reduction, ginger, mango, and lime. The Chef adds very thinly sliced ripe mango and fresh crunchy green cabbage to the dish. The sauce also includes interesting crunchy seeds, which turned out to be buckwheat seeds. We tasted citrus acidity, spice, sweet mango, buckwheat seeds, and shellfish! There seems to be too many and excessive flavors. I can see how many chefs will ruin the langoustine in a similar preparation. But when tasted, one notices that Rambichler created a complex, multi-dimensional yet very balanced concoction from a luxurious ingredient. This dish is on par with Bernard Pacaud’s celebrated langoustine dish at L’Ambroisie.

Before the meat course, my wife and I usually share a sweetbread preparation. We both love this “lollipop for grownups” and think that one gets a near perfect preparation here. “Saute of sweetbreads and small champignon mushrooms, with parsley jus, vin jaune and black truffle from Perigord” was near perfect. This is a classical preparation and all the elements blended very well. The sauce was exquisite. Actually, there were two sauces:  a parsley jus, surrounded by vin jaune beurre blanc. The sweetbreads were perfectly cooked, crunchy outside and creamy inside. Preserved truffles were as good as they can be, and duxelles mushrooms and crispy lettuce blended well with the dish. This was another triumph.

Many chefs know how to add more and more ingredients to a dish and, as many claim, it is harder and more important to know when to stop. It is perhaps equally crucial to be a master of control when you combine several ingredients and a rich sauce. The expertise of Thieltgeis was exactly that, and Rambichler is also following the same path. We have tasted four meat preparations from him, and all of them are testimony to his ability to seek new horizons without sacrificing the integrity of the main ingredient. His “etouffee pigeon” in spring and saddle of venison with buckwheat crepe, pistachio gremolata and a very rich Rouenaise red wine sauce with bone marrow and foie gras merit perfect scores. The Rouenaise sauce itself is a chef-d’oeuvre. His Kagoshima A5 Wagyu presented in two services is very good too, but has not yet been perfected, in my opinion.

But what I want to highlight here is the Spring lamb. It is partially because I rarely find very high quality lamb cooked to perfection. It is also because I appreciate using some of the tastiest parts of the lamb that are often discarded in high end cooking. I value very much the co-existence of rustic simplicity with elaborate subtlety. Alain Chapel was the undisputed master of this hard to achieve harmony, and the lamb dish here is a product of a similar philosophy: “Carre and saddle of Limousin lamb with calf head jus, lamb tongue and dried tomatoes with hollandaise of garden herbs”.

Allow me to use a cliché saying that the young lamb dish was like “the bounty of spring on a plate” with an extra. The natural sauce of the lamb had extra depth from slivers of lamb tongue and the gelatin of calf head jus. This rustic dimension of the jus was balanced with the light and flavorful Hollandaise of garden herbs. The lamb was very tender yet flavorful, which made me think that it was beyond the suckling stage as you could taste wild thyme in each bite of the rack of lamb. The light Hollandaise, which rather tasted like a sabayon, was in tune with the lamb’s quality. Fresh spring vegetables consisted of artichoke, aubergine caviar, red peppers, peas, and fava beans.  A judicious use of red pepper mousse in the sauce added extra complexity to this beautiful lamb dish from the Pyrenees.

The quality of the desserts here does not lag behind the savory courses. In Spring we enjoyed aromatic French gariguette strawberries with rhubarb, rhubarb gelee, mascarpone ice cream, fromage blanc, and basil oil with pine nuts.  In Fall we appreciated the equally good figs perfumed with aged port, sour cream sorbet, acacia honey vinaigrette, and hazelnut oil.

Add to all of these a remarkable cheese trolley with good selections, excellent breads, high end sweet tarts, chocolates with coffee, and a wine list with depth and fair prices. The service is efficient, but friendly, and the time between the courses is optimum. One does not feel rushed, but one does not wait too long between the courses either.

Waldhotel Sonnora sits perfectly in the fairy tale like Mosel with amazing wines, beautiful scenery and kind people.

EVALUATION: 19.5/20