Baiersbronn-Tonbach, Germany: Dining at a Three Michelin Star Restaurant in the Black Forest

Back in the bay area (I would even say the United States in general), restaurants rated with a Michelin star have become a bigger and bigger deal among friends. These are a small number of selected restaurants that have been awarded stars in the Michelin Red Guide. A restaurant can be given anywhere from 1 to 3 Michelin stars with 1 being the lowest on the scale and 3 being extraordinarily good. The funny thing is that this started with the tire manufacturer, Michelin. The guide was intended to boost tire sales by convincing the public to take road trips and burn through the tires of their cars (to buy more tires) while dining at these recommended establishments.

 Many years later, what started out as a guidebook of restaurants has turned into a big deal. Many chefs of restaurants strive to be awarded with a Michelin star while other chefs have ended their lives over losing one. The ultra-competitive nature of fine dining has evolved so much that most of the food doesn’t even look like a normal dish anymore! Beyond the food, there is more emphasis on the whole dining experience from the smallest of details in the dish to the extraordinary service.

So how does it feel to actually dine at a 3 star Michelin restaurant? Ben and I intended to find out. One of the top (if not the top) restaurants in Germany is a restaurant deep in the Black Forest called Schwarzwaldstube situated across from a hotel nested among the endless green hills. Commander of the kitchen at this exclusive locale is Harald Wohlfahrt, a very renown chef in Europe. His restaurant is notable for retaining its 3 Michelin star rating for 20 years, setting a record for Germany. I kid you not, this guy is like the Michelin Star grandpa from having trained 6 other chefs who were awarded 3 stars in their restaurants.

Making Reservations: 

Of course, dining in a restaurant like this is far from walking in there any old time and requesting a table. We had requested a reservation 3 months out and were only confirmed maybe a week or two before our trip. We were lucky enough to have had a room across the street at the Traube Tonbach hotel where we got ready and walked across the street to our finest of all dining experiences. I’m not going to lie, this was a total upgrade from being a broke grad student not too long ago.

First Impressions: 

Some impressions I’ve had from the restaurant is how much more formal it is from most restaurants. There was someone assisting me with my coat who hung it in the closet and ushered us over to a dining room full of wide windows facing the forest. He set us into our seats and brought out champagne followed by a couple rounds of tasters before offering the menu. The other diners were dressed formally as well with most donning a suit or cocktail dress. So what did I end up wearing? A brand new black Prada dress, of course. ;)

The Food: 

The Schwarzwaldstube offers 3 menus. Two of the choices consisted of 5 courses while the main choice, otherwise known as the large degustation menu, was 7 courses of food. One of the fixed price menus was vegetarian while the other 2 options were meat on meat. For those not interested in doing courses, there is an option to buy a single plate à la carte. Since it was our first time here, we dove in for the big kahuna and got the full 7 courses. Full disclosure, it was both a great choice and a mistake towards the end of the meal. We were also somewhat expected to pick 3 bottles of liquor, a bottle of champagne for starters, a white wine for the mid courses, and a bottle of red wine for the ending courses but only made it through 1 bottle and an additional couple glasses of champagne and red wine. I’m convinced to really get the 3 Michelin star experience, you also have to be blacked out midway through the dinner and wonder where your wallet went the next day.

And so we started a 4-hour dinner and this was how it went… Excuse my semi-terrible iPhone quality photos and apologies for the drool-fest that may start to happen...

Round 1:
Amuse-Bouche Part 1

Round 2:
Amuse-Bouche Part 2

Round 3:
Terrine of duck liver, quail and sweetbread in Jurancon jelly with artichokes and pine nut vinaigrette

Round 4:
Medallions of bretonian lobster, sautéed sepia with fennel, capsicum and tomatoes, fennel sauce

Round 5:
Tranche of wild salmon surrounded by oysters, black truffle and watercress emulsion in shellfish bouillon

Round 6:
Variation of homegrown deer with summer crepes, rosemary apple and chicorée, juniper sauce (I wonder if "homegrown deer" really means I shot that thing in the backyard)

Round 7:
Cheese from the trolley

Round 8:
Fondant of chocolate with bonbon of black forest raspberry water 

Round 9:
Ice cream of sour cream and blackberry coulis

Round 10:
Ricotta sorbet with flavors of Timut pepper, bitter lemon jelly and Mirabelle crumble with cranberries and cold brew of verveine

There were also some pre-desserts and post-desserts but I had given up on taking photos at this point. We basically ate till our hearts content and it was awesome! 

The Service: 

Obviously the food is one important factor in a restaurant. One thing I did not expect to have notice so much is the attention to detail in the customer service. I had to use the restroom and instead of being told where the restroom is with the occasional pointing in some vague direction of the restaurant, one of our servers literally walked me all the way to the bathroom. Upon returning to the dining room, I found that my napkin had been replaced and the same man, while in mid conversation, stopped, and rushed over to my seat to push me back into my chair.

Our bottle of white wine was also tenderly taken cared of throughout the meal as our other server would cool the bottle in an ice bucket and then remove it for a short period of time and repeat to keep the wine temperature constant.

Lastly, the real kicker in this dining experience was coming to dinner and promptly alerting the team that I had a wheat intolerance. I noticed then on that they were careful to make modifications for my plate so that I could have just about the same items as Ben but without wheat. I was given other options if it was not possible to make modifications and they seemed very well prepared. Twelve courses later I was definitely full but not sick. The chef even modified one of the courses and made the chocolate cake flourless and gluten free! He also made an appearance and I got to meet him in person.

Overall, dining at the Schwarzwaldstube was a great experience and also eye-opening to the type of restaurants and customer service that can exist. It’s going to be hard to find another place comparable to this!