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| Venetian Restaurant |
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| Aschau im
Chiemgau - Germany |
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World
Level Perfection
October - 2007 |
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7 Stars
& 7 Stripes
Overall - 'Cuisine & Service' |
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The
Ultimate Award:
Seven Stars and
Stripes® |
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As if in a storybook setting nestled between the
stately Alps on the border of Austria and the old-world setting of Chiemsee, a
grandiose Bavarian lake, is the Residenz Heinz Winkler. The location has all
the earmarks of a gourmet 'Heidi-land' featuring the likes of award winning
Chef
Heinz Winkler, a sort of culinary Mad King Ludwig. His gastronomic
creations have earned him numerous awards including 19 1/2 points from Gault
Millau out of a possible 20 and a phenomenal 3 Michelin Stars a total of twenty
times since opening. I have even seen it listed in Patricia Schultz's
bestseller "1,000 Places to See Before You Die". Winkler has arrived it seems,
although all those accolades and awards require hard work and preparation to
develop the kind of consistency necessary to maintain such a legacy.
We were
invited to the Venetian Restaurant at Residenz Heinz Winkler to see for
ourselves and we were not to be disappointed. You could feel the pride, the
nurturing and honor of working in a unique setting like this one. All this
happiness and expertise is the work of inspired leadership and military-style
good training. It was Head Maitre D’ Fabrice Kieffer who was responsible
for my well being during our lengthy review and he too looked content.
“What could be better than living and working under the tutelage of
certifiably the ‘Best Chef in Europe’ and in the midst of 25,000
bottles of wine with everything from Latour to Lafite”, I confessed to
Fabrice. He answered “Nothing!”. After 18 years of ownership, Winkler
has established himself at the culinary epicenter of Europe. We agree! Our
experience was simply one of perfection in cuisine, service and style. Every
table is set with a different art object on it as well as fresh orchids. Light
piano music in the background and picture-postcard views of the Alps help to
set the mood but that is only the beginning as impeccable service and culinary
wizardry ensued. Chef Winkler's special menu left us in awe as each course was
presented in succession with creative wine parings primarily from Germany,
Austria and France. |
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| After starting out with fresh
peach Bellinis strongly reminding us of the value of freshness, we began our
culinary extravaganza. Among the standouts were Trilogy of Duck Liver
served auspiciously together with a very fresh and supple Clos Floridene
Domaine Dubourdieu, 2004 Graves France. The rich elegant flavors of the
three fois gras presentations were dutifully enhanced by the wine's mixed
bouquet of citrus and stone fruit with hints of sweet spices. |
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| Our main course consisted of St Peter's Fish Fillet
with Glazed Fennel, so simply prepared it contradicts reasoning but so
explosive in taste it restores belief in the master of his art. This
entrée was paired with a rarely seen Viennese wine, 2003 Chardonnay
Grand Select Weingut Fritz Wieninger, a barrique fermented wine from 30 yr
old vines producing a mellow character with complex flavors of fruit. An
intermezzo with a different take was presented to us on a teaspoon thereby
providing a refreshing interlude before the second entrée of Bread
Encrusted Brest of Squab served with a most intense puree of parsley. The
mild mannered squab breast was perfectly suited for the concentrated essence of
the parsley. It was a rare treat and perfectly prepared by Sous Chef Johan
Rappenglück, who under the careful mentoring of Heinz Winkler, has come
into his own. This in turn was paired with a 2000 Chateau d'Aigiulhe Comtes
de Neipperg, Bordeaux France offering fresh meadow flowers, wild herbs and
dark berry aromas. We concluded our epic dinner with a fabulous chocolate
epiphany of "Baked Chocolate Teardrops with Passion Fruit Sorbet",
manifesting itself with the tropical flavors of Passion fruit. Together with
the unusual red wine pairing of Rogomme, Malbec Château de Chambent
Cahors, France in which the winery uses a 300-year-old recipe to perfection
to produce an intense but softly sweet dessert wine with tender aromas of
prunes that warm your throat. |
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“The location has all the earmarks of a gourmet 'Heidi-land'
featuring the likes
of award winning
Chef
Heinz Winkler, a sort of culinary Mad King Ludwig.” ~ TB |
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| 2007 -
Award-Hand-Out: Residenz Heinz Winkler, Aschau - Germany |
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The Venetian Restaurant with Owner/Chef Heinz
Winkler is everything it says it is. Our experience is world-class and
systematically in harmony with all the awards and accolades that
Chef
Winkler has earned over the past 18 years. |
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by
Thorsten & Edmund Buehrmann
Editor: John
Lomitola
Editor-in-Chief: Ingrid Lemme |
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| © 2007 ~ Seven Stars and Stripes, Inc. |
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