Restaurant: Trüffelschwein in Hamburg

Another recommendation from a friend for our Hamburg trip. Instead of doing a "normal" meal at the Trüffelschwein we booked a table for their New Years Eve event. The menu was nominally 8 courses (instead of their normal 9), started with a glass of champagne, and, as a special-occasion thing, included a higher percentage of courses with truffels. It was also considerably more expensive than their normal menu.

We didn't think this was great, but I could imagine eating here again on a normal night. The food was good, but definitely suffered in comparison to the meal at the 7 Seas. The unusual nature of the evening (at least I think it was unusual) where all of the tables were served at the same time distorted the experience and had a negative impact on the quality of the service. The restaurant was also quite loud (this may be normal since there seem to be people who like that) which didn't help things on the service front: the (overly quick and not particularly practiced) descriptions of the food and wine were often difficult to hear.

So mixed feelings. Under normal circumstances we might have quite liked the restaurant, but on this particular evening it was less than we were hoping for.

 

Restaurant Seven Seas, Hamburg

Another "let's do a fancy restaurant on greg's birthday" thing; I think this is becoming a tradition for us; a very nice tradition. This year we went to the Michelin two-star "Seven Seas" in Hamburg.

We actually had to make a decision this time: which of the three menus to select. We had made up our mind for the six-course empfehlungsmenu, but after the amazing amuse bouche demonstrated what the kitchen could do with vegetables, greg *almost* switched to the vegetable menu. In the end, the two fish courses on the empfehlungsmenu won the argument. We also punted on wine decisions and, after the champagne aperitif, went with the restaurant-suggested pairings.

Given that this was a classic luxury setting like Cheval Blanc, it was (and is) difficult not to compare the two experiences, but we did our best. Still: the food and wines were really good, perhaps not as over-the-top fantastic as last year, but really very happy making.

We both certainly had smiles on our faces as we walked back to the train station from the restaurant/hotel.