Restaurant Vendôme is a 2 star Michelin restaurant under the direction of Joachim Wissler in the Althoff Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg since 2000.  This grand castle hotel is very close to the city of Cologne.  Chef Wissler received his first star one year after opening and the second one in 2002.  It had a 3 stars a year later but recently went back to a 2-star rating.  The hotel is huge and it actually took us a bit to locate how to get to the restaurant.  It turned out that the easiest way was to walk outside and use the entrance used by those not staying in the hotel. Still, it is a short pleasant walk depending on where your room is located.  The large dining room had some dividers between some of the tables, lowered lighting, music in the background, stone walls and floors, acoustic tile on the ceiling and the longest rolled-up napkin at your place.  They offered a 6 or 8 course tasting with a couple possible supplements, a vegetarian option and wine pairings.  We chose the 8-course tasting and added one supplement to share along with our own bottle of wine.

Set-Up

 

Food

We enjoyed a glass of German sparkling wine with the first set of snacks.  These included a tomato baguette with Jabugo Bellota bacon (made from premium pork from Spain), which was a light crisp bread with tasty filling.

Beef tartare with jellied Beaftea and Imperial Caviar was in a tall thick crust topped with the caviar.  Amazing texture and taste in this one.

Truffled Waldorf salad with spruce sprout and celery was on a higher plate and had some smoked apple that was a dominant flavor adding smoke and sweetness as well as crispness.  Black walnuts were also mentioned.

Beet root tartlette with crab tartare had green dots on top and was delightful.  I enjoyed the bit of horseradish flavor that sparked it.

Cupcake of Nicolai’s Char caviar and horseradish was creamy inside.  The crust was slightly thicker but also crisp and I enjoyed the pop of the large eggs on top.

 

The menu started with King crab and sea urchin chawanmushi with kimchi of yellow beet root – presented two ways.  The King Crab leg piece was from Norway with the urchin on top, custard underneath and quinoa in the bowl.  The crab ‘organs’ were made into an omelet and wrapped in sheets of beet.  Both presentations were excellent.

 

Imperial caviar on a Madeleine with razor clam carpaccio surrounded by buttermilk was our supplemental course.  The clams were sliced and encircled with cream while the caviar was on top of wheat Madeleines, with a dish of extra cream if needed.  I wasn’t sold on Madeleines made with wheat flour and actually preferred the razor clams.  It was good but I wouldn’t order it again.

 

The fresh Norwegian scallops were presented uncooked first to show us their large size.  They were plated with cauliflower purée, shiitake-algae boullion, butternut pumpkin,  and a vegetable “caviar”.  On a side plate was a mix of butternut, ginger and a seaweed sauce finished with pumpkin seed oil.  The scallop was perfectly cooked and the vegetable “caviar” had a strong pickled flavor that worked nicely with it.  The combination of sweet pumpkin and ginger was a winner.

 

Atlantic Skrei (cod) with vinaigrette ‘chinoise’, Jerusalem artichoke, tapioca and salmon caviar was presented in 2 dishes.  On the plate the fish was topped with salmon eggs and sitting on white cabbage, alongside tubes of Jerusalem artichoke  In the bowl the fish was with onion and rice sauce and cabbage purée while topped with cabbage shreds. Both dishes were nicely seasoned with perfectly cooked fish.  The salmon caviar was too strong to pair with the mild fish for me but otherwise both were good.

 

Calf’s sweetbread and morrels were paired with white asparagus, parsley and Vin-Jaune veloute in the next course.  The larger plate had sweetbreads with a parsley emulsion and shreds of white asparagus underneath.  The sauce was nicely nutty and was terrific with the sweetbread.  One morel was stuffed with chopped morels for an even deeper flavor.  Nicely they left the extra sauce and I wanted to drink it – it was that good.  The white asparagus tips were pickled and served on sticks – another fun accent.

 

A round loaf of corn brioche was served next with salted butter seasoned with saffron.  The bread was very light and airy not at all like American cornbread.  It was fine but fairly crumbly, like American cornbread, without the deep flavor of corn.

 

Bresse Poularde from Jean Claude Mieral was first presented, the skin coated with butter.  It had been hung for 2 weeks in preparation.  A slice of the breast was plated with Belgian chicory and tangerine, butternut pumpkin, pepper and lemon and green almond jus.  The leg meat was in the side white round topped with truffle.  While the chicken was cooked perfectly it was still duller than the previous courses.  Lots of fun ingredients were plated with the lovely chicken but as usual the main meat course just doesn’t have the zip of the earlier ones.

 

Soft cheese from Fromagerie Antony was stacked with Vacherin (meringue), celeriac espuma, potato blini, winter truffles and grape seed oil.  This reminded me of the common brie topped with jam appetizer you often see.  The cheesy part was in the middle with a very thin crust on the bottom.  It turned oozy when you cut it and while the texture was interesting the flavor didn’t sing.  I’d rate this one okay.

 

Rhubarb and miso ice cream with rose blossom and tarragon, chartreuse made up the first dessert.  The tulip bulb was made with thin slices of rhubarb filled with chartreuse mousse.  Also on the plate were white chocolate dots, tarragon leaves, miso and rhubarb ice cream.  The sauce was rhubarb and honey that took 4 weeks to make.  A light and sweet plate with white chocolate adds most of the sweetness and the tarragon adds an herbal component.

 

Cocoa bean matured in a whiskey barrel was made into ice cream mixed with yuzu while vanilla and caramel yuzu made up the second dessert on their usual two dishes.  Yuzu caramel made the fans on top of the pile on the big plate.  Underneath were salted caramel pillows and yuzu granité was with the vanilla on the side.  It was overall a better dessert.

 

Final treats were a basil ice cream sandwich, a hazelnut with cherry in chocolate, a tequila and clementine cream fan, passion fruit and pepper (on a wood spoon), a marshmallow with nuts and chocolate, and white chocolate and truffle diamond.  All were fine but the big surprise was the basil ice cream sandwich which was super refreshing and good.