Frankfurt

Restaurant Francais, Frankfurt, 9/29/18

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entrance from hotel lobby
entrance from the hotel lobby

Restaurant Francais is the one Michelin star restaurant in the Steignberger Frankfurter Hof Hotel.  It has 2 good sized rooms, one that directly opens to the hotel lobby and the other that looks out on the patio and then the street.  Both are elegantly appointed with parquet floor, lots of orchids, a rose colored under cloth that matches the upholstry of the seating topped with a white cloth and napkin, candlelight on each table, lowered lighting and soft background music.  They offer a 5 or 7 course tasting menu or any of the items can be purchased a la carte.  Wine pairings are available.  The menu doesn’t specify what you get in the tastings, you simply pick the courses you want to include.   We opted for a 7 course menu that skipped one of the savory courses but included both cheese and dessert.  The server was nice enough to bring us a sampling of the course we excluded so we could sample everything.  Service is helpful and friendly and pacing and portion control of the tasting was excellent.   Continue reading →

Ariston, Frankfurt, 9/29/18

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building
building

Ariston is a large Greek place that has been in Frankfurt for 6 years.  It was a combination of large tables for community seating or large parties as well as smaller ones.  At lunch a large lunch menu was offered in addition to the full evening menu.  There was a 3 course lunch option but we chose to order from the dinner menu.  The walls are full of decorations as well as windows to the street on 2 sides (the building is on a corner).  Service was extremely friendly and helpful.  It’s not a fancy place – it feels like you’re in someone’s home – it’s that welcoming.  If you need a break from German food I highly recommend it.   Continue reading →

Restaurant Lafleur, Frankfurt, 9/28/18

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building
building

Restaurant Lafleur is a 2 star Michelin place located in the southern edge of the Palmengarten.  It is a medium sized place with about 14 tables, a combination of rounded booths and free standing tables, all with white tableclothes on top of floor length beige ones.  There was some background music but the noise level was good even though the tables were fairly closely spaced on a wood floor.  A lowered ceiling probably helped.  Windows to the outside lined one wall and a semi-circle of them made up the end of the space.  Some modern art was on the walls and a few interesting sculptures were in the deep windowsills.  They offered an a la carte menu as well as two tasting options of various numbers of courses.  In 2014 the chef offered a totally vegan tasting menu, the first Michelin starred chef to offer one.  We chose the 7 course Degustation Menu.  Service was helpful, fun and friendly but the food was mixed in quality.  Pacing of the meal started nicely but then slowed to a crawl and stayed really slow.   Continue reading →

Gustav Restaurant, Frankfurt, 9/28/18

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view to the street
view to the street

Gustav is a medium sized place with small tables moderately spaced and gray walls covered with modern art.  It is on the corner of a building so 2 sides have windows to the street.  They have been there 5 years and have one Michelin star.  Service was friendly and efficient.  At lunch they offered a 2, 3 or 4 course menu with a couple choices on 2 of the courses and it changes every two weeks.  We chose the 4 course option.  Service was efficient and friendly.   Continue reading →

Restaurant Bareiss, Baiersbronn, 9/27/18

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hotel
hotel

The Restaurant Bareiss is in the hotel of the same name, Hotel Bareiss – a resort in Baiersbronn-Mitteltal (Schwarzwald).  They received their  3rd Michelin star in 2007 and the hotel offers car service back to the other resort  (Traube Tonbach) a couple miles away with the other 3 star restaurant, which offers the same service.  This place is only 50 years old, so a tad newer but just as elegant.  The restaurant didn’t open till 7:00 and as we were a few minutes early we hung out in the large busy bar area.  They had live music and a huge list of cocktails.  The dining room had 8 large tables draped with a white embossed cloth as well as a longer gray/taupe cloth underneath.   Matching napkins featured the gold piping that accented the top cloth.  A large floral arrangement in white and green shades was in the center of the room right under the huge crystal light fixture, that featured tons of hanging crystal tendrils.  Each dining table was set with well padded chairs and had its own service table next to it.   Continue reading →

Restaurant Schwarzwaldstube, Baiersbronn, 9/26/18

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building
building

Restaurant Schwarzwaldstube is a 3 star Michelin restaurant in the Traube Tonbach hotel in the Black Forest of Germany.  It can be reached by car or train from Frankfurt. The hotel has been in the same family for 9 generations and the current owner made the rounds of the room during meal service.  His great, great grandfather had been a baker in the restaurant.  The room has windows with granite counters below that look at the beautiful scenery outside, a deeply recessed wood ceiling, plush carpet,  12 white clothed widely spaced large tables set with gray-brown napkins had little chandeliers on the side, nice padded chairs and faint background music. The excellent service is provided by formally dressed males and females in traditional clothing. Head chef Torsten Michel took over in 2017, having started there in 2004, and he changes the menu every 7 weeks and offers a la carte as well as 3 tasting menus, one being vegetarian and the others, long and short versions of the degustation menu.  We chose the longer of the degustation menu with one substitution on the first course where I had a tuna dish instead of the mackerel on the menu.   Continue reading →

Bauernstube, Baiersbronn, 9/26 +27/18

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building
building

Bauernstube is the casual restaurant in the Traube Tonbach hotel (it has 3 restaurants) located in Germany’s Black Forest. Its name means “living room” and since is was the only one to be open at lunch we ate there twice while staying at the hotel.   It is in the original building that was the bakery.   In the various remodels of the place they have tried to maintain as much of the original building as possible.  The low ceiling and large wood beams are indicative of this as are the various decorations and old fireplace/oven.  A couple windows let in a little natural light but otherwise it is on the darker side with a collection of tables and booths.  The dark wood booths have a lined light wood table and pillows.  It is a cozy room.  They offered a set 3 course meal as well as an a la carte menu.  Service was friendly but not particularly attentive.   Continue reading →

Villa Merton, Frankfurt, 4/25/14

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Entrance to Villa Merton
Entrance to Villa Merton

A moderate sized portion of a former town mansion that is now a private club. Luckily you don’t need to be a member of the club to get a reservation for this 2 star Michelin restaurant. They presented us with a menu of two different tasting options however it is basically priced with how many courses you want and you can pick and choose between the menus and craft your own meal. We also chose to take their wine pairings with the meal which turned out to be a wonderful success.

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Heimat, Frankfurt, 4/24/14

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Exterior
Exterior

This little restaurant was quite a find – the best meal we had in Frankfurt! They use local and seasonal ingredients to produce a really quality product. (We were in luck to visit during asparagus season). The interior is small but when weather permits the patio just about doubles their size. Everyone working there was extremely helpful and friendly.

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Erno’s Bistro, Frankfurt, 4/25/14

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exterior
exterior

A small bistro serving French style food in Germany, Erno’s was a tasty and comfortable place to have lunch. The lunch menu allows you to try a special set of choices at a much more reasonable price point, with all the elegance you’d receive in the evening. Everything was good but nothing left a mark on my memory as outstanding.

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Lohninger, Frankfurt, 4/26/14

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front entrance of Lohninger
front entrance of Lohninger

A pretty little restaurant at the end of one of the pedestrian bridges crossing over the river. The patio seemed filled more with coffee drinkers at noon but a few diners ventured inside. The staff was young and friendly (she was pushing for us to go on a city apple wine tram) which made it feel less formal than the setting would have prompted. I imagine dinner is a bit different.

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Margarete, Frankfurt, 4/ 26/14

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IMG_9136This is one hopping place! A lot of people and not enough staff makes the service a little slow but no problem as the tables are set with an interesting peppermint and lentil spread which was unique and tasty. The amuse of spinach and tomato was a lovely little flavor explosion which we followed with their asparagus soup spiked with bacon and lemon.

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