Eating at a Michelin star restaurant has to be one of those things many people who love exquisite food have on their “do at least once in a lifetime list”. And it is not just about good food. Surely, one can eat a delicious meal in a simple street food stand somewhere in Asia as well. Here it is also about using unique ingredients, combining them in new ways, applying special techniques etc. Besides, it is about the whole experience of this culinary journey that is so special in the end. Even though it is more expensive, it is worth every euro. Since we happen to have a 3-star restaurant very close to where we live here in Germany, I could not resist going one time. Here´s how it was.
MICHELIN GUIDES are a series of books, existing for over a century. The famous RED GUIDE is the OLDEST European hotel and restaurant guide which also awards MICHELIN STARS for excellence. There are 3 RANKINGS:
- 1* = “A very good restaurant in its category”
- 2** = “Excellent cooking, worth a detour”
- 3*** = “Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey”
Every year there is a renewed guide being released, which means new restaurants are added on the list, some of them can also lose one or all the stars, which I imagine is very bad for the business. Currently, in GERMANY there are 241 restaurants with 1 star, 39 with two and only 10 with 3 stars. You can check out the list of starred restaurants here. So we went all in and visited a 3 STAR ONE ;).
RESTAURANT AQUA is situated in a wonderful RITZ CARLTON HOTEL in WOLFSBURG, which is the seat of VOLKSWAGEN car brand. The VW is also a very important employer for the whole region and even people from as far as Berlin are commuting to Wolfsburg for work every day. Obviously this is a good place for such a restaurant ;). The place is only a couple of 10 kilometres away from our home, so we had no major things to organise on how to come there, except asking our neighbour to babysit ;). Take a look at the restaurants homepage here.
So, what did we eat? Lots! We were so full at the end ;). One can choose between different menus and decide on the number of the courses. We opt for 5 COURSES and took also the WINE JOURNEY. For those who don´t wish to drink alcohol there is also a non-alcoholic version with special cocktails.
First we had a glass of CHAMPAGNE and some wonderful BREAD VARIATIONS with salted butter, followed by a glass of wine and the first SNACKS as appetizers:
- CARAMELIZED KALAMATA OLIVE
- GREEN OLIVE, CAPER & SMOKED ALMOND
- VITELLO TONNATO “TATAR”
- MINI HOUSE BURGER – ROASTED BEEF CHEECKS & MOUNTAIN CHEESE
- GILLARDEAU OYSTER, ARTICHOKE & ARGAN OIL
Accompanied with tasty wines, 3 delicious courses followed – with lamb being really the best meat we have eaten in a long time.
- NORTHERN GERMAN SANDWICH “STULLE” – RAW BEEF & BÜSSUM SHRIMPS
with REMOULADE, LEMON & GARDEN CRESS
- RIVER ZANDER
with LEMON SOUR CREAM, SHALLOT PICKLES, GUACAMOLE & POMEGRANATE - SADDLE OF LAMB MURITZ – COOKED IN HAY
with TOPINAMBUR, RICOTTA, HERBS & HAZELNUTS
The journey went on with a magnificent sorbet, which we ate out of the bottom of a Champagne bottle, which was a nice touch. The cherry coconut matcha combination was as well delicious.
- CHAMPAGNE CREAM SORBET “EDITION RUINART ROSE”
- CHERRY & CHERRY WOOD
with MATCHA AND COCONUT
After 3 delicious deserts there was a fabulous finish with a trolley full of different pralines, out of which you could choose whatever you wanted.
- ELDERBERRY, PEANUT & CHAMPAGNE
- MUSCAT PUMPKIN, CRANBERRIES, YOGHURT & PUMPKIN SEED OIL
- DONUT WITH SOUR CREAM, CAMPARI-ORANGE & BLACK SESAME
- PRALINES
SVEN ELVERFELD is known for his own style of cooking and his dishes reflect interesting flavour combinations topped with artistic looks. But looks are not everything, after eating there I can say without a doubt – it was also very very delicious. The restaurant also got a couple of prizes by the renowned German gourmet magazine, Der Feinschmecker, as the 5th BEST GERMAN SERVICE TEAM in 2010 and 2012 and rank 4 in 2013.
I can only confirm THE EXCELLENT SERVICE from the very beginning, including parking our car and bringing it back to the hotel entrance once we were leaving. The menu was 180€ PER PERSON AND ANOTHER 95€ FOR THE WINE JOURNEY – it might sound much, but based on the quality and exquisiteness of the dishes we´ve had, not to mention some really tasty wines, it is a fair price. At the time of my visit (in 2016), Aqua restaurant was ranked on place 33 on the 100 BEST RESTAURANTS IN THE WORLD. Today, in 2020, it is ranged #35. Obviously I can´t afford to splurge on a dinner like this every month, but I´m definitely keen on doing it sometimes again.
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