Restaurant Uberfahrt
Uberfahrt at-a-glance
Awards: 3 Michelin star, 19.5 Gault Millau
+The food is precisely cooked and features comforting flavors. Any criticism is generally based on the expectations set by the restaurant’s many accolades than any real fault of the restaurant.
-Hefty price tag for the regular menu that tops almost all other German Michelin restaurants (although they offer a cheaper menu for ‘young foodies’ during non-peak days)
-Food plays it safe with many of the flavors with the result being no bad dishes but also no dishes that dazzled
Verdict: Comfort food. A weird way to describe a 3 star meal but that is what my meal at Uberfahrt reminded me of. The presentations were modern but the flavors were familiar and comforting but somewhat lacking in ambition. A starter of asparagus and hollandaise. A signature dish that consisted of potato, egg, and truffle. The end result was an enjoyable meal but one that lacked memorable dishes. I am glad I went but not sure I need to go again.
Rating: 91/100
Should you go: If you are under 31 and can enjoy the 5-course menu with wine pairing for €189, yes. It is an enjoyable experience and a good price. If you are paying the full sticker price of €249/€309 before wine for the regular tasting menu? I would have a tougher time recommending. That is not necessarily a critique of the food itself. If you do go I am sure you will have an enjoyable meal. It just not may live up to the lofty price tag and three stars in the Michelin guide.
Value: 20/20 for the “Young foodies” menu, 10/20 otherwise
Uberfahrt background
The kitchen at Restaurant Uberfahrt is headed up by Christian Jürgens who spent the early part of his culinary career training in some of the most esteemed kitchens in Germany including Tantris, Heinz Winkler, Jörg Müller, and Aubergine with Eckart Witzigmann. Like many other German chefs, Jürgens put his considerable training and talents to use by heading up a hotel kitchen of his own, in this case at Hotel Burg Wernberg where he earned two michelin stars in 2001. Jürgens moved to his current Uberfahrt residence in 2008, quickly gaining 2 stars before earning the ultimate 3rd start in 2013 which he has retained since. In addition to the 3 stars, Jürgens is one of only 8 chefs to have earned 19.5 points in the Gault Millau guide.
There are two tasting menus offered at Uberfahrt with 5-course costing €249 and 7-courses coming in at €309 which is quite chunky by German standards. The high pricing continued with the wine pairings which rang in at €136/€176 depending on the menu you ordered. To give a comparison on this cost, Atelier in Munich only a few hours a way charges €245 for its most expensive 7-course menu with wine costing another €125. All of the courses on the tasting menu had individual prices so it appeared you could also order ala carte but that would hardly end up any cheaper.
In addition to the normal tasting menu Uberfahrt offers a “Young Foodies” menu (which is what I had) for guests under 31 which is a real bargain, offering 5 courses with wine pairings for only €189. While I expected the “Young Foodies” menu to be a watered down experience featuring less premium ingredients that did seem to be the case - at least based on what other tables were eating it seemed like most of the menu overlapped with the regular tasting menu. I am not expert one wine but the wine pairings (shown above) were also a real joy, the 25 year old Rhinegau Spatlese in particular being a stunning choice to pair with the signature truffle dish.
The restaurant itself is located in the five star hotel Althof Seehotel Uberfahrt on the shores of the pretty lake Tergensee, a few hours from Munich. The decor is modern with lots of clean wood instead of grand chandeliers and white table clothes. Despite the lake side location, there is no views to speak of with their being some windows overlooking a small courtyard. Despite showing up as fully booked online the restaurant was only about half full during the Sunday lunch I was visiting.
What we ate at Uberfahrt
The meal started off with a trio of amuses served inside of hollowed out shells (nuts?). My notes were not the most detailed on each but the mousses consisted of chicken liver, eggplant, and a fish based one topped with roe. Despite the off serving vessels these were actually quite good - each mousse having a silky smooth texture that contrasted nicely with some crunch from the toppings. The favorite of the three was clearly the chicken liver which had great depth of flavor and while rich, was balanced out by the onions. A promising start to the meal.
The second amuse bouche was a real treat from the kitchen, labeled “Hommage to Dieter Kauffman” consisted of a sturgeon mousse, cucumber and a ginn fizz nestled in the middle of the sturgeon. This was a very nicely made dish with the sturgeon mousse having good texture and not being too strong and the cucumber nice and refreshing. What set it apart for me was the “gin gizz” which added an interesting cold temperature and another layer of flavor to the cucumber/sturgeon. If I was to nitpick it could have used a tad more caviar given the amount of mousse in the fish but this may have been a concession to including it as an amuse bouche instead of a full fledged course - picture of the dish online seem to have quite a bit more caviar on top. If that is the case, I am fine with this concession since it meant I got to try this dish.
The first proper course was titled “Greetings from Schrobenhausen” and consisted of white asparagus (from the aforementioned Schrobenhausen”), orange, celery and hollandaise sauce. Did the kitchen break any new ground in putting together asparagus, orange and hollandaise? No. Did I damn well enjoy this dish? Yes. The asparagus was of qood quality (although a tab below the best I had) and the citrus from the orange and acid from the pickled celery balanced out the textbook hollandaise well. A simple dish but arguably my favorite from the meal.
The asparagus was followed by “Hong Kong Cray Fish Tea” which was really a plump langoustine served with a broth made table side and having strong flavors of sesame, soy, and lemongrass. This has been on the menu for some time but did not really do it for me. The presentation of this dish was quite elaborate, the broth being made table side in a drip coffee machine with the key ingredients (lemongrass, langoustine shells) being simmered tableside during the first course. A dish of the prepared langoustine is then brought out from the kitchen, the completed broth being pour over it. The end result was just ok, the langoustine and broth being nice enough but falling short of remarkable.
The bridge between seafood and meat was Christian Jurgen’s first signature dish, “The Cube”. First created in 2004, when Juergens was working at Burg Wernberg, the dish consisted of a hollowed out potato cube, filled with egg yolk and served on top of a truffle mousseline with more truffles on top. Perhaps this is not as cutting edge as it was when it was first made 15 years ago but you can’t really go wrong with potato, egg, and powerful truffle flavors. A joy to eat, strong flavors without being overbearing.
Main course was fillet of venison with sauce rouennaise, blueberries, and parsley. Rouennaise sauce is a classic bordelaise sauce with the addition of liver to give it a little more body and richness. The one here had a great depth of flavor but fell a bit short of my favorite sauces. The other accompaniments, particularly the high quality bacon lardons (a rarity to have in Germany), were all top notch. However, the main ingredient of venison fillet did not really work for me. While it precisely cooked I think it would have been better to serve as a large piece instead of cut into small bites as the individual pieces did not have much texture. The end result this reminded me too much of a bistro dish with an upscale plating that lacked the wow factor.
There was no palate cleanser before the dessert but luckily the pastry sections only offering to the main menu was fantastic, consisting of curd cheese pavlova, champagne and pineapple. The dish was a great combination of textures and bright flavors. As always the edible gold added nothing but I guess it did make it look cool.
A freshly made donut filled with jam (apricot if I recall correctly) was simple but flawlessly executed. Served piping hot from the kitchen this was about as good a donut as you can find. While not as fussy as the typical mignardises at most three stars it actually tasted quite a bit better than most. The final treat was cleverly presented “Lake Rocks” in which various ice creams encased in a thin layer of chocolate were quite convincing made to look like actual lake rocks that they were presented alongside of. These were more or less mini-magnum bars but that is by no means a bad thing and as an ice cream lover they were the perfect way to end the meal. Overall an impressive showing from the pastry section.
Stray thoughts
Not reflected in the score but as another point on price is Uberfahrt charged an insane €14.50 for a single bottle of sparkling water. I have been charged many an inflated price for bottled water in Europe (do I ever miss being able to order tap water without being looked at like an alien) but this set a new standard for water price gouging (I would say the typical 3 star water price in Germany is around €7-8).