Our dessert course consisted of three dishes. The first dish was mocha cake covered with a thin layer of gold, topped with pineapple ice cream. Mocha was very rich and strong; yet the pineapple flavour carried through the dish, resulting in a delightful dessert. The second dish was Tamarillo with oddly matched coconut sorbet inside, in a citrus and champagne soup. This dish was a failure: Tamarillo was not ripened enough and the soup was extremely sour that we could not take another sip. The last dish was dark chocolate soufflé with green apple cubes. The dark chocolate was the top quality chocolate. Its sweet taste paired flawlessly with green apple cubes.
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Tamarillo / coconut sorbet / citrus and champagne soup |
Dark chocolate soufflé / green apple cube |
As usual, various petits-fours were served to finish our meal. Overall, the tasting menu clearly showed the creativity and imagination of this ambitious chef. As always, innovation requires a lot of experimentation and hence, some dishes were brilliant, but some were rather odd.
About the Service
The service was extremely professional. All the servers are required to wear a white glove before any contact with silverwares in the dining room. In addition, all the tablecloths were ironed carefully by the restaurant manager prior to guest arrivals.
Most of the servers speak English, sufficient to communicate and to explain each dish.
Restaurant Vendome
Schlosshotel Bensberg
D-51429 Bergisch Gladbach (15km e ast of Cologne)
tel: +49 (0) 2204 420
www.schlossbensberg.com/en/gourmetrestaurant_vendome_stern
Open Wednesday to Sunday, both lunch and dinner.
Holidays two weeks in February and three weeks in July.
5-Course Tasting Menu: €120
7-Course Tasting Menu: €155
À la carte menu: About €35 appetizer and €40 main course
Useful Tips
- If you want a luxury holiday to accompany your extraordinary meal, you could stay in this hotel, Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg, which costs around €250 per night. The owner of this hotel is also the owner of Schlosshotel Lerbach, another castle hotel nearby with a Michelin 3-star restaurant, Dieter Müller.