Waldhotel Sonnora - Dreis
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Rating: 19/20
Where: Dreis, Germany
When: Dinner for 4 on 5 December 2024
Cost per Person: Tasting menu 339 Euro, Wine pairing 175 Euro
Accolades: 3 Michelin Stars
Why: French Mediterranean cuisine bursting with flavors; not a single misstep
Saying that “Waldhotel Sonnora” requires a special journey is somewhat redundant. Located near the tiny village of Dreis, it’s probably the most remote of Germany's ten three-Michelin-starred restaurants. If one ended up here by accident, then it’s probably a good sign to invest in a new GPS.
Chef Clemens Rambichler took over the kitchen in 2017, and held on to the three stars that the restaurant had kept since the 2000 edition of the Guide. My only previous visit here had been in 2018, and it was an eye-opening experience. At that time, in my (more) youthful and naive days, I had assumed that classical French cuisine was a bit “boring” compared to the trendier Scandinavian, Spanish or Japanese restaurants that everyone was talking about. But while Waldhotel Sonnora indeed served such classic French cuisine, it was at a level that I had never encountered before. Dish after dish after dish were outstanding, bursting with flavors and dressed with amazingly delicious sauces. With food this good, who cares how “hip” a cuisine might be?
During that same trip in 2018 we also went to the restaurants of Pierre Gagnaire and Guy Savoy in Paris, and amazingly, the little out-of-the-way restaurant in the middle of Germany impressed us more than the two world-famous chefs in Paris.
Clearly, if I had to revisit any three-starred restaurant in the world, Waldhotel Sonnora would have been among the top few choices, and in late 2024, I finally found the opportunity to do so. In the intervening six years, chef Rambichler had taken ownership of the restaurant and its associated hotel, and both had been renovated. The hotel's interior design was a bit more modern now, and it was a fine place to stay after a long dinner accompanied by lots of wine. Unfortunately, we had to skip the breakfast the next morning - it would have been prepared by the same kitchen as the dinner.
The restaurant's dining room is kept in a formal, modern and clean style, and the service was friendly, effortlessly switching between English and German. Ten out of eleven tables were filled during our dinner, and uncharacteristically, we were among the youngest guests, the median age being closer to 70. Presumably a result of us visiting on a Thursday night.
The restaurant served an eight-course tasting menu, however all eight dishes (and a few more) were also available a la carte. There were two courses where one could pick among two choices (or order both, if exceptionally hungry). If one went all in, the menu's base price of 339 Euro would increase to 506 Euro. A wine pairing was available as well, with wines accompanying the main courses. All the wines went well with the food, but I would have ordered only about half of them without food. Glasses were generously topped off, making it easy to drink way more than the 800 ml that the eight pours were supposed to sum up to. In that sense, the pairing was actually not a bad deal for the price of 175 Euro. Also notable: an astonishing 34 wines were available by the glass, and that’s not even counting the dessert wines. The sommelier is apparently a big fan of Coravin, which gives guests the opportunity to sample lots of different wines without having to order a full bottle.
Several small appetizers preceded the main part of the tasting menu. Our first amuse bouche was a tartlet filled with salmon, a sauvignon blanc jelly and ginger. A very flavorful bite, predominately tasting of the acidic sauvignon blanc jelly, so that the salmon was a bit overpowered by it. Very tasty, though 19.
Next, a tartlet cup was filled with champignon mushrooms (sliced and as a cream), a poached quail egg and a smidgen of white truffles from Alba. This was an earthy, wintry dish, with some (but not an overly strong) mushroom flavor. I couldn't taste the truffles 17.
A Gillardeau oyster no. 2 was served with frozen oyster water, little tomatoes, pieces of green snow peas, gin and lavender. A bit salty, but also bursting with flavors. Amazingly, the oyster was still clearly identifiable among the tomato flavors and the texture provided by the crunchy green snow peas. Some fruitiness and acidity made for a delicious bite 20.
At this point, we were invited to choose from over a dozen different breads. For our table of four, we got a sampling of every available option. Unfortunately, I didn't try them all, but the ones I had were quite good, but also pretty straightforward - no unusual flavor combinations here 17.
A crab salad was served with avocados, wasabi and a gel made from a crab essence. Again, a dish with amazingly strong flavors. It had plenty of spiciness from the wasabi, some acidity, creaminess from the sauce and the avocado and finally a bit of crunch from a cracker on top. The crab was of excellent quality. Ingredient-wise, this seemed to be a play on a California roll, with only the rice missing. Thankfully, this was also a million times better than the sushi roll 20.
An egg custard came with different kinds of mussels, lemon balm, thyme, fennel and croutons. The seafood flavor was a bit subtle, but the punchy, delicious herbal flavor more than made up for it. The salty croutons were seasoned as well, and added a textural counterpoint to the custard 20.
For our first course, we had the choice between a foie gras preparation and a “caviar tarte”. We went with the latter, since it had been a signature dish of the restaurant even predating the current chef's tenure. The layers of the tarte were (from the bottom up): potato rösti (think: hash browns), a beef tartare, an onion creme fraiche and a generous amount of caviar. Interestingly, the caviar here was less salty than usual, probably since the creme fraiche already had plenty of salt by itself. The creme fraiche brightened up the dish - otherwise it might have felt too heavy. The beef was quite flavorful, and my only nitpick could be that the rösti, served at room temperature, was a bit oily. On the plus side, its crunchiness was definitely appreciated. In any other restaurant I probably would have said that this dish was full of flavor, but in this context, the intensity was actually a notch below the preceding appetizers. Still very good, though 19. This course was the only one where the kitchen served a true pescatarian alternative, since “just leaving out the beef” wasn't really a viable option. Instead, we received a sliced red mullet filet, served with raw vegetables, a curry champagne sauce and a smoked leek oil. The tender fish was cooked perfectly, the vegetables added a nice crunch, and the sauce had an intense and lovely curry note. This dish had much bolder flavors than the caviar tarte that it replaced 20.
The remainder of the savory courses were also seafood focused. First up, a Mediterranean royal langoustine, served in its tail shell. It was presented with zucchini, a tomato butter, olives, pine nuts and basil. The langoustine was perfectly cooked, the pine nuts added some nice texture, the greens were very flavorful and there was a strong tomato flavor. Clearly, a heavily Mediterranean-inspired dish 19.
Lobster meat was also served in its shell, together with a vadouvan elderflower nage, sugar snap peas, some grapefruit and a lightly spicy XO sauce made from the lobster shells and chili. One could nitpick that this course seemed a bit repetitive in the context of the tasting menu - lobster and langoustine are somewhat similar, and adding texture with the sliced sugar snap peas was the same idea as using the sliced snow peas with the oyster. But considered on its own merits, there was little to criticize about this dish. The lobster was perfectly cooked, and the texture added by the crunchy sugar snap peas was a nice contrast to the lobster meat. The flavors of the sauce (a subtle curry note), the XO sauce (not really that spicy) and the grapefruit combined seamlessly and balanced perfectly. The whole managed to be more than the sum of its parts 20.
A poached turbot was served over spinach leaves and topped with slices of veal's head, N25 caviar and some yuzu zest. This was a firm filet that came with an intensely flavorful sauce made from the same fish. The spinach provided some freshness to the dish, and the caviar some fishiness - ironically, the fish itself didn't have any. I'm not sure what the veal added, though - maybe some mouthfeel? 19
For our final savory course, there were again two options - with the caveat that the entire table had to agree on the same one. In our case, we chose scallops over venison. Interestingly, there were one and a half scallops in this dish. The full scallop was topped with a small filet of Japanese wagyu beef, a poached egg yolk, a circle-shaped cracker and plenty of white truffles from Alba. The half scallop was seasoned with black pepper and buried under dressed romaine lettuce. Both scallops were perfectly cooked, but that's also were the similarities ended. Essentially those were two distinct dishes - two preparations of scallop - that just happened to be on the same plate. The half scallop was part of a light, crunchy, well-dressed salad. The full scallop and wagyu on the other hand anchored a much heavier dish. The wagyu was of good quality and nicely cooked, although maybe a bit too well done for my taste. The creamy egg yolk and the accompanying white truffle sauce rounded out the dish, with the cracker providing some contrasting texture. There was also a chicken-based sauce, but it didn't seem to go quite as well with the dish in my opinion. Not a bad course, but only the salad portion had the bright flavors we had seen in the preceding dishes. The scallop/wagyu combination was more subdued flavorwise. And I later learned that most of my dining companions hadn't approached this course as two distinct dishes and instead eaten everything together, which created a “messy” experience, as they put it. Probably not an unusual “mistake”, since there was no guidance on how to consume this dish 18.
A cheese cart had a nice selection, similar to what one might find in nearby France. Actually, most of the cheeses were indeed from that neighboring country, but there were also a few local cheeses, and an usually large number of hard cheeses. Several condiments were on offer as well, with a fig mustard being particularly good. Sliced baguettes and a fruit bread rounded out this lovely cheese course.
The following palate cleanser was served in a coconut shell. Marinated mangoes, coconut ice cream, a coconut mousse, some mint and kaffir limes made for a great dish. The first taste was spicy and salty, and after that there was some acidity from the mango to balance the coconut. This looked simple, but the ingredients made for a great combination 19.
The main dessert was really a plate with four totally different preparations. A poached pear, a pear sorbet, a vanilla mousse and a creme fraiche mousse were all served with a parsley lime zabaione. The herbal notes of the sauce played well with the different desserts, of which the vanilla mousse was particularly flavorful 19.
A selection of petit fours concluded our dinner. Madeleines served with a whipped cranberry cream were wonderful, with a crunchy exterior. The dip was lovely as well 19. A green apple sorbet with jasmine and ginger had a fresh apple and mint flavor 18. “Topfenknödel” (quark dumplings) were served with nougat and an apricot jam. They were sweet and doughy 17. A praline made with a caramelized banana was very good - it tasted mostly of chocolate combined with a light chocolate mousse and had only a light banana flavor. Banana-based desserts can be problematic, but this one got the balance exactly right 18. A little lemon tart had a good combination of tartness and creaminess 18. A passion fruit/mango tarte was fruity with a hint of acidity 17. And finally, beignets were airy but had a heavy filling of chocolate 18.
Overall: Excellent French cuisine with some Mediterranean touches, very strong flavors and amazing sauces, balancing acidity and creaminess, and soft and crunchy textures. There was a great consistency throughout the meal, not a single dish fell below a three-star level - which is quite an accomplishment even in this rarefied group of restaurants. Add to that several dishes that were just off-the-charts delicious, and this deserves a strong recommendation. Maybe not the lightest dinner ever, but very, very good 19.
