Gaumenspiel

No expectations coming in. Totally open minded. Quick summary, quality solid 4.5/5, plating 5/5, taste 2/5, atmosphere 2/5, price 1/5, comfort 2/5, feedback 0/5, feeling welcomed 0/5.

So where do I start? Do I start with the Eggplant dish I could eat no more than 2 bites as the crusting on top was packed with salt that made my stomach turn? Or the beautiful plating, which once you start eating either the meal worked, or completely didn't. Or the uncomfortable chairs that if you stay for a 5 course meal, you wonder why you're sitting on a slab of wood not even moulded to the tush.

I managed to be lucky enough to have bones in the fish portion of my meal. Ouch and highly unexpected. Unlucky I suppose. But once I had the baked eggplant that was crusted with a 2cm layer of salt spice, I felt like Daniel Craig in Casino Royal when he realised he just drank poison and needed to ingest salt to force his body to expel the poison. Not kidding here. Open minded, remember?

The sitting arrangement is weird as the space behind me was small and every time the waiter or chef would pass by, their body would bump me as I tried to enjoy a nice conversation. The chef visited some tables for feedback, but didn't to ours. Strange as I couldn't finish one of the meals prior to his rounds. You would think he would want to know why.

But! The plates were hot. So your meal didn't get cold... So few places care about this. My filet of beef was cooked to perfection too! The side just didn't work.

Now for the kick in the nuts. My wife and I both ordered the set menu. But for her, we asked that they just don't serve the eggplant. After everything was eaten and our bill arrived, I was surprised with an inflated cost. Seems by asking to not be served a dish forces the user to order a la carte. This was not told to us. So the meal was one dish less and more the price. Each of her plates were larger, which was a bit wierd when we noticed this and now makes sense. But as my wife is half my size, it is strange that they made this choice for us. No biggie, our mistake for not knowing the rules that they were supposed to tell us. When I mentioned as feedback that they should actually say to the customer the orders will all be a la carte and larger (remember, wife half my size is ordering this), the waitor took no responsibility and said its the rules. Not the point. No need to argue I suppose. Especially if they want a not so positive review.

Last but not least. The pricing is comparable to epic chefs that I had the pleasure of eating from around the world. Yet this place came no where near the mark of top quality meals. I would day 30% too high, where they just try too hard.