Steirereck** Vienna JUN 2011 Lunch

Before a recent Vienna trip i checked some interesting restaurants in the city and stumbled on Steirereck which is located in the City Park. Steirereck is rated with 2 Michelin stars and on the 22nd place on the 2011 worlds 50 best restaurants list. I was lucky to get a reservation for lunch with a couple of days notice.
This was my first time that I had a meal in a fine dining restaurant by myself and even though it was a nice experience I´m not sure if I´ll do it again in the future. It´s just so much better to share a nice meal with someone else.

On a sunny day they will serve Lunch and Dinner on the terrace

For Lunch you can choose 4 or 5 courses from the Lunch menu or have the 7 course Menu Steirereck

Amuse bouche #1 Watermelon

Amuse bouche #2 Mini Zucchini filled with cheese

Amuse bouche #3 Fennel granita

The bread selection of the day

Herb butter

Cured Pig´s head with Octopus, garlic créme, smoked Almonds and Potatoes

Crayfish with Parsnip, custard strudel & limes

Wienerschnitzel

An impressive cheese trolley

A selection of cheese and Asparagus bread

Warm Trinitario(from Trinidad/West Indies) chocolate with pineapple-pericon sorbet and coconut macaroons

As petit fours they served a selection of chocolate and dried fruits

The worse part of any restaurant meal would be the bill

A herb table in the dining room

I´m guessing that the one without a chef´s hat is the Executive chef HR

Toilet art

Olo* Helsinki Revisited May 2011

You could almost say that Olo is the Finnish answer to Noma in Copenhagen (even though I´ve never eaten at Noma yet). According to The Observer magazine in 2009 Olo is the best place in the world to eat Nordic food. That´s something to be really proud of. They serve high quality, tasty and (almost) most importantly good looking Nordic food. The nordic cuisine is definitely my favourite cuisine these days.
Olo was awarded it´s first star in the Michelin guide 2011 and I´m probably not the only one wondering why it took "Guide Rouge" this long.

My first visit to Olo was about 4 years ago and I have wanted to revisit ever since. But because there were so many other restaurants to try in town the wait has been this long. The chance to go back came when I gave two of my cousins gift certificates to Olo for Christmas and they were nice enough to ask me to join them.

A BIG thank you to all the participants and a special thank you to the 9 year old that joined us for the second time for fine dining and who behaved so well for the entire 5 hours. Even though she probably wasn´t too happy about the strict table manner rules!

Menu Nordic

Amuse bouche #1, mint yoghurt and black oil

Amuse Bouche #2, crispy potato, herring and waffle. The third one I can´t remember.

Vegetables, truffle and fresh herbs

King crab with peas

Salmon and friends

Turbot with fennel

Palate refresher. Lingonberry sorbet and dehydrated lingonberries

Carelian stew. A traditional finnish dish prepared in a modern way

Sea buckthorn and Rhubarb pre dessert

Rasberry with liquorice and strawberry soup

Petitfours. Rasberry, liquorice and After Eight. All made in-house.

Postres* Helsinki May 2011 Lunch

Last week I finally was able to visit Postres which was the last on my list of Michelin star restaurants in Finland. This time for lunch but I definitely want to come back for dinner another time. For lunch they offered 2 different set menus with 3 courses each(no Amuse Bouche included). Either a normal lunch menu or a Chef´s choice menu. The highlight was to try the Tarte Tatin even though I only got one spoonful because the 9 year old we had with us confiscated the rest.

Leek and potato soup, cod brandade

Asparagus and hollandaise

Smoked salmon and morelstew

Whitefish and Ratte potato

Lemon mousse and meringue

Paris Brest cake

The famous Postres Tarte Tatin with caramel sauce and vanilla ice-cream. It was not featured on the lunch menu but I was able to order it from the evening menu. I just couldn´t visit Postres without tasting.