schiller-wine: August 2018

Picture: Dinner at the "New" Weinsinn in Frankfurt, Germany, with Owner Matthias Scheiber

In Frankfurt, Annette and I are members of a group of wine and food aficiniados that meets about once a month in a top restaurant. In late August, we had dinner at Weinsinn.

There were eight of us. We had 11 bottles of wine. Most of us had 5 courses, some 4 courses. We spent Euro 190 including tax and tip per person.

Pictures: Weinsinn in the Bahnhofsviertel in Frankfurt

Matthias Scheiber and Milica Trajkovska-Scheiber opened Weinsinn 10 years ago in Frankfurt's Westend. Two years later they opened Gustav not so far away from Weinsinn. Both restaurants were awarded a Michelin star shortly after they opened. Last year, Weinsinn in the Westend had to close as the lease came to an end and Weinsinn relocated to the Bahnhofsviertel (Central Station Area).

Pictures: Arriving at the Weinsinn, with Matthias Scheiber

New York Times: The (Old) Winesinn

A few years ago there was an interesting article in the New York Times about the old Weinsinn.

By PETE WELLS - October 22, 2013: When young lovers dream of a romantic European dinner in a back-street hideaway packed with locals, those back streets tend to be in Paris or Florence, not Düsseldorf or Nuremberg. When thrill-seeking diners book long-distance travel to taste some pathbreaking chef’s strange new inventions, their planes land in places like Barcelona or Copenhagen, not Leipzig or Dresden.

Although the 2013 Michelin Guide paid lavish attention to Germany, awarding 3 stars to 10 restaurants there, neither those restaurants nor their chefs are household names in any country but their own. When Germany flexes its economic muscle, other countries jump to attention. When it shows off its gastronomic power, they shrug.

Picture: Dinner with Friends at the "Old" Weinsinn in Frankfurt (1 Star Michelin/ 16 Points Gault Millau). See: Wine Dinner at one of Frankfurt's Best Restaurants - Weinsinn, Germany

Anytime the world seems to have made a secret pact to ignore a subject, curious minds grow even more curious. So off I went last month on a brief but industrious eating tour of Germany. I traveled to three of the cities foreigners are most likely to visit, Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin, making reservations in relatively new restaurants. None of them were especially luxurious or expensive compared with the rarefied dining rooms that are catnip to the Michelin Guide.

German chefs tend to play a long game, honing their craft in the same kitchen for decades. Coming from New York, where chefs will put a restaurant on their résumés after working there free for a few weeks, I was deeply impressed by the German dedication to putting down roots. But I was especially interested in seeing where the country’s restaurant scene may be going next, so I restricted myself to places that had opened since the start of this decade.

Around the same time, my colleague Frank Bruni was pursuing a similar assignment in China, following similar rules. Unlike me, he stuck to the rules. I bent them to write about a very good meal I had in Frankfurt at Weinsinn, which opened at the end of 2009. ...

Mr. Rickert has a modernist’s skill set and a modernist’s talent for combining the serious and the playful. Look what he does to ratatouille. Even its fans have to admit that the dish, a lump of stewed vegetables mired in a tar pit of olive oil, is usually no great beauty. Mr. Rickert’s version is a colorful, bright, edible garden, a field of couscous across which he plants black olives, shards of feta, a bright green mound of basil ice cream and warm cherry tomatoes that dissolved into sweet pulp on my tongue like berries in a pie.

The ingredients were strewn all across the plate, but the flavors were firmly rooted. That was the case, too, with a dessert of late-summer damson plums that appeared in three guises: stuffed into a tender dumpling, frozen into sorbet and poached with cinnamon syrup.

Weinsinn is compact, with only 35 seats in two small dining rooms. So is Mr. Rickert’s menu of three appetizers, three main courses and three desserts. The wine list, on the other hand, goes on for page after page, although there is a simpler way. We asked the sommelier, Jens Gabelmann, to choose for us. He sized up our table at a glance and brought us just the wine we might have asked for if we had been able to put our wishes into words.

Weinsinn is perpetually full but not a scene; all the action is on the plates and in the glasses. The owners, Matthias Scheiber and Milica Trajkovska, his wife, say they borrowed the idea of serving serious food and drink for reasonable prices in a lively, informal room from French places like La Régalade.

“The bistronomy movement does not exist in Germany,” Mr. Scheiber said. Traditionally, he continued, restaurant cooking in his country isn’t taken seriously unless it “comes out of hotels” with highly formal dining rooms.

Pictures: Dinner at the (New) Weinsinn, with Sommelier Florian Bechtel and Wheena Roisch

The (New) Weinsinn

The new Weinsinn is considerably larger and much more spacious than the old Weinsinn. The kitchen is large and an open kitchen (which is also much larger than in the old Weinsinn) where you can watch the crew prepare the food.

Julian Stowasser, who was for several years the Sous-Chef the 3-Star-Michelin Restaurant Atelier in Munich before joining Weinsinn, is the Executive Chef.

The new Weinsinn confirmed its leading role in the Frankfurt restaurant scene with a super dinner, top wines and first-class service. Without doubt, the Michelin star will arrive in November, when the new Michelin Guide is released. Given his previous job, I would not be surprised if Chef Julian Stowasser than goes for the second star.

Weinsinn: New. Yet familiar. Sophisticated cuisine, consistent design and a relaxing ambience – this is what we had in mind when we opened Weinsinn in 2009. We were therefore delighted to see our concept meet with such positive feedback. After eight memorable years in Frankfurt’s Westend, we are now moving to the Bahnhofsviertel district by the railway station. Much of what we are taking with us will be familiar, while in some areas we have moved on. But the most important thing of all remains unchanged: your feeling at home and being able to enjoy the evening, ideally in good company. Welcome to the new Weinsinn!

Weinsinn: Discover worlds. Up close. Diversity, contrasts and open-mindedness – the things that make Frankfurt unique are especially pronounced here. Paying us a visit in the Bahnhofsviertel district is worth it for this alone. Weinsinn is just a few minutes’ walk from the opera house and theatre on Willy-Brandt-Platz square, and the city and the River Main are just around the corner too. And as you are no doubt aware, Frankfurt is also just a stone’s throw from pretty much anywhere in the world.

Head Chef: Florian Stowasser

Weinsinn: Regional, cosmopolitan, open-minded. Weinsinn stands for a contemporary cuisine that focuses on local products and combines them with international accents. And more than anything else, we are open-minded: For the experimentation of our head chef Julian Stowasser. For the experience he contributes from his previous positions in Munich, Wolfsburg, Sydney and Baiersbronn. And to giving an insight into our craftsmanship, because the kitchen staff aren’t just busy behind the scenes at Weinsinn.

Pictures: Open Kitchen with Head Chef Florian Stowasser

The Wines we had for Dinner

Weinsinn: Every wine makes sense. There are more than 280 bottles to choose from on our wine list. And we have faith in each and every one of them, as we consider all of our wines to be especially expressive representatives of their ilk. From the beginning, we have focused on regional wines, including many representatives of the younger generation of winemakers in our list. Our sommelier Florian Bechtel will happily give you guidance in making your own discoveries. Our recommendation for groups of oenophiles and for an exclusive event is our Wein | Tisch held in the dark green semi-basement.

Pictures: The Wines we had for Dinner

The Dinner

Weinsinn is open only for dinner. The menu is small. You can choose between a 3-course (Euro 70), 4-course (Euro 80), 5-course (Euro 90) and 6-course (Euro 100) meal. Most of us had the 5-course menu, some the 4-course menu. Between the 8 of us, we ordered almost all the dishes that are currently offered.

Hors d'œuvre