Wednesday 19 August 2009

Restaurant Molzmuhle, Wegberg, Germany

The very best restaurant I have eaten at this year, was very nearly not documented in these pages. Hours of Google-searching different combinations of 'watermill - German - restaurant - near - Monchengladbach' proved fruitless in discovering the name or location of this wonderful place I'd visited in April with Rebecca (who is such a good hostess, it was the third time I'd been to stay with her in Germany). She couldn't help me either, being away with no internet access. I sadly resigned myself that this exquisite dining experience would remain unblogged, until I miraculously found a flyer for Hotel-Restaurant-Molzmuhle hidden amongst a pile of random bits of paper from various travels. (The flyer, like the website (and the menu) are entirely in German, but thanks to the powers of technology, an acceptably translated version can be found here - I say acceptable, but do notice the reference to 'erotic vegetables' on the translated menu page!)

So often when travelling, the restaurants you visit are the ones you walk past, but the joy of having a friend whose local favourite restaurant is in a forest in Wegberg, meant that I experienced a place I never would have found on my own, which was so good that it made me radically rethink my impressions of German cuisine.

The building is a beautifully restored 17th century watermill, and dinner was a candle-lit affair (would definitely score highly as a romantic location, but was no less lovely for a girly evening of indulgent food and drink), and the service was impeccable - the waiter didn't speak much English, but was very friendly and tried to be as helpful as possible. So this wasn't an issue - Bec helped translate the menu for me and we'd soon ordered. The wine was wonderful, and the bread was warm and served with exciting condiments.



My starter was a tart of french onion and gorgeously creamy and rich cheese. Bec's mushroom soup was one of the freshest and most flavoursome I'd ever tasted (she kindly let me sample some). Portions were generous and very artistically presented.

This was followed by an amuse-bouche of very small pieces of rabbit, which sadly didn't look very appealing. It wasn't quite to our tastes but we sampled it all the same.

Luckily, we were far from disappointed by our main courses. We were both delighted by our respective choices - seafood for Bec and roast chicken with incredible flavour for me. But the delight levels (already very high) went through the roof once we reached dessert. These were quite possibly the two most beautiful and indulgent desserts I've ever seen and tasted.

Apple strudel ice-cream.



Chocolate brownie with poppy seed ice-cream - lusciously chocolatey and gooey.

Overall:
Atmosphere: This place feels special (as being in a 17th century restored watermill should feel) - a good balance of relaxed and romantic.
Service: Attentive, professional and friendly.
Food quality: It looked amazing and it tasted even better.
Value for money: A three course meal with wine came in at EUR 50 a head, which is pretty good value indeed for the quality of what you get.
Overall: Highest mark possible 10/10
Contact details:
Restaurant Molzmuhle
In Bollenberg 41
41844 Wegberg

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