Essigbrätlein Nuremberg 12/21/2025

Essigbrätlein (Nuremberg) is one of Germany’s most respected fine-dining restaurants, holding two Michelin stars for decades. It’s known for an ultra-precise, vegetable-driven cuisine that puts seasonal Franconian produce at the absolute center, often with minimal meat or fish used more as an accent than the star.

The cooking style is purist, intellectual, and intensely focused on flavor clarity, with masterful sauces, reductions, and fermentations. (AI Introduction)

The menu was exceptional and it started with 5 small amuse:

1. Hokkaido juice (frozen and squashed for clear juice) with rice and ginger
2. Endive Salad | Quince | Juniper | Mint
3. Winter Spinach | Walnut | Mandarin
4. Red Cabbage | Fermented Raspberry
5. Black Radish | Radish Cream

All in all great starters combining freshness and sensational taste.

Let’s start with the menu.

• Brussels Sprout Blossom | Cauliflower | Palm Kale | Elderflower | Local Wild Herbs
  This was a great beginning. The Brussels Sprout Blossom is normally cut so the small sprouts gain more power. The different kales tasted very good and also texture was awesome.

• Arctic Char | Radish | Sunflower | Fennel
  If I had to pick a favorite course. This would be it. The radish cream under the fish was superb on its own.

• Leek | Oat | Scentless Chamomile | Dill
  They used only the white of the leek, burnt it and then roasted it in a vacuum. The scentless chamomile is a local product that doesn’t have the typical flavor you would expect. It has a bit bitterness but also herbal freshness.

• White Cabbage Core | Parsley Root | Black Salsify | Fermented Lemon
  This was also a great course. The lemon gave it a bit of more freshness.

• Beetroot | Bell Pepper | Rose Vinegar Jelly | Chive Cream | Grapefruit

The Chive sauce combined with the beet root flavors alone would be a great course. The bell pepper sauce was also great. This is a course I would eat on a daily basis (little bit biased as i love beetroot)

• Venison Loin | Chanterelle Emulsion | Sunflower Blossom Oil | Herbs

The loin was cooked in perfection. Together with the chanterelle emulsion you get a great autumn/winter dish.

• Ice Cream from Lemon White | Bergamot | Basil

This was a great finale. They used the white of the lemon to create almost the most creamy ice cream/sorbet I have ever eaten.

Then we got 5 pieces of different chocolates.
They tasted very well, but they were also a bit less „shiny“ then the rest of the evening.

The location it self had a lot of privacy and was not too loud. Staff was great and we had a lot of fun.

To the facts:

Food: 240€ p.P.
Wine: 155€ p.P.
Juice Pairing: 105€ p.P.

We paid 748€ + tip for the evening as I drank a holly berry eau-de-vie. It’s a very rare fruit brandy.

Experience ranks within my top 3 of restaurants:

• Tohru in der alten Schreiberei *** Munich
• Essigbrätlein ** Nuremberg
• Jan *** Munich