Die
Quadriga
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The restaurant at Hotel Brandenburger Hof Berlin with chef Bobby Bräuer.
Article added on October 4, 2004
Die Quadriga
Article by Louis Gerber
Die Quadriga at Hotel
Brandenburger Hof is one of Berlin's best gourmet restaurants. Under its
previous chef, Wolfgang Nagler, who left at the end of March 2004, Die Quadriga
has been continuously awarded one star by Michelin and seventeen points by
Gault Millau since 1999.
Nagler's successor, Bobby Bräuer, previously was the chef at the restaurant Victorian
in Düsseldorf, where he also held one star with the Michelin guide and
seventeen points with Gault Millau. He guarantees continuity regarding the
gourmet level of the restaurant, while displaying his own cooking style. In
April 2004, together with The Quadriga, Bobby Bräuer also took over
the second restaurant at Hotel
Brandenburger Hof: Wintergarten, which was awarded fifteen points in the
Gault Millau 2004 and offers French country inn food.
In an interview, Bobby Bräuer told me that he celebrates the produce and its
original flavor, which should not be altered. He described his style and carte
as "purist", one produce plus one component (sauce or vegetable). He
deliberately keeps the carte short. The menu changes according to the
availability of the best products and the feedback of his guests, sometimes
daily, sometimes after one week. He keeps
direct contacts with his suppliers, e.g. game comes from Baron Riederer von
Paar in Bavaria. Classic French cuisine is the basis of Bräuer's cuisine,
but he is open to Mediterranean and Asian influences. The
changing six-course menu with wine pairings is his bestseller.
The interior of Die Quadriga is
just as appealing as the food itself:
A Biedermeier
secretary, Frank Lloyd Wright's cherrywood chairs, designed in 1904, which
correspond
perfectly with the cherrywood panels on the walls, which are decorated mainly
by works of artist of the Berliner Sezession provided by Seidel &
Sohn, an art dealer established 1905; the artworks are for sale. The tableware is KPM
porcelain, the silver from Robbe & Berking, the flowers throughout the
hotel by an Ikebana master.
Incidentally, Die Quadriga
is named after the four horses who pull the goddess of victory, a sculpture by
Schadow from 1794 on top of the Brandenburg Gate.
A vegetarian dinner at Die Quadriga
Tested by Louis Gerber in September 2004
Knowing now that Bobby Bräuer keeps his carte short and buys according to the
availability of produce, I must admit that it was an error to reveal only at
the last minute during my interview of him that I am a vegetarian. If you are
on a special diet, he appreciates having 24 hours advance notice.
At 7:30 a student playing jazzy tunes at the piano bar created an elegant,
relaxed atmosphere for our dinner; later he switched to classical music.
The three appetizers comprised a harmonious sheep's milk cheese with pine
nuts, followed by a strongly-salted zucchini soup, and ending harmoniously again
with arugula and tomato curd.
A warm and damp hand towel before dinner is standard at Die Quadriga,
so are the three types of freshly baked bred (in this occasion pine, wholemeal
and sourdough) and salted butter.
Another hors d'oeuvre, a delicious red-pepper, was next, stewed according to
the chef's philosophy: keep it simple and save the original taste. The
following three portions of vegetables from Provence, accompanied by a
Silvaner white wine (vineyard Kallmuth) with 13% alcohol offered more of the same
spirit.
After a boletus-tomato essence, my main course was ready. A risotto may not be
very imaginative, but since many restaurants offer me one,
this is the dish I can best compare. Bobby Bräuer's version with mainly
artichokes, pine nuts and dried tomato was firm to the bite. All ingredients had
kept their taste. In short: brilliant.
Another highlight was the wine chosen by Sommelière Romana Echensperger:
a Riesling Spätlese 2003 from the Nahe region, with 10% alcohol, by the
winery Schäfer-Fröhlich (vineyard Monzinger Halenberg). It was perfect to accompany my
first dessert, a Bleu d'Auvergne, a French blue mould cheese.
Among the other desserts tasted were three sorbets, including a delicious one
with strong raspberry taste, an elderberry-mint sorbet with honey (a bit
too watery), as well as an excellent peach one. While not fully convincing, a chocolate
soufflé accompanied by fresh raspberries and a champagne granité ended a
delightful dinner.
A dinner at Die Quadriga
Tested by Torge Hamkens in September 2004
The Hotel
Brandenburger Hof's Quadriga restaurant has an outstanding and overwhelmingly comprehensive
collection of German wines that is surely among the very top Berlin has to offer. Definitely a must for connoisseurs of German wines.
The wine menu comprises altogether 850 sorts limited only to German origins
from “Ahr” to “Württemberg”. The presentation is truly most original:
wines are listed according to regions and vineyards without separating white,
red and rosé wines. In contrast to ordinary ones, this menu completely
focuses on the vineyards rather than on the producer. All the wine regions are
introduced by a transparent photo of the soil or stone that is most typical in
its regions, accompanied by a slogan that catches the region’s spirit
and atmosphere. In terms of wine philosophy, the “terroir” is the focal
point in arranging the menu.
The Quadriga’s wine collection can be best experienced when ordering the
Quadriga menu comprising six courses and served with five different wines
representing the full variety of the restaurants “Schatzkammer Deutscher
Weine” (treasure of German wines). The price for the menu (duration about
four hours) including wines was 165 EUR in September 2004.
As an apéritif I had a glass of champagne from Schloss Vaux in Rheingau, the
Quadriga’s house wine: mineral, fresh and elegant.
The aperitif was followed by an assortment of appetizers including calf's head
(Kalbskopf) with balsamic vinegar, a strong zucchini soup and a mousse
of eel
and trout. Combined with a 2002 Riesling cultivated in Slovakia by the German
wine producer Egon Müller, this was a perfect beginning - the wine convinced
through its fine peach aroma and an ideal mix of sweet and sour.
As its first course, the Quadriga menu offered goose liver with truffles.
This was combined with a voluminous 1992 Hipping from the winery Heyl zu
Herrnsheim located in Nierstein on the river Rhine. Although it is rather
unconventional to start a menu with a Beerenauslese (wine made from selected
overripe grapes) like this, the combination with the heavy goose liver was an
extraordinary experience.
The second course was a turbot from the Atlantic accompanied by crayfish and
champagne sauce. Served with this course was a dry, tangy and typical Silvaner
Spätlese from the Franconia based winery Fürst Löwenstein (vineyard
Homburger Kallmuth Asphodill).
After that I had an ox filet from Bavaria with boletus, spinach and shallots,
served with a jus of ox tail. This called for a stronger red wine. In my
case it was 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Henschel winery. In particular, I
enjoyed the wine’s brilliant wood and berry aromas. The regular red wine
served with the ox filet would be a Spätburgunder from the Palatinate winery
Becker. This one, however, was not that convincing.
The sophistically presented selection of primarily French cheeses that
finished the main courses of my menu was combined with a 2003 Riesling from
the winery Schäfer Fröhlich on the river Nahe (vinery Monzinger
Halenberg): a Riesling could not be more elegant!
As my first dessert, I had a sorbet of elderberry and mint. It was
combined with a 2002 Scheurebe Auslese from Baden (vineyard Durbacher
Plaudelrain from the winery Andreas Laible): it was fascinating how the
sorbet’s fruit aromas came together with the wine’s fresh grapefruit notes.
Finally, my second dessert was an enjoyable Pfirsich in Pergament, a
peach with crusty cake, coconut, pineapple and small pralines.
However, this was not all. At the very end a fresh soup made from passion
fruit was served. My digestif was a fine Léopold Gourmel cognac called Age de
fleurs.
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your room or suite at Hotel Brandenburger Hof online.
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Die Quadriga with the cherrywood chairs by Frank Lloyd Wright.
It only seats forty guests, insuring a high level of quality and attention
to all guests and courses.
Photo © Brandenburger Hof.
The Salon Königsstuhl, ideal for private dinners and business meetings.
Photo © Brandenburger Hof.
Bobby Bräuer. Photo © Brandenburger Hof.
Biography of chef Bobby Bräuer
By L.G.
Chef Bobby Bräuer was born on August 10, 1962 in Munich. He spent his years
of apprenticeship 1982-85 with Otto Koch (*1948) in the restaurant Le
Gourmet in Munich; Koch is a Michelin-starred cook, well-known for his
TV-appearances. 1986-87 Bobby Bräuer improved his skills with André Jäger,
the Swiss master of Euro-Asian cuisine, at the restaurant Fischerzunft in
Schaffhausen (19 points with Gault Millau). In 1988 at the restaurant L'Oasis
in La Napoule, France, Bräuer cooked classical French cuisine with an
Asian touch with chef Louis Outhier. Bräuer's next career step was the
restaurant La Casa Nostra at the vineyard Avignones in Italy's
Cianciano Therme in 1989. The following year, he returned to classical French
cuisine. At the hotel and restaurant Schweizer Stuben in Wertheim, he
joined Dieter Müller who had just been the first German chef to achieve 19.5
points with Gault Millau in 1988, a score unsurpassed until today. In
addition, since 1997, Müller is decorated with 3 Michelin stars. In 1991-92,
Bobby Bräuer finally worked under the auspices of another icon, the Austrian
Eckart Witzigmann, at the restaurant Aubergine in Munich. Bräuer
considers Witzigmann to be the chef that has had the most important influence
on him. At Aubergine,
he cooked from classical French to regional to Italian and Mediterranean
cuisine, the last year as sous-chef of Witzigmann. In 1994, Witzigmann was
honored by Gault Millau as "chef of the century", one of only four
chefs to receive this distinction. From 1993 to 2000, Bräuer worked for the first time as
chef at Hotel Königshof München, where he managed to obtain 1 Michelin star
and 18 points by Gault Millau with his classical French cuisine. From 2000 to
early 2004, Bräuer openend his own restaurant in Düsseldorf: Victorian.
Again with classical French cuisine, he was awarded 1 Michelin star and 17
points by Gault Millau. In April 2004, Bobby Bräuer replaced Wolfgang Nagler
as chef at the restaurants Die Quadriga and Wintergarten at Hotel
Brandenburger Hof.
Sommelière Romana Echensperger.
Photo © Brandenburger Hof.
Sommelière Romana Echensperger
By L.G.
In May 2004, the newly-appointed Sommelière Romana Echensperger inherited an
outstanding collection of German wines from her predecessor, sommelier
Matthias Dathan (*1972): In September 2002, he created a wine
list, grouped according to vineyards (Weinlagen), with a photograph next to each section, documenting the specific
soil and moving geographically from north
to south. The wine list includes some 850 exclusively German positions of which 450 are Riesling wines.
All German wine regions are presented with at least 20 positions.
By pure coincidence, the Munich born Romana Echensperger made her
apprenticeship at Hotel
Königshof München, where her chef was Bobby Bräuer. She made her first
steps as sommelière at Restaurant Schloss Berg in Perl. She improved
her skills at Forschungsanstalt Geisenheim in collaboration with the Wine and
Spirit Education Trust, London. L.G.
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