Anima

Rating: 16
Author: Gault&Millau

Hinter Wöhrden, 78532 Tuttlingen, Germany

16/20
Remarkable Restaurant

1 PHOTOS

Chef: Heiko Lacher
Cooking: French | Gastronomic | German | International | Seafood
Services: Access for people with disabilities | Private Room | Terrace
Style: Casual | Elegant | Romantic | With friends

Gault&Millau's review 2025

Strength lies in calmness. Heiko and Janice Lacher still run one of the quietest addresses in the republic – one where guests should and are allowed to concentrate entirely on the minimalist, product-intensive cuisine on offer, which is created or better, finalized parallel to the tables at the open counter. Because Lacher cultivates a style that can only develop into the small works of art that make up the 5- to 7-course menu of the Anima in what is now a one-person kitchen (sous chef Johannes Schühle has left the Anima) through intensive preparatory work. The name says it all: Heiko Lacher wants to offer nothing less than body and soul (the menu title) a light feel-good cuisine that reinvents itself again and again in harmony with nature, the environment and its guests. That's what it says on the website, and that's how we find it on the plate, true to the company's claim to "surprise, convince and surpass". This actually succeeds year after year, and so we always like to come back to the puristically furnished room characterized by dark wood. In fact, we have only eaten the same thing a few times at Lachers – a signature dish would hardly be compatible with the style of the house, but a recognizable style of working out the finest nuances from simple, best ingredients and making the maximum out of the minimum, usually with a citrus or other fresh note, a world of aromas that perfectly masters laughter and uses it intelligently. Precisely tweezed, color- and taste-intensive, highly aesthetic miniatures with a clear main player and a usually equally clearly worked out, sensitively contrasting counterpart determine the menu sequence – for example, starting in autumn with a grilled, juicy langoustine lobster on an emulsified crustacean stock, citrusy Asian flavored with kaffir lime: in fact, the maximum taste that can be gotten out of the crustacean, unadulterated and yet with a freshness kick. Or a highlight during a summer visit: the quail breast under the pistachio hood bred by Lars Odefey in Uelzen, a guarantee for top gastronomic quality: a crispy piece of skin for the crunch, a shiny poultry jus for the intensity, blanched peas for the freshness and a bittersweet lemon confit for the contrast: a harmonious and yet highly lively combination. Cuisine with soul - and four toques absolutely within reach, if the "surprise" factor is played a little stronger!