Le Pavillon

Rating: 16
Author: Gault&Millau

Dollenberg 3, 77740 Bad Peterstal-Griesbach, Germany

16/20
Remarkable Restaurant

BOOK

1 PHOTOS

Chef: Martin Herrmann
Cooking: French | Gastronomic | Vegetarian
Services: Access for people with disabilities | Accommodation | Electric charging station | Private Parking
Style: Bar | Elegant | Romantic | With family | With friends

Gault&Millau's review 2025

The path to "Le Pavillon" through Bad Peterstal-Griesbach leads along the B28 past decaying mineral baths and empty hotels with lost place romance. The place seems to be slowly dying out with its aging spa guests. The luxury resort Dollenberg stands up to this high above the village with all its strength and splendour: full flags, neo-baroque columns, large mirrors, fine woods, opulent floral decorations, dance for hotel guests on the mezzanine floor with live music from the solo entertainer. There's no question about it: Here, too, the audience is no longer the youngest, and Martin Herrmann has adjusted his classic French cuisine to it in the glazed rotunda with a wide view of the valley. The five- to eight-course menu offers everything that belongs to an old-school gourmet menu: lobsters, foie gras, sweetbreads, pigeon. When it comes to cheese in the Christofle cart (like the silverware), you are firmly loyal to affineur Waltmann. The kitchen greets you with amuses such as beef tartare cornetto or salmon cubes with apple as well as mild Hamachi carpaccio with a little ginger and wasabi, which are used so discreetly that they are hardly tasteable. The Breton, glassy-juicy langoustine lobster with mango and flamed pineapple is also carefully flavoured, à part with raw crustacean tartare with a dumpling of Imperial Caviar. The chili advertised for it can be found in homeopathic cans that accentuate more colour. The foie gras comes with quince jelly, the sweetbreads with shiitake mushrooms and flamed pineapple, the friendly service pours a dark Shiraz jus on the not too bloody and not too crispy pigeon: everything formidable, everything comme il faut, everything round and harmonious, but also recently without noticeable accents - we sometimes lack a certain portion of courage. But maybe it's completely out of place here. A big praise for the wine list of sommelier Christophe Meyer: Many matured wines, especially Bordeaux, can be found on 100 pages next to simple, well-curated local wines from the Ortenau at the lowest prices. And a small criticism at the end: While the Alsatian-German restaurant team may be addressed by their first and last names or as "Mrs. Richter", the younger helpers, mainly from the Indian subcontinent, who serve professionally, have to make do with their first name on the sign. In a cosmopolitan house like this, such a difference does not have to be.