Lorenz Adlon Esszimmer

Rating: 18
Author: Gault&Millau

Unter den Linden 77, 10117 Berlin, Germany

18/20
Prestige Restaurant

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1 PHOTOS

Chef: Jonas Zörner
Cooking: European | French | Gastronomic | International | Seafood | Vegetarian
Services: Access for people with disabilities | Accommodation | Electric charging station | Private Parking | Private Room
Style: Bar | Exceptional setting | Romantic | With family | With friends

Gault&Millau's review 2025

An evening in the Lorenz Adlon dining room is also a holiday from the storms of the present. The heavy carpets, the dark wood, the bust of Wilhelm II with a spiked hat above the fireplace, the gold-embroidered napkins... the here and now – for a moment it's quite far away. This also applies culinarily. Reto Brändli cultivates a classic style. Regional products? He hardly uses them. Fermentation? He doesn't. Vegetable courses? None found on the menu. What you find are elaborate and detailed courses with top products such as the Carabinero Rosso, a parade course from Brändli. It starts with the fact that the crustacean from Portugal has a wonderful sweetness and perfect crunch. Brändli supports the sweetness with wafer-thin mango and coconut slices as well as a coconut gel and a coconut milk beurre blanc with kaffir lime oil. The delicate smoky aromas of the grilled carabinero lift the smoked almonds and the crustacean stock set with bold roasted notes. Great spectacle on the tongue - especially since a satellite plate with coconut ice cream and shrimp tartare is served. The following Breton turbot was a bit stolen by its powerful companions: a tartare of veal tongue with kohlrabi and a slice of veal tongue with a gel of green apple and a boldly large portion of sliced horseradish. In addition, a wonderfully meaty beeftea with lovage oil, which - like many dishes at Brändli - gets by with hardly any salt. Head sommelier Hans-Martin Konrad then interpreted the creation as a red wine entrance and served a mature, slender Barbaresco with pinpoint accuracy. With the sorbet before the main course, of course, that's what they still cultivate here, for the first time a hint of seasonality: a cantaloupe melon with strawberry and finely sparkling Sancho pepper. That's right, it's just summer. This was also hinted at by the wonderfully delicately poached sweetbreads with a crispy coating of fried onions and hazelnuts, as it was accompanied by chanterelles and peas. In addition, a deep-flavored truffle jus and a comforting – let's call it – mushroom cream sauce. The dessert exuded the most late summer happiness: a popcorn ice cream on a corn soufflé with pickled peach and peach compote, plus nitrogen-frozen ice crumbs of white currant, which got a touch of excitement from the addition of the geranium plant pelargonium. The service team around Oliver Kraft acts with wit and an occasional penchant for role-playing prose. Both take away the dignified heaviness that the room radiates. You can easily browse through the wine list to the main course, a proud 1400 wines are listed here, practically every significant European growing region is represented in detail. Especially in France and Italy, there is an impressive vintage depth - and price level (not only for the Pinots from Romanée-Conti). At the risk of sounding small-minded: But if you are listed four types of champagne at the table for an aperitif without getting a rough idea of the prices, you can feel queasy as a guest. If one of them also costs 50 euros a glass, then the house already has a duty to provide information. Why not just include an aperitif menu with the menu?