Ox

Rating: 14
Author: Gault&Millau

Mauerstraße 6, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany

14/20
Chef's Restaurant

BOOK

1 PHOTOS

Chef: David Rink
Cooking: Asian | Gastronomic | German | International | Seafood | Vegetarian
Services: Garden | Private Room | Terrace
Style: Casual | With friends

Gault&Millau's review 2025

Sometimes it's just too much of a good thing! We haven't counted how often the exuberantly friendly service has said the word beautiful in its wordy explanations of the dishes, at least so often that we had the feeling of sitting in a supervised food workshop. Nice butter with nice bread, nice cucumbers, nice jus, nice dashi, nice belly meat. All nice, in the end also pretty steep prices. But in the purist ambience with the gray walls and bare tables, a lot of refined culinary art is offered, no question. Sometimes a little too much of a good thing on the plate, when the already manageable portions get lost in smallness, too many accompanying product fragments obscure the view of the primary taste. It all starts very manageably with a dashi made of hamachi, spiced up with barnacles and Thai basil. And with grilled belly of lamb, kimchi, sesame seeds and frothed kimchi juice. Warm greetings from the kitchen, which reaches deep into the Asian cooking box. Then it's off to Lake Constance, where a narrow slice of whitefish pickled in cucumber and elderberry is served, grilled on the Japanese yakitori grill. Accompanied by salad of lacto-fermented garden cucumbers, marinated mustard seeds, elderberry and capers, various textures and marinades of cucumber, puffed quinoa, a sorbet of cucumber and green apple and a shooter based on coconut milk and cucumber with lemongrass and lime. A lush aromatic accompaniment to the tasty freshwater fish. For the grilled quail breast, the fruity-creamy tomato polenta is completely sufficient as a side dish, additionally refined with raspberry, confit tomato and a quail broth seasoned with fermented tomato juice. The coalfish was confit in browned butter, then flamed and served with cauliflower puree and a foamed velouté based on browned butter and verjus. The juicy fish convinced with fine nutty and smoky aromas, ultimately ennobled by the salty touch of the Oscietra caviar, which was generously arranged on top. In the main course, again a cornucopia of flavors around the grilled teppanyaki cut from the neck of Wagyu beef. In addition, there were peppers stuffed with baked eggplant and grilled watermelon in BBQ aroma, briefly grilled Charentais melon, grilled leek as leek and ash puree, leek stuffed with onion jam, leek straw, a few hemp seeds and all subtly wet by a classic demi-ice cream. Praise from the pâtisserie for its uncomplicated peach tart with sorbet of white and blood peaches, a lacto-fermented sauce made from fresh peach juice, enhanced with peach liqueur, lavender and Espelette pepper.