Restaurant August by Christian Grünwald

Rating: 16
Author: Gault&Millau

Johannes-Haag-Straße 14, 86153 Augsburg, Germany

16/20
Remarkable Restaurant

1 PHOTOS

Chef: Christian Grünwald
Cooking: European | French | Gastronomic | German | Seafood | Vegetarian
Services: Garden | Private Parking | Private Room | Terrace
Style: Elegant | Exceptional setting | Romantic | With friends

Gault&Millau's review 2025

With Christian Grünwald, everything is a little different. When you stand in front of the Haag Villa in Augsburg, you have to ring the bell to be let in. On the first floor, the chef welcomes his guests personally and gives a brief lecture on the history of the house before you are allowed to sit down at one of the glass tables. They also serve as a showcase for the amuse-bouches, which are advertised in almost endless succession by the chef himself. "Do you smoke?" asks Grünwald and presents an ultra-crispy "cigar" filled à l'italienne, an amusing trompe-l'œil effect. "It's all about art here," one could say, freely paraphrasing Richard Wagner, not least in terms of the length of the culinary performance. It is not until shortly before midnight that you are dismissed home by the patron, a little dazed by the variety of tastes, textures, the artistic arrangements including various show effects: a slice of beef heart tomato is flambéed in a wooden box in front of the guest with pomace schnapps and drizzled with a flavoured butter sauce before it disappears into the table display case for "maturation". The products used by Grünwald are of the very highest quality: Heligoland lobster, Gillardeau oysters, Breton sole from the artisan fisherman, Bavarian Wagyu beef. Grünwald is a master when it comes to distilling extracts from flowers, leaves, woods and vegetables, which then sweetly balance a "tomato collection" as grape must tomato essence or give the strawberry dessert a floral note as "eau de parfum from the garden". The "tea" served at the beginning based on roasted vegetables, mountain pine and juniper is stunning. Only occasionally do Grünwald's elaborate compositions get out of balance: a sauerkraut beurre blanc with sole was definitely too sour, and the slightly bitter lettuce leaf as part of the dessert would also have been dispensable. The wine list is similarly rudimentary as the website (no online reservation!), but fairly calculated, the service without fault. Even if you may not have understood everything in the end, as is the case with art, you leave Christian Grünwald with the feeling of having experienced something special.