Vendôme (**)

In the 5 star hotel Schloss Bensberg you will find the two Michelin star restaurant of Chef Joachim Wissler. From the restaurant there is a view of Cologne Cathedral

We start with a glass of champagne from Xavier Leconte L’Héritage. We do not know this Champagne, it has a nice aftertaste and a good bubble.

A parade of amuse-bouches is served. Immediately 5 amuse-bouches are put on the table at the same time. The order to eat the amuse bouches is explained. We start with the only warm appetizer: a piccata of cod tongue on a plankton biscuit. A wonderful start. This is the first time we eat plankton.

Then a baguette of tomato with ham. A sandwich lies on a plate, filled with tomato and ham. When you pick up the sandwich you feel how light it is. The sandwich is made of meringues. It melts in your mouth.

Then a macaron of Jerusalem artichoke with smoked eel and cucumber. A beautiful green and white dish. Nice and fresh.

The fourth appetizer is beef tartare with caviar. The tartare is in a very crispy filo pastry cylinder. The beef is very thinly sliced and very well seasoned. The caviar brings saltiness to the dish. Very good!

Finally, a tako filled with pork and seed oil. The tako half open, the pig pulled. A very nice start.

We opt for the 6-course menu with accompanying wines. There is also an 8-course menu, which we think is too much because we also had an extensive lunch.

The first dish is mackerel with a tomato-ponzu dressing and parsley oil. Served separately an oyster in parsley dressing. Different preparations of mackerel are on the plate. Raw mackerel, mackerel pickled in tomato dressing and mackerel belly shortly roasted and lacquered. In addition, several pieces of rettich. A very refreshing dish. We also get a very large oyster. This is briefly smoked and then put back in the shell and sprinkled with a parsley dressing. Wow how delicious.

The first wine is a Wenzel with 100% Furmint grapes. A wine that you don’t want to drink when you go for a drink, but a wine that goes very well with the mackerel and oyster. Due to the complexity of the dish and the taste of the wine, this is a very good combination.

Then very large langoustine from Iceland with carrot and a velouté of langoustine. The langoustine consists of two parts, the tail and the leg. The tail is baked briefly so that it is still slightly glassy. This one is on a puree of carrot and chilli. In addition, there are three small teardrop molds made of fermented carrot with langoustine and chilli pepper. Delicious. The velouté is very creamy, it is made with coconut milk and lemongrass. This makes the taste go to a version of Tom Kha Kai. Excellent dish

The wine is a 2020 Chenin Blanc from the Loire by Clocher. A wine with a higher alcohol content. A very good match with the dish.

The third dish is trout from Lech with white asparagus and a vin jaune sauce. The trout is placed on ice, then smoked and then wrapped to leave overnight. Finally smoked briefly. The fish falls apart from tenderness. What a nice tender piece of fish. The asparagus are briefly roasted and are in a nice sour vin jaune sauce.

The wine is a 2019 Spiess chardonnay. A slightly fuller Chardonnay, not very woody, so not very fat. The combination is very good.

The main course is roe with a cognac pepper sauce, puree of linden leaves and a panna cotta of celery. A perfectly roasted piece of roe lies on the plate. Beautiful pink. On the roe is a fritter of blueberries and on top of that a rose of beets. Very nice to look at and very tasty. This whole is accompanied by a puree and a mousse made from linden leaves. Leaves from the trees around the hotel have been picked and made into a puree and mousse. I think it’s a bit too intense myself, Thomas thinks it’s great. The pepper gravy with the dish makes it complete. The celery panna cotta is a very nice find. Very tasty and slightly warm.

The wine is quite a unique wine. A South African wine from the Mourvèdre grapes from 2017 from the Beaumont winery. We get a little bit poured to see if we like it or want something else, we don’t like it but it’s great. A very good wine with this dish. Personally, I think the wine becomes a bit strong with the leaves. Combination mousse – roe and wine is again very good.

The menu includes two desserts. The first is fermented cherries with ice flowers and a cream of cherries. On the plate is a mousse that is filled with cherry juice. Next to this mousse are cherries and flowers made of ice. A very good dish.

The wine is a cava from Raventós i Blanc de Nit from 2021. We find this combination a little less.

The last dessert is a chocolate ganache (66%) topped with raspberries and a bowl filled with raspberry juice with sweet woodruff ice cream and a biscuit. What a divine dish this is. Here is an artist in the kitchen. We think all dishes are very good with the langoustine as a very good highlight.

The wine is a Beerenauslese from Kracher called Red Roses. The scent of roses is so present it is as if a large bouquet of roses are on the table. The combination is perfect.

A tray with 6 different artworks is brought to the table. We each choose a number of friandises. I have a truffle pearl, balsil ice cream and chocolate with sezuan pepper. All works of art and each one delicious to eat. We are completely full after 6 courses. What a great restaurant this is.

Thomas has a passion fruit flower / bombe.

Service and interior

The staff knows their trade. The sommelier and the head of the service stay at the tables to chat. The explanation of the dishes and wines is very extensive. Everyone who serves something knows how the dishes are prepared. The staff is very well coordinated. The wines are brought to the table a few minutes before the meal. The breaks between dishes are very good. There is a longer break between the last starter and the main course, which is indicated and then a basket of cornbread is placed on the table. This has been thought about. The bread is exquisite.

The interior is very nice. Old drawings hang on the wall and on top of that is a glass plate with details of these drawings. There are folding screens here and there that give the restaurant a cozy atmosphere. This is not our last time here. Good that there is a restaurant on this level that is relatively close to us.