3 July 2018
Well, I was spent after another long afternoon hike in the hot sun during this German heatwave. That huge lunch at the Ratskeller did not really help, though I admit it provided sufficient fuel… Back to the hotel to sort out more trip-related problems, I relaxed a little before heading out to my dinner destination, Das Kleine Lokal.
I was hoping for another nice evening like at Jellyfish in Hamburg and at Jante in Hannover, as I sense a similar feel to this place. I arrived and as the indoor area was boiling hot with no possible air circulation (it was just below ground), I happily took a seat outside. Ah, another beautiful night for al fresco dining…
I relaxed and looked over the two menu choices, and happily chose the second with wine. Then a wee snack appeared…
Not bad, nice to clear the palate with the cranberry. Nice wee beef treat too. Then after a little while they poured a nice while from Franken and brought the second amuse…
A nice little cheese raviolo with the prawns. Not bad at all. The place was not busy but a group of three perched themselves on another table in the small outdoor area. I’m surprised there was a party inside as it’s stifling hot in there. Then the first proper dish of the night comes out, Schwertmuschel…
Now I love razor clams, but just as I was about to start eating this, the group next to me starts lighting up…shit… The dish was pretty good, the watercress giving a crispness to perhaps just a little too much cream, the smoke starts to become insufferable…
So I literally picked up my food and moved indoors…into a very hot and stuffy dining room. Seems the selfish jackhole trio of smokers enjoyed me having to move… The selfishness of smokers…I won’t even get into this now, but it basically ruined the evening. My server totally understood why, but probably failed to see how much this has damaged this evening already…
I finished the dish with fading interest and chugged my water, as it was really stuffy inside. I’m having the razor clam sweats FFS… I wasn’t too excited when a white from Pfalz was poured and the second dish arrived…
The monkfish wasn’t bad at all, nice with the morels. But it’s so bloody hot it’s hard to enjoy this. What should have been an excellent dish I just didn’t enjoy it. The only breeze we ever got was a waft of cigarette smoke drifting in with it. Ugh… The dictatorship of the smokers…
Next a South African chardonnay is poured, and at this point it’s just for hydration as it’s become uncomfortable. When they brought my dish, I asked them to trim my tasting menu down an item. There’s no way I can eat cheese when I am covered in sweat… In any case the next dish arrived…
Well, this poussin wasn’t a galantine as advertised, but thank goodness. Not bad at all the way it is. The foie was pretty good as well. Worked well with the wine, but really, when I am overheating this much it’s really hard for me to enjoy anything… Then a Franken red is poured and we have the pork belly…
This dish overall did not work. First of all, the knife they provided could not cut anything. Second, the green onion was a total mess, tasted awful and would not cut even with this knife. Third, the pork belly was lacking in flavour. And frankly, pork belly in a boiling hot room is not the best combination, with a room temperature (of a very hot room) red. If anything, this dish just defeated me…I was spent.
I kept wondering how nice this meal would have been if I hadn’t been forced to move inside, would this have been another of the excellent evenings? But the difference is that Jante and Jellyfish perhaps recognise their Michelin star status and made it far more comfortable; Jante’s outdoor dining area appears to be no-smoking. But one of the trio specifically asked the server here if smoking was allowed, and she said yes. The balance between being a local haunt and getting Michelin accolade is not an easy one in a city like Bremen, which is fogged by cigarette smoke anyway, so I can’t blame them.
But I don’t like it, and my business goes accordingly.
Oh well, I’m glad I cancelled the cheese course. I could barely acknowledge the red from Alto Adige that’s being poured for the last savoury course, the venison…
Sadly this was not a good dish on any day. The meat was not of good quality, especially compared to the excellent one I had at Bean & Beluga in Dresden. The chanterelles were the best part of this rather meh dish… A sad ending to a sad night.
I really was in a hurry to go, and made my own pairing of a Williams pear brandy for the dessert…
A so-so dish focusing on Quark cheese and apricot, but again I was melting far more than the subject of my attention. I quickly consumed it and my tipple and asked for the bill. I needed fresh air…
I headed out, walking down the street with the laughter from the trio chasing me… This is a perfect example of how a perfectly good set of dishes could be ruined by the act of a single individual who is not part of the restaurant, how dining out is an experience, not just consumption. One smoker ruined my evening, simple as that. And don’t tell me I’m intolerant, this is why it’s banned in so many places — even for outdoor dining areas. They light a cigarette, take maybe 3 or 4 drags, but the whole time it burns and annoys (and poisons) everyone else in the vicinity. Now that is selfishness at its core.
The only pleasant surprise of the evening? The AC in my hotel room actually WORKS and it’s actually not bad when I got back there… Thank. Goodness.
Das Kleine Lokal
Besselstraße 40
Bremen, Deutschland
melhuang1972 