The pittoresque village of Baiersbronn is a gourmet treasure – in-midst of the Black Forest you can find seven Michelin stars – three for Harald Wohlfahrt at Schwarzwaldstube in the Hotel Traube Tonbach, three for Claus-Peter Lumpp at the Bareiss (promoted in November 2007) and one for Jörg Sackmann in the Restaurant Schlossberg in the family-owned Hotel Sackmann. More than in Bergisch-Gladbach which hosts two three star chefs (Nils Henkel and Joachim Wissler) and, well, I haven’t done the math, maybe with nearly the same stars per capita ratio as in San Sebastian. Quite remarkable.
Interestingly, before Lumpp was promoted it seemed that he was “stuck in the middle” between the perfectionist Wohlfahrt who was regarded the best German chef until this year (now he is tied or shortly behind Wissler) and the progressive, immensely talented, creative and sometimes ingenious Sackmann. After the third star Lumpp seems to be freed from the pressure of being espoir for two years and offers solid three star cooking. Sackmann, however, is meant to be worth two stars and was praised by Jürgen Dollase, the premier German food critique, in a October version of his column in the Frankfurter Allgemeine. The report made it very clear that the diner would be served “exciting taste experiences”. Moreover, Sackmann was part of the “delegation” which presented “the new German cuisine” at the very important congress of Lo Mejor as part of the German Panorama.
Enough for me to plan a little trip to Baiersbronn and reserve a table at Schlossberg to refresh my knowledge of Jörg Sackmann’s cuisine and to examine whether the cuisine is really underrated.