La Vie – Thomas Bühner (Dec 2010)

Being obsessed with high-end food, being a food blogger, sometimes makes life difficult. What happens if you are on your way to Osnabrück and after some 90 minutes you realize that you have left your whole camera equipment at home? Driving back and get it is not an option due to time-restaints (arriving at 22.00 at the restaurant is no fun, for noone) – so the only way was to either borrow one (maybe from the chef?) or buy a new one. As a complete stranger in Osnabrück, I found myself running around in the city to buy some camera option – if anyone out there needs some advice where to find good camera shops in OS, I’m the one to talk to… In the end, I didn’t buy the dream-5D (simply because it’s quite expensive and I had no lenses with me) but opted for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 which has a nice 2.0 lens and much higher ISO values than my EOS 450D. The results are quite satisfying although the whole meal was over-shadowed by my fear that the pictures would come out nicely…

Where was I? Osnabrück, right. So the mission of this trip was clear: enjoy an evening at La Vie and write some personal comments about how Thomas Bühner’s cooking has evolved since my last visit. For those of you who do not know where Osnabrück is and who are not familiar with the restaurant I found the following video (well, it is taken by the restaurant but gives a good impression imho):

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Thomas Bühner – It’s about Time

It was about time to revisit Thomas Bühner’s La Vie in Osnabrück. My last meal there in December last year was on a very high level yet with some weaker moments, especially on the dessert side. But it showed a clear tendency towards higher laurels, namely the third star. In this year Bühner hired Frederik Robert, a new pastry chef, and had Jürgen Dollase present very promising new dishes in a recent issue of Port Culinaire. So, we went…

Thomas Bühner

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La Vie (Th. Bühner) – A Question of Time

Osnabrück? Where the heck is that? Well, for people interested in fine dining it is the home of the Restaurant La Vie where Thomas Bühner has been both chef and patron since April 2006. But, Osnabrück has more to discover…

Exactly 2000 years ago in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest near Osnabrück Arminius led about 11 Germanic tribes to defeat the Romans under Varus. The city itself was founded in 780 by Karl the Great and soon became a diocesan town. Thus, in the medieval ages it was a prosperous town, even part of the mighty Hanseatic league in the 14th century. In 1648 the peace treaty after the Thirty Years’ War was partly signed in Osnabrück (the Peace of Westphalia of Münster and Osnabrück).

Osnabrück Impressions (courtesy of the City of Osnabrück)

Osnabrück Impressions (courtesy of the www.osnabrueck.de)

Moreover, after the second world war it become the home of more than 160 paintings of Felix Nussbaum who was born in Osnabrück and murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz. Today, the Felix-Nussbaum-Haus of the magnificent Daniel Libeskind carries a nice collection of Jewish art. Right now, the special exhibition “The hidden trace. Jewish ways through modernity” reflecting Jewish life in the diaspora is worth the trip alone.

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Felix-Nussbaum-Haus (courtesy of the www.osnabrueck.de)

I can really say that I fell in love with Osnabrück even after having discovered only some of its treasures. Overall, Osnabrück today is a blend of old (timbered, neoclassical and rococo style) and modern buildings which is also characteristic of the cuisine of Thomas Bühner. Hm, quite a transition;-)

Interestingly, since Bühner was named chef of the year in the German Gault Millau in Nov 2005 it merely seemed a matter of time until the third star would be awarded. In the 2006 Michelin nothing happened simply because he announced to move to Osnabrück but held his two stars in the 2007 edition. The same was true in 2008 (promotion of Amador, Erfort and Lumpp) and in 2009 (promotion of Elverfeld). At the same time, Jürgen Dollase does not stop to praise Bühner’s cuisine and lately named him meal of the year in Germany in 2008. Enough to discover myself…

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