Delicious German Food at Gasthof Gentner

Let me tell you about the best German restaurant I have been to this year and possibly in my whole life: Gasthof Gentner (Gasthof means "hotel" in German) in Spielberg (about a 30 minute car drive southwest of Nürnberg). The food was amazing. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. But before I continue on my near-death experience let me give you the background on how I even heard about the restaurant. 

Earlier this year I finally decided to become a member of Slow Food Germany. I had been putting it off since I wasn't sure I wanted to spend €35 (the price for "youngsters") to become a member. But then I decided that I wanted to support the organization and that it was worth the price. For those of you who are not familiar with the Slow Food organization (click here for the US site), members are organized into local chapters called convivia (from the Latin word "convivium," which means "feast"). Since I am living in Nürnberg I joined the Nürnberg convivium. As luck would have it I turned out to be the 250th member of the Nürnberg convivium and I won a bottle of wine and a gift certificate to Gasthof Gentner. This restaurant has been included in Nürnberg's Slow Food restaurant guide, meaning that, besides offering fabulous cuisine, the restaurant is supplied with only regional products by regional suppliers, where possible.

My mom and I decided to check out the restaurant on May 4, the day of the opening of the  Obstarche (engl: ark of fruit) in Spielberg (located right next to Hotel Gentner). What this "ark of fruit" is, is a piece of land planted with over 100 different varieties of heirloom apples and pears. Slow Food Nürnberg took part in the opening ceremony and even adopted one of the apple trees (variety Edelborsdorfer). I'm sure this place will be great once the trees are old enough to produce fruit. This is a big step towards preserving regional biodiversity (one main goal of Slow Food). Before the opening ceremony my mom and I went for lunch at the restaurant (you should make reservations beforehand). I was pretty excited because I had heard very good reviews of the restaurant from a Slow Food friend of mine.

However, before I talk about what we ate I would like to give some interesting information about the hotel. The hotel is under monument protection, meaning that during restoration only certain changes can be made to the original building. It was recently restored and the Gentner family did such a good job at preserving the original building that they won a prize. The restaurant consists of three rooms. The room we were seated in was panelled with wood and had white walls. It felt very cozy. 

The menu consists of one piece of folded paper with just a handful of appetizers, main courses and desserts. Since mostly regional and seasonal products are used in the restaurant the menu is subject to change. After ordering we were started off with a complimentary appetizer of two types of fresh Bauernbrot (engl: farmer's bread) along with a white bean dip. It was very tasty. For the main course my mom had pike perch with vegetables:

I had pork filet with mushrooms in cream sauce served with Spätzle (which are little cooked bits of dough) and a side salad:

It was heavenly. Everything was cooked to perfection and there were no off-flavors. All the food tasted delicious and fresh without additives. Although I was quite full after lunch I decided to have a dessert. I chose the mascarpone cream topped with rhubarb compote and a scoop of vanilla ice cream:

This was also fabulous. I would have to say that this was the best restaurant food I had had in a long time and I would definitely go back. Fortunately, we didn't use my gift certificate, so next time is free!!