South Tyrol Part IV: Sissi in Meran

My favorite restaurant during our trip to South Tyrol was "Sissi" in Meran and I'm glad we saved it for last. I had the tastiest meat of my life there. No joke!

We were started off with homemade twisted bread rolls. Very good!

Then we received an amuse bouche, which was a "liquid pizza". It consisted of a miniature glass filled with tomato water at the bottom, followed by croutons swimming in olive oil, and a piece of mozzarella with basil on top. We were instructed to first eat the mozzarella and then drink the rest. It actually tasted like pizza. It was amazing!!

After that we received a second amuse bouche, which was a cooked pepper infused with anchovies and garlic. We were instructed to eat it all at once. I had never had anything like it and I'd really like to know the cooking method. It was absolutely delicious. 

 

Then finally came the appetizers. I had potato ravioli filled with mushrooms and topped with truffles and parmesan. They were heavenly. 

For the main dish I chose calf's shoulder and it was by far the best meat I had ever had. It melted in my mouth and the truffle sauce, pea puree and celery fries went wonderfully with it. 

We received a sweet amuse bouche that was called a "modern apple strudel". It was apple (cooked in the same way as the pepper in the savory amuse bouche) infused with cinnamon and sugar and served with a puff pastry stick. The waitress told us to first eat the apple, then the puff pastry. So good!

The only thing that disappointed me was the dessert called "Piña Colada". It was cookie crumbs topped with coconut ice cream, which in turn was topped with rum granita. Everything was good except the ice cream, which was made with coconut milk. I somehow dislike the flavor of coconut milk in desserts and would have preferred it if it had been made with regular milk and cream. Nevertheless, Sissi was one of the best restaurants I have ever been to!

South Tyrol Part III: Castel Fragsburg

Let me tell you about the time when we were served 11 courses...While in Scena I bought the special edition on South Tyrol by the German magazine Der Feinschmecker since I was curious to find out more about the regional specialities and to find restaurants in the vicinity of Scena. One restaurant that was recommended was the one at the hotel Castel Fragsburg as it not only had good food but also a beautiful view of the city of Merano from its hillside position. So we decided to check it out. On the phone we were told that you could choose between a 3- or 5-course menu. We already knew 3 would be more than we could handle.

It took us quite a while to find the hotel as our GPS wasn't able to find the street it was on. But we finally ended up finding the right street that was able to take us there and after climbing up the hillside we finally reached the Castel from where there was indeed a great view of Merano. 

Entering the hotel we were greeted very nicely and were led into a nice large dining room that was partly covered by a glass roof. We received a menu outlining the 3- and 5-course menus and we were told that we could mix and match. Already on the menu we could see that both choices also had some in-between dishes so that we'd be receiving far more than the 3 courses we had chosen. We ended up having 12 courses!!

The amuse-bouche turned out to be fresh oysters. You couldn't pay me a million dollars to eat an oyster. I get food poisoning just looking at them. J. was a good sport and tried one but admitted that it really did taste like a glob of salted sea water. 

We then were served a copious bread basket with various dips and spreads: a special type of red salt, olive oil,  curry butter, cream cheese, a pepper spread and an herb spread. Unfortunately the breads were a little less spectacular than I had hoped homemade bread would be but the dips were pretty good. 

The next surprise starter included foie gras, something I had not planned on ever eating. Now that I've tried it I really never have to have it again. It's greasy and the flavor is just not for me. The cauliflower soup with shrimps that came with it was quite delicious as was the palate-cleansing A-C-E drink that came in a little plastic pipette. A-C-E stands for the vitamins A, C and E coming from a mix of fruit juices. 

Then came the first dish we had actually ordered-the salmon trio. It consisted of poached salmon, a millefeuille of smoked salmon with mustard sauce and a salmon praline covered with crunchy noodles. All three were very good, especially the millefeuille. 

To cleanse our palates we were served a deliciously refreshing strawberry sorbet in champagne with vanilla bean. 

Our main dish was the most disappointing. We ordered duck breast and the meat was so tough and chewy that we couldn't enjoy it and asked them to take it back. We were offered veal instead and gratefully nodded our heads. It took a while to get the veal, which we were not sorry about since we were already quite full by this time. But to apologize for the wait we were served homemade tagliatelle with calf's head and octopus. The sauce was salty with no other flavors, but the quality of the noodles, calf's head and octopus was very good.

Then we were served the best veal I had ever had. It came with celery puree, cooked celery and candied lemon peel. I normally don't like candied lemon peel but this one was fresh and hardly bitter. Once the plates were set on the table, the waiter poured lemon oil over the meat and spooned porcini foam on the side. It was the best dish we were served there. A great composition of flavors!

Already bursting at the seams we were presented with the sweet amuse-bouche which was a mini chocolate caramel cake served with pineapple and raspberries and what J. called mini meringue bones. The cake had good flavor but I didn't so much like the gelatinous consistency of the caramel part. 





Next came our actual dessert: a variation on Topfen which in English has the unsatisfying translation of "curd cheese". From the left it included Topfenpalatschinken, which is like a crêpe filled with Topfen, then Topfen ice cream with an apricot sauce, Topfen cream and Topfen cake topped with mini meringue bones. My favorite were the Palatschinken and the ice cream but I was so full by this time that I couldn't finish dessert, my favorite part of a meal! 

Once our dishes we cleared we thought we had "made it through" dinner, but we wrong. There was one last course from the kitchen: an étagère with homemade chocolates and cookies. We just couldn't eat it so we both received  two mini boxes of truffles ( 2 pieces each) to take home instead. They were disappointingly bland. The last course came with a glass of a clear liquid that tasted like apple. It was very refreshing. 


All in all we had a good time and the fabulous veal made up for any shortcomings in the other dishes.