Day 9 - Bingen to Andernach
Quarter past 6, sunlight in my eyes from the sunrise. And it looks like a pretty good morning for cycling. So waiting for breakfast and will then leave the hotel relatively quickly and get onto my 86km ride down the Rhine through the Gorge all the way to Andernach.
The ride & the castles
This really is where the EuroVelo 15 route is coming to its full glory. The Rhine Valley is magnificent. Of course, I have been here many times, but going through it at a very leisurely cycling pace is so different than driving through. In the beginning, there was a lot of sunshine, seeing the vineyards, the castles, and the little towns dotting the Rhine is absolutely a sight worth seeing and an effort worth making. Here are a few of them as illustrations.
And here is a view of the town of Boppard from its downriver end.
Overall, the ride was quite a bit longer than my recent days. I can feel it in my legs. Tomorrow I’m going to listen to medical advice and not go another 100km but rather only cycle 12 kilometres and then take the train. On my way back south, I’ll do some more cycling. Today also marks the final stop for the initial plan of cycling up north. After this day, it’s going to be a bit of family time, and I’m back on Sunday with an update on my ride back down to Koblenz.
The hotel
The hotel tonight is the PURS in Andernach. Originally, I wanted to stay in another hotel, but it was strongly recommended to go stay here if I can, so I changed my reservation. This is a Relais & Chateaux Hotel. The second of those that I’m using on this ride, and it is brilliant, as hotels from this chain tend to be.
The arrival experience was already quite something. I rolled up in my bicycle, and clearly this is not a place where a lot of bicycle tourers are staying, but the crew did not miss a beat. I was welcomed in, my panniers were brought to my room, and while I was doing the check-in formalities on an iPad, I was served a welcome drink - sake with lemon and champagne, which was absolutely amazing. And with that welcome drink there was an amuse-bouche from the kitchen at 1pm in the afternoon. The amuse-bouche was a cracker, probably tapioca cracker, with some very interesting little bits and pieces on it. Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture. And a cucumber dashi with dill oil that was outstanding. It was meant to be a teaser of what’s to come for dinner, so I’m super excited.
The restaurant specializes in Nordic-Japanese cuisine. The chef, who hails from South Korea, grew up in Stockholm and learned classical French cuisine. Now he’s doing this very interesting mix of Nordic and Japanese cooking, so I’m really looking forward to that experience.
The dinner
The dinner. Nordic Japanese Fusion. What a brilliant concept and brilliantly executed. Currently without stars but I think this is going to change sooner rather than later.
The dinner started in the bar with a sparkling Sake and some amuse bouches. I did not take pictures of them but very filigrane bites, seafood-heavy, self-made dashis and flavor-bombs. At the bar I also learned that there was one (!!) other guest tonight, in a restaurant that probably seats 20-25 people. Perhaps it was a Thursday effect. So basically, my co-guest and I had a private brigade of chefs cooking for us. Unreal.
They basically offer a 6 course meal with some optional extras, in the fish/meat and the vegetarian option. And they also offer 2 wine matchings (normal and premium) - and, much more interesting, self-made non-alcoholic pairings. I chose the latter, and I was not disappointed!
The first official greeting from the kitchen was a brioche with a Swedish cheese on top, fried chicken skin, some berries and some salad. Delicious with interesting textures and flavors.
Up next was the first official course, bluefin tuna with a dashi of fermented strawberries and sudachi gamtae. Matched perfectly with a drink of the same fermented strawberries which were macerated in cold-brewed tea. This is a great example of why I love those non-alcoholic pairings so much. They give the chefs the ability to really lift the food to another level, so much more so than with wines, where they do not control any of the variables.
Then we had grilled lobster with a kanzuri carrot velouté, a guinea fowl garum and lardo. A fantastic combination of textures, flavours, temperatures - and then extended into the drink for the dish which was playing back some of the fermented carrot from the velouté.
Then came one of my favourite dishes of the night. A barbecued scallop, with a beurre blanc foam with vin jeaune and foie gras. On the bottom was a dashi which provided a lot of umami and saltiness. Brilliant and mouthfilling. Likewise the drink was outstanding and matched as well, even if I do not remember the details.
The last fish course was salmon trout with a whey beurre blanc, fennel and cedri lemon. In the sauce were trout caviar and imperial caviar, providing some saltiness in the base. The lemon provided the much needed acidity and overall this turned out to be a very satisfying dish.
And then we came to my first optional dish. I changed the default lamb dish to a Wagyu one. A5 Japanese Wagyu, one with tellicherry pepper, the other slice with ox marrow on a very umami beef garum with green asaparagus and fermented medlar (a stone fruit). The ox marrow was not needed I thought as the meat already provided enough fattiness but overall, this was a stand-out dish.
Then there was a pre-dessert of goat cheese creme with Japanese shaved tea ice and a honey sauce for sweetness. Refreshing and delicious - it cleansed the palate to be ready for the dessert itself.
Which was a little cake with lots of different forms of cherry, some violet, some liquorice, a sauce of Hojichai tea - and most importantly fermented cherry which was also found in the outstanding drink that came with it, overall a very satisfying combination.
Overall, this was an amazing dinner. Basically only for me with a lot of attention by the crew, the chef and the somm. And an interesting conversation with the other diner across the room. Everyone seemed to be somewhat amazed that I cycled there… the chef was saying “what? this is crazy!” :)
Will return.