I have already recommended this address several times. To friends, acquaintances and colleagues. Asked for and unsolicited. The reaction has always been the same. Polite interest, an interested "aha", but at the latest a slightly sour expression when I described the location of the restaurant. With rhetorical politeness, I was then promised that I would definitely make a stop if I ever passed this place. Someday, that meant, translated into German without any empty phrases: certainly not in the next ten years. No one ever "passes by" in Rosenberg. Rosenberg is something like the end of the world, at least of the Swabian world. If you want to go to the country inn where I was a guest for the first time almost 20 years ago and have been ever since, you have to sacrifice a day, or better still an extra day, for the journey there and back, the food and drink. Even from Stuttgart, those who are not intimidated by such efforts easily need an hour and a half by car, because they have to struggle through the villages or take a diversion on the motorway. Until he arrives in the eastern part of the Swabian Alb, beyond Schwäbisch Hall and not quite in Ellwangen. But be careful not to simply drive through, because Rosenberg is a tranquil street village of which even the most loyal inhabitants would not claim that there is much going on here.
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| Country inn in nowhere% but worth the trip! |
Except for the Adler, of course. Until a good 30 years ago, this was a rustic inn, as there were so many on the Alb - at least two or three in every village. (Today, most villages don't even have a single inn any more, and hardly anyone goes into any of the ones that still exist, apart from elderly neighbours). The Rosenbergers sat in the parlour on the first floor and ordered sausages with lentils; Riesling and Trollinger were always available. Until the young Josef Bauer gradually changed something and then a lot, put a few creative dishes on the menu and added to the wine list. The simple inn gradually became a restaurant to which even out-of-towners travelled. At some point, the Michelin Guide awarded the restaurant a star, the Schlemmeratlas the highest rating of five spoons, and the GaultMillau 18 out of a maximum of 20 points. There was so much praise for dishes that couldn't sound simpler. Waller with lovage is what Josef Bauer writes on his menu, goat cheese dumplings with fir jelly. Or simply childhood dream. Behind these are creations that are completely free of showmanship, but instead emphasise their own flavour. A beef broth (as an amuse-gueule) tastes amazingly intense here, the alpine lamb is accompanied by a lamb sugo that seems to be an essence of the meat, and the wild garlic spaetzle are so fluffy and light that you could eat an entire bowl of them. (You shouldn't, though, if only because the elegant desserts for which the chef is responsible are among the best you can get in Germany).
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| Adler starter - tartar with maties |
Matching wines are also available, of course, but those gourmets who expect great restaurants to be spectacular will certainly be disappointed here. You won't find thousands of varieties on the thick menu, two head sommeliers and several commis sommeliers with black suits and important looks at the Adler in vain. But what is really important with regard to wine in gastronomy becomes abundantly clear here. Every sommelier should actually go to the Adler internship for a few days to learn how to properly serve the Württemberger from Jürgen Ellwanger or Gert Aldinger and the mature Bordeaux from the 1990s. Above all, with adequate advice: Marie-Luise Bauer wouldn't dream of trying to talk guests into something they don't want, but prefers to recommend new discoveries with a particularly good price-performance ratio. It is clear that the open champagne comes from a small producer. But it's also clear that renowned wines from Rudolf Fürst to Emmerich Knoll (finally a more mature vintage!) are on the menu, complemented by all kinds of older Burgundies, which I only order after consultation due to my lack of exact knowledge of the vintage and producer quality.
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| Which wine goes well with pork trotter with skrei brandade? |
But actually it doesn't matter what I order at the Adler: the wine always goes with the food, and in my opinion that's down to the restaurant. I have a strong suspicion that the kitchen, as part of the surprise menu I almost always order, comes up with exactly those dishes that go with the contents of the bottle I just ordered. Sauvignon blanc by Didier Dagueneau and a combination of beef tartare, maties and beetroot - that was simply unbeatable last time. Just like the duck breast with morels, asparagus and egg holder with Silvia Prieler's pinot noir. Of course, an outstanding (wine) restaurant also needs good glasses and service that couldn't be more attentive. Each wine is pre-tasted at a table in the middle of the room; a corked or otherwise conspicuous drop would not even make it to the table. The fact that the glasses are poured out with the wine and that I never had to sit there without wine is a matter of course in this restaurant; Hildegard Brenner, the head waitress, ensures that the glasses are discreetly refilled.
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| Duck% asparagus% morels and two red wines to go with it |
If I have any regrets at the Adler, it's that I've never dared to order a bottle of Trockenbeerenauslese, a Port or a Sauternes and simply five or six different of those fabulously stirred or baked desserts. A sweet menu, then, from Cassis sorbet with dried berries to freshly baked chocolate tart to plum soup with walnut gratin and the still-warm Ofenschlupfer with iced vanilla. I was always too curious about the savoury dishes first and too full afterwards to manage more than a single sweet. But maybe others do that. The other day, someone came to Rosenberg for the first time on my recommendation. Once on the trip to Italy and the second time, spontaneously decided, on the return trip. I take that as a personal compliment.
Landgasthof Adler, Ellwanger Straße 15, 73494 Rosenberg, Tel. 07967/513, www.landgasthofadler.de