Pentecost weekend with Mum, turtle and Schiffchen!

Last weekend Wil and I visited my Mum in Mülheim an der Ruhr.
It was her birthday and also Pentecost.
Well Pentecost is actually not important to me at all.
But the main reason for visiting was that I still had to redeem a gift certificate my Mum gave me for my birthday back in December which was a dinner at "Im Schiffchen", a two Michelin star gourmet restaurant in Düsseldorf Kaiserswerth.

GOOD TIMES!

Chef Jean-Claude Bourgueil (pic found here)

Restaurant "Im Schiffchen", by Ernst-Wilhelm Sträter

I have never been to a restaurant like that.
It was raining but an umbrella holding page came and picked each one of us up from the car.
Inside the restaurant the waiters with a small knife would wipe off  the breadcrumbs from our table onto a small tray and would change our napkins by using a tong (!!!) each time one of us went to the bathroom.
A lot of unnecessary chichi, I know, but kind of impressive nevertheless I have to say.
Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures.
The best was definitely the menu.
Small portions but pretty filling.
Also they would bring us "extra treats from the kitchen" that were not even on the menu.
If I have the time I will try to translate and write down each course.
Until then German and French speakers are in advantage.
But main ingredients were foie gras, truffle, beef tartar, caviar, all kinds of fish and fruits, lobster, deer, chocolate and last but not least: gold (yep).

My aperitif was a glass of champagne with ginger liquor.
The white wine we drank with the fish smelled like cat pee, which, no kidding, is a common description for wine flavors.
The wine itself was really good but, of course, that was pretty funny.
Especially because my Mum's husband was kind of disgusted, when I told him...

The red wine was a Chateau Neuf du Pape from the vinyard La Nerthe, which, by the way, is the vinyard on which Wil proposed to me...

Ok, that should be enough bragging.
I cannot wait for my next ultra-fancy restaurant experience!

PS: Now I almost forgot to tell you about Sieglinde, the turtle that my Mum dicovered in her pond a few days ago. This doesn't have to do with food at all (no, we are not going to eat Sieglinde). But it is pretty cute.