The "Bären" is located in the middle of the village of Schwarzenburg. The long menu is hanging outside, it's game season. Inside, every chair is taken, most of the guests are enjoying their main course and look happy. Hostess Franziska Ilg seats us at the back of the bright restaurant. It's not just in the evenings that the "Bären" serves the top dishes of Patrick Germann and his brigade. We study the menu, two whole pages are dedicated to game specialties, one for wild vegetarians. We are greeted with an orangy cream cheese with carrot julienne. We each order two courses: our companion has opted for the game terrine, accompanied by a mushroom espuma, gingerbread, stewed plums and decorative flowers. The test eater ordered a beetroot carpaccio with cooked and pickled beetroot, beetroot crackers, pears, cream cheese and fermented nuts. Both dishes are - and we're not saying this too quickly - a poem. Delicately prepared and finely seasoned. The main course focuses on game: a tender saddle of venison including fillet, with Brussels sprouts, chestnuts and red cabbage. These ingredients are often too sweet, but not so with Pat Germann: he has given the dish a slight acidity, and the wild blueberries provide a nice counterbalance. The quark spaetzli are light as a feather, even though they have been tossed in butter beforehand. The homemade ravioli are filled with cream cheese and covered with Bernese truffles. The topping is a bold, sophisticated tarragon foam. The portions are so generous that the test eater packs up her spaetzli and saddle of venison. And can enjoy a second "Bären" meal.
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