Expectations are high when a Hamburg gastronomic institution reopens after a break of almost four years. After all, Anton Viehhauser and Ali Güngörmüs, renowned star chefs, cooked here until "Le Canard" had to close in November 2020. Jakob Luis Hielscher and his partner Victoria Joana Scherer are now making a fresh start. The 30-year-old, who has worked at the stove in Berlin's luxury hotel "Adlon" among others, has a broader concept than his predecessors: in addition to fine dining, he also offers a club menu with dishes such as pork belly cooked for twelve hours or Wagyu beef curry sausage. The menus are available with five or seven courses. The menu opens with an applewood-smoked tomato tartare, seasoned with well-balanced spiciness and served with fennel foam, rosemary oil, capers and butter crostini - a successful overture, while the waxy quail egg on purple cauliflower puree with nut butter and the pea and mint cold dish with Thuringian Duroc skewer, goat's cream cheese pannacotta and cucumber salt were more visually appealing than tasty. A highlight, on the other hand, was the Norway lobster with lemon salt yoghurt, sweet jalapeños in rice breading and grape relish - perfectly cooked, with contrasting textures and skilfully balanced. The dessert, berry tartlets with clotted cream and muscavado crumble, seemed a little anachronistic in comparison: is anyone still impressed by gold leaf as a topping? Nevertheless, when you enjoy the magnificent view over the container port and the Elbe from the restaurant, you have no doubt about the future of "Le Canard".
Route
