New Year's at the Limbourg

My sweetie had booked a table at the Limbourg for us to welcome the new year with a leisurely meal.

The restaurant right round the corner from Friesenplatz (Cologne's party mile) looks small at first sight, but actually has a second floor, so is not quite as small as it seems.

I had been doubtful at first, as Friesenplatz is not my favourite part of town and the restaurant had looked almost too understated at a first quick glance.

Getting there on New Year's Eve, though, it was soon evident that is was an excellent choice. Right round the corner from the tram, it was nevertheless quiet - hardly any background music throughout the evening - non-smoking, and the other guests seemed perfectly bearable on this evening. Also, in spite of the brick walls, the atmosphere as well as the temperature was pleasantly warm and comfortable. The tables were decorated perfectly for the occasion, with lots of silly paper toys and balloons to amuse you during the evening. There were even a couple of crackers provided.

The meal consisted of six courses, spread out perfectly over the evening, starting at eight and ending shortly after eleven. The amount for each course was perfect, too.
We had aperitifs and then a bottle of Champagne during the meal.

There was some bread with salsa first, probably to keep you entertained or as amuse geule. I had stupidly forgotten my insulin, so I had to take it slowly on the carbs, which worked ok, though. (The nice thing about classy meals like that is that they tend to come with very few carbs. ;) :D )

The meal opened with scallops in a pine, date and mince sauce. The pine kernel with the dried fruit made a very curious texture sensation in the mouth.

Next was a smoked duck breast, thinly cut, with lambs lattice, cheese and balsamico. The meat was delicious (if intense and at times a teeny bit chewy - just so much that I was glad for the salad and some bread). I couldn't detect the balsamico, though, but as it didn't spoil the taste, that was ok.

Next was a lemon sorbet. This was my favourite course of all, as it was exactly what I'd always imagined sorbet to be like, from what I'd heard of it. So far, what I'd had had mostly just been more or less frozen juice. This, by contrast, was certainly 'half frozen' in texture and consisting to a large part of sparkling wine, as it was swimming in a glass of prosecco.

This providing a nice break and transition, for the following main course you could choose between meat and fish. Both of us chose the meat, which was haunch of lamb, briefly fried, with a morel sauce, sweet potato slices and a half pear filled with a thyme-creme.
It was very good, although I prefer my lamb cooked tender. I had a few inedible bits on it, which wasn't helped by the fact that my knife had an edge as sharp as an eraser.

The first dessert was Lebkuchen-mousse in a chocolate ring with slices of mulled-wine-jelly. The mousse with the chocolate was excellent, though I wasn't convinced by the jelly.

To finish up, there was a cheese course, with four different cheeses and some grapes and bread. The cheeses were all delicious, and just enough to be filling without being too much.

We had finished the Champagne by then, and I had a glass of French dry Muscadet with the last course, which was really good, too.

When it went on midnight, glasses of Prosecco were poured for everyone to take, which was really nice, I thought - not having to make sure you order in time so you have a glass in your hand in time. A slight disadvantage was that no one was officially checking the clock and counting down the time, so we went a bit stumbling for the time - but it was pretty much around midnight, certainly while it was still 00:00, that we clinked our glasses and cheered the new year, then all went outside to see what fireworks were being let go on Friesenplatz.
It wasn't as crowded as I'd expected - it's probably a bit off-centre for a night like that - but, then, no drunken crowds was just what I'd wanted, so that was good; and we still saw a nice amount of rockets, too - and not seeing a part of them, because we didn't have eyes for them just then. ;)

When the rocket spectacle was over, we went back inside and settled down for a nightcap.
I had a shot of Williams pear spirits, which they made a very generous glass. It was very good and provided and a nicely rounded finish for a wonderful, delicious, fun New Year's Eve.

http://www.limbourg.mynetcologne.de/