To preface, this was my first time experiencing a tasting menu. I am not a vegetarian and didn't know prior that the base menu is vegetarian.
The experience I had at faelt was excellent and the value proposition for it is probably one of the best you can have for a Michelin star rating. The staff were fantastic, the easygoing music and fun atmosphere, and each of the dishes were prepared with great attention to detail.
I personally didn't care too much for the eats on the vegetarian rendition of the menu, but the execution was superb. The six course flight can be supplemented with one-to-three extra dishes for a nominal amount. Also offered are wine and non-alcoholic pairings for each of the six/seven/eight rounds.
All of the dishes served were made with great care and the chefs would often run them to the table themselves and give a brief introduction on the dish. The starters of warm bread and savoury bites were a nice handshake to begin with. The plating for the next dishes were nice and the flavours interesting, but I didn't feel as though there was much in the mouthfeel experience. The use of foam in dishes is a concept lost on me. The vegetable dumpling was a little puzzling to cut and eat partially due to the round bottom of the dish. The grilled octopus on offer on the evening I went was the best I have ever had. The onsen egg was also notable, but the leeks were also salty and its flavour didn't complement the egg well in my opinion. The kolerebi was OK with the coffee sauce, but I was more into the risotto it was served on. The sweet dishes were pretty good and a good way to end. The cookie was nice, soft, figgy. The cold dish was very bright with citrus.
I had chosen the non-alcoholic drink pairing and it provided me with a wide variety of different mixtures of taste. Glasses included wine with the alcohol removed in a vacuum and distilled, various fresh juices the likes of pea, beet, and pineapple mixed with other ingredients, and a couple other nonalcoholic beverages. The earthy tastes of the juices had made my palette lazy by the second or third one, and I didn't spend a whole lot of time savouring it and was kind of forcing it down by the last of the meal.
As mentioned, the staff is very fun to be around and to watch in the open kitchen. Hosts are openly knowledgeable about the dishes they're serving and do an excellent job describing it in English and Deutsche. The dining room is like a large party room at a rich person's newly renovated house and gets very nice as it gets dark outside and the lights come on. The music tracks spinning on in the background of alternative 80s and 90s tracks are great at making it a mellow scene and taking any sort of stress off of the dining environment.
Overall, faelt is an excellent restaurant if you're into tasting menus and that sort of fine dining experience. If you're vegetarian, I think you'll love it! At 95€ per person for six courses, I don't think you can go wrong. The alcoholic and san-alcohol drink menus at an additional 85€ and 75€ per person I think are worth it. read more