This is a review for the restaurant - not the biergarten…read more
In Germany, food at biergartens is usually much worse than food in the associated restaurant - even if both are run by the same people.
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There has been a management change at Zur Historischen Muhle which has made a very very significant difference.
The Historic Mill Restaurant is the upscale destination restaurant at Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam.
Sanssouci Palace is the German Answer to Versailles - the Palace built by Frederick the Great in the era of Absolutism.
Frederick the Great had far better taste than did Louis the XIV.
Louis the XIV just wanted the biggest palace possible. Many of his ministers, such as Fouquet, built far more beautiful palaces than Versailles, only on a smaller scale.
Frederick who was a flutist and a composer oversaw the aesthetic development of Sanssouci. The palace and gardens are smaller, yet magnificently designed. The architecture, landscape architecture, and appointments are stunning. Symbolism and allegorical themes can be found throughout.
This is an intellectual's palace the way that Wagner is an intellectual's opera.
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Tourist attractions need places to eat - particularly when they are of the scale of imperial palaces with massive gardens.
There are any number of snack bars around. These are as wretched as tourist snack bars are anywhere.
The upscale restaurant, named after a nearly windmill that serviced the castle, is built in a stunning late nineteenth century garden house.
More on the house later.
For a long time, it was run by the Movenpick group.
All signs are that they ran the mill as a tourist rip-off.
Prices were astronomical.
Service was abysmal.
Some Yelpers complain that even the water was dubious.
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The German government cleaned house.
Zur Historische Muhle is now run by Arcona, a small hotel group on the Baltic coast, that specializes in boutique hotels and restaurants at resort locations.
Prices are still sky high - but the intention is to provide a truly worthwhile destination experience.
We spent over $100 euros for lunch for two with one alcoholic beverage and no dessert.
But I would have to say that that lunch was outstanding.
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German food is hard to find in the Berlin area.
(Potsdam is for all intents and purposes a Berlin suburb the same way that Versailles is a Paris suburb.)
But locations that serve international tourists will serve German food because that is what the tourists expect.
The German food here is outstanding.
I had a first rate plum brandy.
(German plum brandy is not a true slivovitz such as is found in the former Yugoslavia. It does not have formaldehyde which gives slivovitz its distinctive bite, taste and awful health effects. You will live a lot longer drinking German plum brandy than you will drinking Croatian plum brandy.)
I had a fine beef stock with fresh tomatoes and the super thin egg noodles Eastern Europeans use like fideo. The soup was lovely.
The main course was a veal steak. You just don't see veal steak served in the United States. Germany has better veal than we have in the U.S. The steak was fine eating. A few parts could have used some pounding with a tenderizer hammer to deal with some toughness. But I am more concerned with flavor than tenderness in a steak. The veal tasted just great.
The star of the plate was sauteed potatoes with sauteed micro-carrots and a micro-parsnip. The potatoes were served in massive quantity and were absolutely to die for.
My wife got the funniest dish of the day and the best bargain at that.
She ordered a sole meuniere.
Normally, those of us used to British or French cooking expect a sole meuniere to be a breaded, sauteed fillet of sole.
This was a breaded sauteed entire sole from head to tail.
It was the size of a submarine sandwich.
And she had a full complement of vegetable garnishes to go with it.
My wife is usually not that much of a big eater.
But she polished off that sole and the veggies quite happily.
She gave her dish a big thumbs up.
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What moved that lunch from 60 euros in value to over 100 euros in value was the room.
Never mind being next to a castle and being able to comfortably stroll to the palace gate on time for one's entry slot.
The room itself was charming enough that I could have made an afternoon just eating at the Historische Muhle.
The room was a garden room with twenty foot ceilings and gazebo like windows looking at the scenery outside.
We were eating in May when everything was lush and green.
The effect was very much like being in a German impressionist painting.
The look and feel was complete and total Max Liebermann.
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Would I do this again?
Absolutely!
Would my banker let me do this again?
Hell no.
But Arcona has done the world a great service.
If this is what Arcona provides for hotels and restaurants,
I would happily stay in any of their establishments.
