Restaurant
In Berrwiller, near the famous Wine Route, the Koenig restaurant invites you to culinary discoveries concocted by a chef who exudes the joy of living.
Latest edition : 26 April 2020
Who better than an inveterate epicurean chef to surprise and delight the taste buds of his guests!
Matthieu Koenig is one of its chefs who love everything that is beautiful and good. He appreciates a simple roast chicken accompanied by a good beer at the October festival in Munich (he goes there every year in traditional dress, what's more!) as much as the refined dishes served at the table of his starred peers. “I like the atmosphere of restaurants, sharing fine gastronomy with family or friends. The pleasures of the table, you have to share them” says Matthieu Koenig with a smile and contagious enthusiasm!
“It's also an opportunity to share our ideas, to see the trends, what is being done elsewhere”. Elsewhere… Matthieu would have liked to travel more. “I always wanted to be a cook. The only thing that could have deviated me from this path was a job that would have allowed me to travel the world. »
This small pang of heart put aside, he strives to discover the cuisine of other countries during one or the other trip, and to bring small touches in his cooking. Gently so as not to rush the taste buds of its guests.
A bit of Thai in the form of a broth made with coriander and ginger on shellfish (remembrance of a trip to Thailand with Émile Jung, emblematic chef of the Crocodile restaurant in Strasbourg), a succulent ravioli with a lamb shank (in a nod to Italian chef Alberto Bradi), a rösti stuffed with foie gras, a souvenir of a season at Monte Rosa in Zermatt. Zermatt where he feels at home and where he tastes the joys of snow as soon as his schedule allows it.
Matthieu Koenig's motto: “You have to immerse yourself in everything and then try to transform it”.
The menu of the Koenig restaurant displays very few typical Alsatian dishes. But, a great lover of his region, Matthieu Koenig, still offers a baeckaofa but not necessarily with the traditional three meats replaced, for example, by scallops and truffles. And sometimes he prepares spaetzle with chestnut flour.
Several dishes appear under the name “L'Alsace recuisinée”, an idea launched by the late Jean-Marc Kieny of the Maison Kieny in Riedisheim and then president of the “Etoiles d'Alsace”. The association's chefs offer a product or a dish in their own way. If officially it was an ephemeral operation, Mathieu Koenig continues to highlight the good products of his regional suppliers such as the Pigeoneau Duwehof, Théo Kieffer: a nest pigeon from the Théo Kieffer farm cooked in the spirit of a baeckaoffa of forgotten vegetables.
“As far as possible, I make sure to process only products from the region. The game comes from the Great East. My vegetable supplier works with local market gardeners. The rhubarb, tomatoes, beans, zucchini, squash and aromatic herbs come from our garden pampered by my aunt Odile. ". The chef admits a weakness for butternut squash: “Steam it, mix well to obtain a liquid purée and add cream. It's delicious, with a little taste of chestnut.
Another essential product, foie gras. “Personally, I prefer duck foie gras, which has more flavor, but for the holidays, we also offer goose foie gras, it's tradition. Cooked in a cloth, with Espelette pepper and figs or even cooked under vacuum, wrapped in slices of duck breast”.
The sea also holds a good place on the menu: turbot, zander, arctic char, scallops or lobster, depending on the season.
On the plates, Matthieu Koenig always presents three flavors, according to a rule established by Émile Jung whom he considers a bit like his spiritual father: “On a plate you always need main flavors by odd. With us, it is therefore a trilogy because it is difficult to distinguish more than three flavors.
L'Arbre Vert is a family restaurant. Matthew represents the fifth generation. “But nobody knows, since I am the first boy to take over. Before, it was my mother, my grandmother… So it was always another name”, smiles the chef who also trains apprentices with a 100% success rate. “In our job, when you want it and with a good trainer, you always find work. Stop being mobile. Personally, I would have liked to wander a little longer, but we had to go back to take over the family restaurant.
A house whose habits he turned upside down: no more single menu and banquets on Sundays. “Making only one dish at noon, I would have been bored! I used to work 12 to 3 p.m.! So I introduced à la carte meals to avoid the humdrum! When
he took over in 2001, he also took the opportunity to modernize and clean up the restaurant room. A large bay window allows the curious to take a look in the kitchen where everyone seems to be busy in a good mood.
We gladly return to the Koenig restaurant, especially since, as a member of the “Etoiles d'Alsace” association, it offers the association's famous “formulas”. "Youth Formula" for under 35s (from November to the end of April) and "Seniors Formula" for those over 60, valid all year round.
That day, the menu for the senior formula displayed as an appetizer a delicious cream of cauliflower and celery with a small salad of celery and rabbit jelly;
a carpaccio of scallops with autumn truffles, Dubarry mousseline and shavings of Iberian Bellota; sweet cod cooked in a foamy butter, butternut squash and porcini mushrooms, crémant d'alsace sauce or your choice of venison filet mignon and pan-fried duck foie gras, confit roe cabbage, wilted mushrooms and Périgord sauce. To finish, a chestnut torch, Green Tree style.
Each dish is served with a matching glass of wine.
The chef's generosity and desire to share can be seen on the generously garnished plates!
The dining room team provides service with a smile and without fuss. Whether in the kitchen or in the dining room, Matthieu Koenig knows he can count on his team, “close-knit and well-established, without whom nothing is possible. »
Restaurant Koenig at l'Arbre Vert
96 rue Principale
68500 Berrwiller
Tel. 03 89 76 73 19; closed Thursday evening, Sunday evening and Monday.
www.restaurant-koenig.com
www.etoiles-alsace.secretbox.fr