Dinner with David in Dusseldorf (Malkasten Restaurant)

Member Name: koshkha

Product:	Malkasten Restaurant
Date:	05/06/09 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: I didn't choose it

Disadvantages: A but 'up itself'

Staying in Dusseldorf for a meeting earlier this year, I had one thing I didn't need to worry about - booking a restaurant. My boss lives near by and was happy to suggest a place and book it for us. Normally I have to choose and then spend all evening worrying about whether people like it or not so it was nice to know that for once, if it was horrible, it wasn't my fault.

Eight of us were staying in the Sheraton at the airport so we'd met in the bar and grabbed two taxis into the city, armed only with the address of the restaurant. We allowed 15 minutes to get there and both taxis made it on time without any troubles. When we pulled up outside everyone burst out laughing when they spotted the giant statue of Michelangelo's David (complete with the most bizarre brightly coloured pubic hair) in front of the restaurant. Still giggling we headed inside, left our coats in the cloakroom and went to our table.

The restaurant was in a large high-ceilinged room and we were given a table on one side of the room. The table was wooden, the benches and chairs were black leather and the overall effect was of slightly arty pared-down elegance. The boss arrived a few minutes later and the waitress handed out the menus. It's hard to say what style of food was available as it seemed to be quite a mixture of influences. You could call it 'fusion' but I think at times 'confusion' is a better term.

It took me quite a while to decide what to have as I liked the look of a lot of the starters but wasn't greatly taken with the main courses. The waitress brought bottled water and someone chose the wine whilst we worked out what to order. I chose a starter of scallop monkfish carpaccio and a main course of St Peter's fish with gnocchi.

Perhaps it was because I'd had a rather large beer before we headed out to the restaurant or perhaps because it was someone else's choice of restaurant (and therefore not my fault if nobody liked it) but either way I was pretty relaxed about the less than impressive food. My carpaccio was supposed to be served with a puy lentil salad and some kind of mustard foam. I was suspicious about the lentils and sure that puy weren't supposed to be orange in colour and sure enough, a quick google when I got home identified that they ought to be greeny-blue in colour. The monkfish was OK but sliced so thinly (as it should be) that it was almost too fine to have much of a texture. It was also, if I'm entirely honest, a bit mean in size which is not something I generally expect in Germany where portions tend towards the 'as big as your head' end of the spectrum.

My main course was a mixed bag. The fish was served with some kind of spiced crust and apple gnocchi with another foam, this time calvados. The fish was very pleasant, the crust a bit too soft but the gnocchi were just really bland and the overall appearance was very 'beige'.

The service was excellent with the food arriving at the right pace, everything cleared in a timely manner and all the wine glasses topped up as if by magic. A couple of people soldiered on and made enough space for puddings and coffees and a pleasant if not particularly exciting time was had by all. The prices were, I felt, a bit on the high side with my starter and main course clocking up 32 euros for what wasn't very impressive food. The boss paid, we collected our coats and headed out into the night for another giggle and David's yellow furry bits and then headed back to the hotel.

I struggle to give this more than 3 stars. Nothing wrong with anything but just altogether a bit unexciting.

Summary: I won't rush back