Bringing you a little bit more of our trip to Germany back in July (seems like ages ago now…) – we headed to Gogärtchen in Kampen, which has become a bit of an establishment ever since it opened as a humble cafe in 1951.
The restaurant is housed in one of the traditional thatch roof houses in Sylt, an island in the North Sea about 3 hours from Hamburg (for previous posts on Sylt, see here, here and here) . Isn’t it pretty with all the vines growing around it? Oh and there’s my parents eagerly walking into the restaurant!
We went for dinner but as you can see from the excellent lighting, it was more like lunch! Sylt is so far north that the sun doesn’t set until 10pm, which means weird body block experiences but great lighting for dinner!
Gogärtchen sits in the category just before fine dining I think – the food is expensive but not overly weird or experimental, but also quite special. We started with a selection of breads and an amuse-bouche consisting of a piece of meat (I think it was pork) and curried popcorn on top.
Entrées that followed to share were fairly spectacular too. There was this curious dish of purple and white potatoes, topped with asian mushrooms, truffles and parmesan. Then, my favourite of the night – thick juicy pieces of smoked salmon in a light broth with peas. Seriously, it looks like sashimi doesn’t it?! But it’s just really thick fingers of smoked salmon. Who ever thought of slicing salmon thinly obviously didn’t think of how awesome it would be thick!
Dad definitely won on the mains though – he ordered a special for the night which, from memory, was ocean perch. Incredible whole fish done so simply by lightly frying it in a pan, with some German potatoes and cucumber salad on the side. That’s all you need really!
Mum had another type of fish which came with nectarines and salad – not the prettiest presentation but the fruit flavours actually complimented the fish nicely! And you must order the chips when you’re there because they come in an old-school style newspaper wrapping and are just incredible. They’re the perfect combination of wedges but crinkle cut chips. A must-try.
DS had the veal, while I had two cuts of beef. I loved my dish! It’s interesting when they put two different cuts side by side on your plate (the fillet and the cheeks). Surprisingly, you can really taste the difference. It came with peas, chanterelles and apricots – again, interesting pairings but they worked really well! 
And to finish off – the signature ‘pot plant’ dessert! Such cute presentation it was totally irresistible. Beneath the ‘earthly’ facade there was a super tasty mix of mascarpone, coffee and crumble. Delicious!
More of our Germany trip to come in the coming weeks!
Gogärtchen
Strönwai 12
25999 Kampen
Sylt, Germany
http://www.gogaertchen.com/
