While in Sylt, we had the pleasure of some English friends visiting us for a couple of days. Apart from many bike rides around the island and time spent at the beach, we absolutely had to take them for dinner. I’ve written about HOOG before – last time DS and I just had a light lunch there (but you’ll notice that schnitzel features both times!). Another thing you’ll notice if you’ve been reading my other Sylt-related posts (here and here) is that seafood features heavily in all my Sylt meals. Our dinner at HOOG was no different!
First up – a couple of starters. AC had the Chanterelle foam soup with speck crumbs and chervil oil (€13.50) which was presented quite beautifully compared to the chanterelle soup my dad had at GOGÄRTCHEN. I guess it’s the taste that matters but the one at GOGÄRTCHEN really just looked like generic brown liquid (haha) – not to diss GOGÄRTCHEN or anything! Still one of my favourite restaurants. I love that there’s always a soup on the menu as an entree. Soups are just so underrated!
DS and SW shared a huuuuge ‘Flammkuchen’ done in the Alsace style with speck, onions and spring leek (€13.50). Don’t know what Flammkuchen is? It’s Germany’s answer to pizza! Except it’s not quite German because it’s from Alsace, which is a region in France that borders Germany. At different parts of history Alsace has belonged to France and Germany, so I guess that’s why they claim that Flammkuchen is German! The traditional Alsatian way of doing it is with speck, onion and leek. It’s exceptionally delicious and crunchy on a very thin base. I would highly recommend this if you can get your hands on some!
There were a couple of blackboard specials on that day, including a Beef Cheeks dish. I actually got the last portion! It was definitely one of the heavier dishes on the menu and I can’t remember exactly what else was in it (carrot purée maybe?!). What I do remember is how exceptionally soft the meat was. It looks dark and rough and hard, but it was tender and melt-in-your-mouth good.
Another special was a whole grilled Fish with krabben and salted potatoes. Bit of a pattern here with restaurants serving whole fish with krabben, as we saw at GOGÄRTCHEN! This fish was slightly different though, not de-boned and stuffed with loads of herbs and garlic! From what AC told me, it was really tasty, even if you had to work through the bones.
The boys both had the Wiener Schnitzel – with potato salad and cranberries (€27.50). It’s a dish that you can’t really go wrong with. I love how simply it is served in Germany, with just a bit of lemon on the side. The other condiments and sides (potatoes and cranberries in this case) were served separately.
The Mother had the Homemade pasta with wild mushrooms, rocket and Deichkäse (type of German cheese) (€23.50). It’s actually quite unrecognisable from the photo. Under all the rocket somewhere was actually some pasta! From memory I think she enjoyed it, but I do think that HOOG is a restaurant where its strengths lie in the meat and seafood dishes.
The Father had Pan fried North Sea sole with potatoes with parsley and cucumber salad (€49.50). I’m still trying to comprehend how this dish was so much more expensive than all the other main meals we had…it was literally such a simple dish! Maybe North Sea Sole is just a rare fish.
As you can see, the mains were quite big! So no room for dessert unfortunately. I’m already looking forward to going to HOOG next time we visit Sylt!
HOOG AT SEVERIN*S
AM TIPKENHOOG 18
25980, KEITUM
SYLT, GERMANY
https://www.severins-sylt.de/restaurants/hoog/
