Le Ciel

Le Ciel Restaurant Review:

Chef Ulrich Heimann creates art on the plate at this showy, curved dining room in the lower level of the Kempinski Hotel Berchtesgaden. Inspired by a childhood peppered with herbs, local game and fresh-plucked fruit, Heimann crafts an experience to remember, using ingredients from nearby farms. Neutral-toned with backlit glass panels on walls, the dining room exudes understated elegance, a philosophy that transitions seamlessly to the plate. The chef’s tasting menu consists of a series of local delights that might include über-fresh salmon trout with barely mashed beans and artichokes with daubs of electric-green pesto. Delicately seared deer appears atop a bed of earthy chanterelles and juicy blackberries, while cream of chestnut soup --- pumped up with duck liver --- is near-ethereal when crowned with Mandarin orange foam. Of course, if you’re lucky enough to encounter any of the smoked fish from local Resch farm, do not pass it by; it doesn’t get fresher than this. Dessert, after all the richness, is appropriately light: almond “Jell-O” in a martini glass topped with tangerine sorbet and a lemon thyme tuile. When it comes to wine, 500 labels and 4,000 bottles, many local, are expertly paired by the property’s sommelier.