restaurant – Restaurant Critique

Restauracja Harnas

Rating ***

Price Performance ****

The Harnas, in Stettin’s ‘brand new’ old city is a pleasant place with hearty polish food. While popular with tourists, the service was friendly, facilities clean and the prices seem fair.

Inside, the Harnas offers a rustic beer house atmosphere, outside it offers covered tables, chairs and benches at the edge of the old town house square.

We had a pleasant, reasonably priced dinner. I recommend this place for visists to Szczecin’s Stare Miasto.

Restauracja Harnas

Sienna 7, 70-542 Szczecin

restauracjaharnas.pl

+48 91 813 76 55

Heini am Stau, a restaurant on the river Hunte

Rating: ***

Price performance: ok

‘Heini am Stau’ is located on a former industrial site in Oldenburg’s harbour, near the rolling bascule railway bridge. The restaurant and terrace offer views over the Hunte river and one of Lower Saxony’s busiest river ports. However, the area is rapidly turning residential and upmarket. ‘Heini am Stau’ replaces the former upmarket eco / slow-food restaurant ‘Anna Hunte’, which operated at this site from 2011 to 2016 and is much missed.

Service

On Thursday lunch, the two young waiters who attended us were polite, though at times a bit slow and confused.

Food

‘Heini am Stau’ scores with a large range of ales and beers, where ‘Anna Hunte’ used to attract custom with fresh, organic produce. The food is tasty but unexciting and not much different from the usual offering in Oldenburg.

Coffee

Unfortunately ‘Heini am Stau’ uses UHT milk for their Caffè Latte, which is in line with the restaurant’s food and for which I subtract a point.

Ambient

The modern interiors, large windows and views over the river make visits to this restaurant special. The place looks clean, modern and well maintained.

Price performance

Prices at Oldenburg’s restaurants tend to be fairly reasonable and so they are at ‘Heini am Stau’. For four light lunches and some soft drinks and coffee with two desserts we paid €52.40.
I may return to Heini’s terrace on a warm summer evening.

Restaurant on the Hunte river

Rating: *****

Price performance: good

AnnaHunte_Harbour_20160622_201221_HDR Since ‘Anna Hunte’ opened in 2011, many people in Oldenburg have recommended this restaurant to me. Unfortunately I never managed to visit it, until I was invited recently. ‘Anna Hunte’ is on a former industrial site in Oldenburg’s harbour, near the rolling bascule railway bridge. The restaurant and terrace offer nice views over the river Hunte and one of Lower Saxony’s busiest river ports. However, the area is rapidly turning residential and upmarket.

Service

The four young waiters who attended us were polite and knowledgable. The team left a good impression.

Food

AnnaHunte_LambCarre__20160622_191116_HDR ‘Anna Hunte’ is one of Oldenburg’s pricier eateries (pricier in respect to Oldenburg, not Hamburg or London), offering a selected menu with an emphasis on fresh, organic produce. Some people may consider their portions small, but we were absolutely happy and satisfied with our mains, a Dorade, stuffed with herbs and vegetables and a Lamb Carré, slightly pink on the inside, with garden vegetables, cooked perfectly and still crunchy. We ordered both main courses with the also very recommendable “papas arrugadas”.

AnnaHunte_Dorade_20150626_124619_HDR ‘Anna Hunte’ offers a good range of wines and a few draft beers.

Coffee

Extra kudos for the team using fresh, local milk for their Caffè Latte. This is entirely in line with the restaurant’s ethos for locally produced and organic ingredients, which many other restaurants overlook.

Ambiente

AnnaHunte_20160622_202243_HDR The modern interiors, large windows and views over the river make visits to this restaurant special. The place looks clean, modern and well maintained.

On a warm evening in early summer, we sat on on the long terrace on comfortable wooden chairs, but with no upholstery or cushions.

Price performance

Prices at Oldenburg’s restaurants tend to be fairly reasonable. ‘Anna Hunte’ is one of the more expensive ones, but for people valuing quality, fresh food, this restaurant is certainly recommended.

A good combination of location, ambient and food, let down by the coffee.

The Wassermühle (water mill) in Wardenburg, is popular with locals, families and groups. Located on the cycle wheel route around Oldenburg, it is also a great stop for cyclists, though it lacks safe cycle parking. The Mill’s weekend brunches are popular and it is a good destination for lunch, afternoon teas and dinner.

For an early Sunday supper in early October we were happy to still be served at one of their tables outdoors by the mill pond, for which their friendly and apparently well trained staff brought us blankets as the night progressed.

The diners were a mix of families, groups celebrating something and diners from Oldenburg and surroundings. The Wassermühle has a special pizza stove for pizzas and tart flambée – these Flammkuche were good, considering that Wardenburg is a six hours drive from the Alsace.

A soup, two Alsacienne tart flambée (Flammkuchen), and two drinks came to €14 per head, which I consider modest in relation to the quality, service and pleasant surroundings.
Note: Unfortunately the people at the Wassermühle follow the bad German habit of preparing milk coffee (e.g. Caffè Latte Macchiato, Café au lait et al) with what they call “normal milk”, which is unfortunately terrible UHT milk. Restaurants have fridges, so there is no need to pour dead white liquid into coffee. I rest one star for slaughtering espresso.

Restaurant opposite the theatre

The team at Bestial is friendly and attentive. The restaurant is well located right by the former city walls of Oldenburg, opposite the “Staatstheater” and offers both inside and outside seating. Unfortunately the acoustics inside turn terrible when the place is full.

Bestial’s chef experiments with less usual flavour and combinations. I would say that their forte are home made pastas. My “coconut kiss” alcohol free cocktail was a touch too sweet for me, but that was to be expected.

My attempt at constructive criticism on my meal (home made pasta with fried liver and pear) was accepted and we received grappa on the house from their friendly staff.

Despite some shortcomings I enjoyed the visit and would recommend this place.
Note: Bestial is in an ideal location for a pre-theatre or after shopping coffee and serves Caffè Latte Macchiato, Café au lait etc. Unfortunately Bestial uses milk that has been killed through ultra high temperature treatment. Restaurants have fridges, so there is no need to slaughter coffee with dead white liquid, for which I rest one star from the rating.