Weingrün: Time for the Important Things in Life
Traditional, hearty cooking with gourmet appeal from the open-flame wall grill. At Rotisserie Weingrün, Herbert Beltle relies on digital assistance.
Havelland apple-fed pork spare ribs, dry-aged entrecôte from Irish pasture-raised beef with Bearnaise sauce or Finnish ‘Flammlachs’ – a side of salmon pegged to a board, flame-grilled with honey and lemon pepper and flambéed with cognac. At the Weingrün, customers enjoy traditional, hearty cooking with gourmet appeal. The centrepiece of the rotisserie is the open-flame wall grill where Paderborn chicken, veal shank, Finnish ‘Label Rouge’ salmon and roast lamb alternate. The restaurant in Gertraudenstraße in Berlin-Mitte – close to the River Spree and just a few metres from the new Stadtschloss (city palace) – seats 80. And although Herbert Beltle, doyen of the Berlin restaurant scene, no longer does any of the cooking himself, ‘I do plan and discuss the menu at the Weingrün with my team.’ The restaurant focuses on local and seasonal products and dishes are always based on traditional French cuisine. Every 2 months or so, the 7-person team comes up with a new menu that always marries new culinary ideas with tried-and-tested customer favourites.
3 culinary Berlin landmarks owned by the same man
Because Weick’s own refrigeration capacity is limited, the pre-ordered geese stay in the fridges at METRO Ludwigshafen from where they are collected each day. The restaurateur from Kallstadt is their number 1 buyer of geese. In his kitchen the birds are then ‘showered’ and prepared, stuffed and roasted. His ‘classic Palatinate stuffing’ contains the roast heart and liver of the goose and apple, of course. It goes without saying that Weick, who also has a sideline in wine-making, is never short of a recommendation for a wine to pair with the goose. ‘I would recommend a dry Spätburgunder. We have 3 at different price levels. Or a Sankt Laurent – here in the Palatinate we don’t pronounce it ‘Saint Laurent’ in the French way. For an interesting alternative you could try a dry Gewürztraminer, which goes very well with goose.’
The Winzerstuben Weick in Kallstadt is one of the traditional taverns along the German Wine Route. Thomas and Angelika Weick have been running the restaurant for 31 years as tenants of the local wine cooperative. Thomas Weick loves the hearty cuisine of the Palatinate region and the delicate flavour of the game and fish for which the restaurant is renowned throughout the region and beyond. And that’s also how Weick came to appreciate METRO in Ludwigshafen Oggersheim as a supplier. ‘All the employees there know their products and provide good recommendations. And when they give me a delivery date, I know I can absolutely rely on it. It is a very special working relationship that I can’t commend highly enough,’ he says.
New focus for the future
A few years ago, he decided to sell the vineyard, the Aigner and the Altes Zollhaus. Instead of hosting gourmands, celebrities and politicians from all over the world at 3 popular restaurants, the winner of the Herford prize for Germany’s Best Restaurateur now focuses exclusively on his rotisserie. This new focus also meant developing a new online presence for the Weingrün. ‘In the past, a service provider maintained a single shared website for all 3 restaurants,’ says Beltle. ‘But I didn’t want a piecemeal approach, I wanted a modern website especially for the rotisserie. One that I can update myself in future.’ Hospitality Digital created the new website with its booking tool plus Google interface for a fixed monthly price. The METRO company supports restaurateurs with tailored services and sustainable business solutions for digitalisation. Within 6 weeks, the new website and booking tool went live online. ‘METRO has really impressed me with this service and its customer support, and I am looking forward to working together in future.’
Customers can enjoy proprietary wines
The rotisserie and its customers also benefit from the winery Herbert Beltle used to own in the Palatinate region, which he ran with cellarer Wolfgang Grün. The red and white wines are named after the legendary 1920s Berlin restaurant Horcher. ‘The wines are a perfect match for the Weingrün cuisine. There are still some excellent bottles from the last 5 vintages just waiting for our guests.’
DISH: Digital solutions for restaurateurs
Hospitality Digital has been offering digital solutions that simplify working processes in the hospitality industry since 2015. Whether a professional website, online shop, reservation tool, table planner or menu pricing – the portfolio is constantly being adapted to customers’ requirements to provide the best possible support for restaurateurs and make their lives easier. The demand for digital solutions is huge, which is clear from the increasing numbers of customers using the services of DISH since the start of the pandemic. The reservation tool, which is available in 16 countries, recently exceeded 3.8 million table reservations.
