Restaurant Zeik — Restaurant in Hamburg

Zeik - Hamburg May 2022

It’s a small restaurant, about 20 places, in a cozy neighbourhood north of the lake.

The interior is pretty basic. It’s a bit design, a bit boring. But there is a long bench which made me happy. One menu with a few choices to make. The two first appetisers are vegetal based, then you choose, shrimp or veggies, lamp or vegetal, all with the same accompanying ingredients. On top of the menu, you can add another course, also poultry or veggie.

The wine list is very large and interesting. The champagne as aperitif was extra brut and wholly pinot noir. Marvellous. The sommelier said « I think I understood you are into natural wines ? ». Big smiles. He offered a Sylvaner with skin contact and a Gewurtztraminer made out of a 13 years solera as orange wine !! I said yes to both. We also took one wine pairing, not to be rude. And also a spatburgunder just to fill the last free spot on the table !

A few mises en bouche, including a raddish and malt vertical cannelloni and a quattuor or carrot based preparations, « A WELCOME FROM THE FIELDS OF HOLLENSTEDT : FOUR TIMES CARROT 🥕 » were a great start.

Then « BREAD | BUTTER SOURDOUGH | BEER | THYME » was the fabulous bread arrival. Real good !!

First course, « ASPARAGUS | VINEGAR | HEMP” was an absolute delight. Acidity and suave flavours, perfectly cooked asparagus, crunchy parts, the vinegar was not over the top. Fabulous. 17/20 !!

The wine selection is quite nice. For this second course we got an Italian done made of Spoletto, a grape I had never heard of, vinified with a little of oxygen contact.

“POINTED CABBAGE | CARAWAY | VINEGAR” was also a marvellous course. Powerful and direct to the point, complex in the textures and very pleasant all the way.

Then « TIGER PRAWN | VANILLA | RUTABAGA » It was the least pleasurable dish since the beginning. The shrimp smelled and tasted a bit of vase (bottom of the sea) and not very enjoyable. The rest of the plate was marvellous though. We should have opted for the vegetarian version ! 🤷🏼‍♂️

Then the « added » course : « CHICKEN | CHIVE | POTATO | QUARK | CHIVES » in french, I would say “p*taing d’assiette de la Mort qui TUUUUE” as it was a ucng amazing BLLOhhhooody fantastic dish !!!! It was based on chicken liver actually and it was to DIE FOR ! Wow de wow. 18!!! Fantastic.

To follow, « LEEK | MUSTARD | BROWN BUTTER ». That was just amazaaaaazing. “A se taper le Q parterre” as we say in french. Also to die for. 18/20 !!! I would have eaten three of those.

Then our second optional main course « LAMB | CELERY | JUNIPER » or « CELERY | UNIPER | ROASTED VEGETABLES ». We had one of both. I liked the veggie version better. However, this was “strong” as a main course is supposed to be. And is shouldn’t have to be. It was good. Sure.

« THE BEGINNING OF THE END » was around HIBISCUS | BEET ROOT, a superb pre-dessert on freshness, acidity and textures. Marvellous.

Then « SEA BUCKTHORN | HEMP | COFFEE » was very confusing. At first it seemed kinda boring. Not very sweet. Few crunchy parts. Then you got to the center part, with more avidity and bitterness. And then everything made sense !!! Sweet but not too sweet. Fresh but not too cold. Bitter but just enough. What a fascinating journey this dessert was !!! Great !

Great service too, the owner is very present in the house and connects really well.

All in all this was a very very nice meal. For me 17/20 moyenne and 2* if the place was more beautiful. It’s the only thing : the looks. But the warmth of the people working there is a total compensation for it.

I recommend...

There were two of us at Zeik on a Saturday evening celebrating our anniversary sitting on the chefs table which we don’t recommend if you would like privacy. Unfortunately, we cannot agree with the predominantly positive reviews. On the contrary: our visit to Zeik was one of the most disappointing visits we've ever had to fine dining. There are three main reasons for this: the cuisine: the dishes - almost across the board - tasted unbalanced and in some cases trivial. With the raw strong flavored vegetables which personally is not my taste but this is not on the restaurant. A very dominant saltiness in some courses was particularly annoying, specifically after the kohlrabi dish (3rd plate) everything went down as it was super salty, next we had dish, another salty dish so it was already over the limit. On the sweet dishes, you have a penetrating sweetness and remained for a long time and it was not even the dessert but after it you finally get the actual dessert which at that time it was already too much sweet. You MUST take the paired wine with every dish or at least a glass of wine to be able to consume the food and delete the flavor from the previous dish which I think it should not be necessary when the food is balanced and well done. I also got a broken plate by the half which you could clearly see it was glued, that was strange.

the service which for a Michelin star restaurant and those high prices must be immaculate, as I mentioned before we were seated at the chefs table so the service and presentation was not personalized as they were presenting the dishes to everyone at the same time but ok. I’m an English speaker and they forgot to introduce me once to one of the dishes but ok. There was no individual interaction, charm or even humor.

The very, very, very long waiting time between courses. More than 4 1/2 hours were spent on (in the end also in terms of quantity and use of products) very little culinary delights. About 20 minutes before the next course, a small sip was poured, which was usually already empty when the course arrived. About 80% of the time you sat on dry land.

Therefore, absolutely no recommendation for gourmets. Comparable restaurants (e.g. Sparkling Bistro, jellyfish) offer much more.

In conclusion this is only a well plated, excessive priced restaurant. I don’t understand the...

Went here with my wife for a course dinner. The restaurant has less than 10 tables inside, few tables outside and one big room for a group of up to 6 people.

We picked to expand the menu with one more course, which made us very full in the end :) My wife decided to go with non-alcoholic pairing. I went for half wine pairing.

Wine selection from the personal was great to complement the food: had two whites and one red from Germany and France. The house-made non-alcoholic drinks were quite interesting and surprising, for example, there was a drink that smelled like strawberry but tasted like tomato :) The buttermilk drink with herbs was quite nice!

The dishes were of high quality and beautiful plating. Simple in ingredients and at the same time sophisticated in taste. Among the favorites were: the starter with lettuce, onion and buttermilk; the beetroot with cherry - cherry based sauce was yummy; the trout fish with radish and cucumber; and the transitional course after the main course to dessert with currant and soup vegetables - very refreshing. Main dishes with chicken were simple to our taste.

We spent around 4.5 hours for the dining experience which is totally fine as we needed breaks in between the courses.

The final bill was around 400€ which is okay for fine dining in Germany for two.

We would come back here again in 1-2 years to check again how the restaurant...