{"id":7021,"date":"2022-10-05T20:00:35","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/?p=7021"},"modified":"2023-02-13T12:30:11","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T04:30:11","slug":"restaurant-review-stiller-in-guangzhou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/p\/7021.html","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Review: Stiller in Guangzhou"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stiller<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the LN Garden Hotel<\/p>\n

368 Huanshi Dong Road<\/p>\n

Guangzhou, China<\/p>\n

Tel. +86 185 6523 8274<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The dishes<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Seared Hokkaido scallop, dashi-butter, porcini, bacon jam<\/p>\n

Haamburger al Brot<\/em> (Smoked eel, scrambled eggs, roasted sour dough)<\/p>\n

Hackepeter<\/em> (Beef tartare, marinated beef tongue, sauce remoualde, pickles)<\/p>\n

New Zealand \u201cTe Mana\u201d lamb shoulder, grilled vegetables, artichoke mash, gremolata<\/p>\n

Enten-Keule mit Rotkohl<\/em> (Confit duck leg, fig-red cabbage, brezel kn\u00f6del)<\/p>\n

Saut\u00e9ed mushrooms<\/p>\n

Apfel strudel<\/em>, vanilla ice cream<\/p>\n

The wines<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bassermann-Jordan 2017 Riesling Jesuitengarten GG\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 93<\/p>\n

Domaine de Pegau 2015 Ch\u00e2teauneuf du Pape Rouge\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 92<\/p>\n

Egon Muller 2017 Riesling Scharzhofberger Auslese\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 94+<\/p>\n

Stefan Stiller is the much acclaimed chef of Taian Table, three Michelin stars in Shanghai (and reviewed here in the TerroirSense Wine Review on March 19, 2021<\/b>; see Restaurant&Wine section<\/a>) who has recently branched out with another Taian Table in Guangzhou and his eponymous bistro-style\/social dining restaurant called Stiller. The two new openings have met with resounding success, with the former garnering two stars and the latter one very well deserved star from the red car tire guide. Really well-deserved: considering the atmosphere, the quality of the food and its prices, Stiller offers one of the best dining experiences in China. In fact, as blasphemous as it may sound, there are many local and non-local epicures who prefer it to the more famous Taian Table. But clearly, the two are non-comparable, as they intend, and do, offer very different dining experiences.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Seared Hokkaido scallop, dashi-butter, porcini, bacon jam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stiller offers a series of contemporary western dishes with over 300 different wine labels and hand-crafted cocktail menu in colourful, laid-back ambience.\u00a0 In effect, it\u2019s hard to find fault with anything at Stiller. The space is large and airy; the tables very well distanced apart; the noise and lighting level are perfect such that you can both hear what your dining partner\/s are saying and see them too; the service is exceptional; the food remarkably tasty; the wine list excellent; and provided you don\u2019t get too carried away with the wine list choices, the bill come evening\u2019s end relatively gentle for what Taian Table costs or any dining experience similar to that offered by Stiller. Really, what more can you ask for?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Stefan Stiller is of course an ultra-talented and likeable chef who weaves his German heritage into a fusion cuisine with pan-Asian sensibilities. In fact, a section of the menu is entitled \u201cGerman inspired\u201d and is rufe with the likes of blutwurst maultaushen <\/em>(black pudding ravioli and sauerkraut), knusprige schweins-haxe<\/em> (crispy pork knuckle with sauerkraut and mustard), Haamburger al Brot<\/em> (Smoked eel, scrambled eggs, roasted sour dough), hackepeter<\/em> (Beef tartare, marinated beef tongue, sauce remoualde, pickles) and enten-keule mit rotkohl<\/em> (Confit duck leg, fig-red cabbage, brezel kn\u00f6del). The menu however also offers many non-germanic dishes, including a standout New Zeland \u201cTe Mana\u201d lamb shoulder, slow-cooked Wagyu baby short ribs, gazpacho Andaluz, oysters, foie gras terrine, tuna tataki, and spinach gnocchi. On my night I opted for mostly Germanic-inspired fare, and I have to say it was truly excellent:\u00a0 the smoked eel dish showed perfect balance, with the sweetness of the eggs nicely offsetting the pungent saltiness of the eel, with the two, plus the bread, providing an interesting combination of textural contrasts. Similarly, the juxtaposition of flavourful duck leg with a sweet and sour red cabbage and fig accompaniment was spot on and made it so the dish was light and lively at every bite, and never tiring on the palate.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Hackepeter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think Stefan Stiller\u2019s cuisine hits nothing but home runs in this restaurant, and given the man\u2019s pedigree it could hardly be otherwise. Over the many years he has honed his craft, he has apprenticed and worked at some of Germany\u2019s best multiple-starred dining institutions, including at Goldener Pflug in Koln (3 stars), Schweizer Stuben in Wertheim Bettingen (2 stars), the Deidesheimer Hof as well as the Gasthaus zur Kanne in Deidesheim (both 1 star establishments) before moving to China and working and manning many different establishments in the country (as well as acting as president of the Bocuse d\u2019Or for China and the Asia Pacific zone).<\/p>\n

\"\"
Enten-Keule mit Rotkohl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But he is not the only one with an impressive resum\u00e8 in his restaurant galaxy. Undoubtedly, one of Stiller the restaurant\u2019s strong suits is the service where the very likeable and ultra-competent Jose Mui\u00f1os Tabares de Nava runs things smoothly as silk: his title is that of Restaurants Operations Manager since August 2022 of both Guangzhou dining spots, but what that really means is that he is ma\u00eetre\/wine director\/restaurant manager all rolled into one. Previously at the Taian Table in Shanghai, he accepted the offer of a new post and so moved to Guangzhou: having known and greatly appreciated him during his time at Shanghai\u2019s Taian Table, I was glad to hear he had been promoted in Guangzhou, as I knew the new restaurants could not have fallen into any better hands. Mui\u00f1os trained at the Peninsula in Chicago and then at the Peninsula in Shanghai, where he became the Senior Assistant Manager\/Bar Opertions before moving to Taian Table in 2020 as its Restaurant Manager. His sunny smile and gentle disposition makes him an ideal fit for this job where being good around people and understanding the needs of his clientele are a vital necessity. You will hardly ever be taken care of better in any restaurant you might dine in.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Haamburger al Brot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The wine list, not just the food and the service, are spectacular at Stiller\u2019s. For sure, nobody runs the risk of going thirsty. On this night, I kicked things off in grand fashion, the marvelous Bassermann-Jordan 2017 Riesling Jesuitengarten GG <\/strong>being everything one expects from what is not so arguably one of Germany\u2019 five greatest vineyards (in my humble opinion, the Forst\u2019s Kirchenst\u00fcck, Bernkastel\u2019s Doktor and the Scharzhofberger being three of the remaining four: I will let you decide what the fifth one might be). The 2017 is rich and layered but vibrant and still painfully young, only hinting at its wealth of gingery orchard fruit and basalt-accented minerality. Always a classic, the Domaine de Pegau 2015 Ch\u00e2teauneuf du Pape Rouge <\/strong>is about as sure a bet in wine as there is: and not just the 2015, but just about any vintage of this cuv\u00e9e. Rich and ripe but lively, with a multifaceted set of aromas and flavours of red cherry, plum aromatic spices, coffee and vanilla, it offers a wonderfully luscious and velvety mouthfeel that makes it truly hard not to finish the bottle in an embarrassingly fast time. To close a marvellous dinner off, a marvellous wine such as are all those by Egon Muller, one of the world\u2019s two or three most famous white winemakers. Over the years I have had a bevy of amazing wines from this estate, and it was no different this time around. The Egon Muller 2017 Riesling Scharzhofberger Auslese <\/strong>is a marvel of purity, nicely chiseled and seamless in ist deployment of pit fruit and white flowers with gentle honeyed nuances. That much said, this is a real Auslese, and not a declassified BA or TBA as some of Muller\u2019s Auslesen have been in the past (for example, the 2005), so those who appreciate a lighter, more penetrating and less rich\/sweet style will adore this. Myself, I can\u2019t help but say I prefer the richer versions, but it\u2019s not as if I came away disappointed. For sure, this little jewel gains considerable depth and weight with aeration, so my advice is to decant it a couple of hours before you drink. It\u2019s also very young, so any cellaring will only help it improve (hence the + sign on my score, as I believe this wine will improve greatly with another eight to ten years or so of cellaring).<\/p>\n

In ultimate analysis, it was still a perfect close to a perfect evening.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ian D’Agata<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-restaurant-and-wine","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7021"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7794,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7021\/revisions\/7794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}