As they say in the Michelin guidebooks, it’s definitely “worth the trip.”
There are three very good reasons to visit Weiden, Germany:
1. Have dinner nearby, in the best restaurant in Germany. This opinion is shared by Otto Nemenz, Alexander Bscheidl, and other respected filmmaker-foodies. Kastell is a Michelin 2-star delight in nearby Burg Wernberg. Chef Thomas Kellermann is a maestro. He presides over a kitchen surely staffed by muses.
2. Spend the night in recently renovated rooms above the restaurant, in the Relais & Chateau Burg Wernberg. The castle was built in 1280.
3. Visit Vantage Film, ten minutes away, home of Hawk lenses and mother-ship of world-class rental houses in Weiden, Prague, Paris, and Berlin.
Perhaps the Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate) around Weiden is inhabited by perfectionists. The rental and manufacturing facilities of Vantage Film are immaculate, impeccable, and architecturally superb. Tour of Vantage article coming up soon.
Thomas Kellermann’s Kastell restaurant has a similar visual style: white walls and white tablecloths punctuated by brushstrokes of wildly imaginative culinary creations. Ordering a nine-course tasting menu at many lesser establishments can doom diners to an ordeal of glacially paced service and explanations of presentations that might have been dreamed up by a fledgling copywriter. Not here. A parade of plates arrive with the precision of a well-AD’d film production and the grace of a ballet, accompanied by an inspirational wine pairing.
John, can I have your job?:)