I discovered this typical Alsatian food restaurant by chance on our first trip to Éguisheim on the last Easter Sunday of 2023, April 9.
We chose the Easter weekend to do a Road Trip through Alsace. We started in Strasbourg on Friday the 7th, and the last village we passed through was Éguisheim. You expect to find many tourists at this time of the year, enjoying the holidays and big weekends, and here was no exception. We left a crowded Colmar and arrived at a calmer Éguisheim, but still full of people.
As we were at lunchtime, we decided to leave the visit of the village for later and looked for a place to eat. We wanted to experience something typical of the Alsace region, in a more traditional setting as well. We walked along the main street of Éguisheim until we reached the Château Saint-Léon. Along the way, the restaurants that were open (don’t forget it was Easter Day) were full or with the kitchen closing in a short time.
The restaurant Caveau d’Éguisheim is on the Place of the Château Saint-Léon and as soon as we saw it, we took a look at the menu that was outside, and decided to go inside to ask if they still served meals and, if they did, if they had a table for two. The answer was yes to both questions, but instead of sitting at a table, we sat at the counter, around what (I think) must have been an old wine press.
We have to say everything was delicious!
It was a 5-star gastronomic experience
The restaurant is housed in a traditional house from the Alsace region, a half-timbered house. It consists of three floors – basement, ground floor and first floor. On the ground floor we have a dining room, the bar and a counter around the old mill. On the first floor we have the kitchen, surrounded by glass windows that allow us to observe the chef and what they are preparing there, and here is also another dining room. In the basement are the toilets, a display of a typical Alsatian wine cellar and rooms of the restaurant employees.
The whole space is decorated with typical Alsatian things and photographs of famous people (and not only) who have passed and had the opportunity to eat in the restaurant. At first glance, the decoration may seem a little old, but the restaurant is very picturesque and we got the feeling that we were entering a family home and not a place of service to the public.
Now let’s go to the most important part of any restaurant: the food! The first time we went there (yes because we have been there twice and the second time we took the family) we really wanted something typical and so we chose a Menu du Terroir, which contained as a starter Terrine du Chef, as a main course Choucroute garnie aux 5 viandes and as dessert Forêt Noire. This menu is for one person, but we order another dish from the menu and then share everything that came to the table. For the second course we ordered a Filet de boeuf, beurre Maître d’hôtel.
Choucroute garnie aux 5 viandes
Black Forest
We must say that everything was delicious. The Terrine du Chef was very appetizing: a kind of foie gras, but with better looks and (in our opinion) tasting better too. It was accompanied by raw vegetables (carrots, tomatoes and others) and bread. The choucroute was a good experience, we can almost compare to the Cozido à Portuguesa, but with less meat, less sausages and fewer vegetables. It brought five pieces of meat, all different, and was accompanied by boiled potatoes and choucroute. The choucroute is cabbage fermented for two weeks to two months, with water and salt (in the original recipe), getting an acidic flavour (for me more vinegared than acidic). We consider it to be a good dish. Its appearance is not the most appetizing, but it is tasty. It will not be one of those dishes that we will eat every time we go to Alsace, but we can say that we have already tasted it. The filet de boeuf we ordered was also divine, super tender, topped in garlic butter and accompanied with chips and vegetables.
And dessert arrived… finally the opportunity to taste a Black Forest cake, which despite being of German origin, combined very well with all the meal we had. The chocolate cake was delicious, fluffy and smooth at the same time, with filling of cherries and whipped cream, and between mouthfuls one could feel the taste of the liquor, which came to help cut the sweet of the cake and cream. The whole meal was accompanied by the house’s white wine, from the Freudenreich Cellars, also in Éguisheim. The wine was served in a jug and was very smooth, but fruity and light in taste.
Together it was a 5-star gastronomic experience and one that we had to repeat again now in August, as a family. But about this meal and about what we ate, I will tell you in another post, later on!
Do you already know the Alsace region? Are you curious to try this restaurant?
Caveau d’Éguisheim
3B Place du Château Saint-Léon, 68420 Eguisheim, France
48.042961 N | 7.306471 E
12h00 to 14h00 and from 18h30 to 21h30 (Friday to Tuesday)
Closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays
https://www.caveau-eguisheim.fr/
