restaurant review in luxembourg

The best secret terrace, La Grappe D’Or, Luxembourg City

~ Corie Bratter ~ Leave a comment

I waited so much to publish this post that it is almost a throw-back, but I got some serious ethic dilemmas regarding if to share one of my favorite summer places. Read more below…

On the first real day of spring, I could not miss the opportunity to book at my favorite terrace in town. Actually, I have to say, this is one of the times writing a review was really difficult for me and took ages to publish – I was trying to force myself doing it but I actually did’t want to do it!!! The reason is because this restaurant is my very “secret summer place” and it is not too much famous… I read on Facebook forums a lot of questions and articles about the “best terrace” in Luxembourg and I have never mentioned it – because I am too afraid that, if it became popular, I will have to book too much in advance – not to mention I don’t really like crowded places..

Anyway – I made an exception for my partner in crime and we headed to La Grappe D’Or, in Dommeldange, for a special celebration – my new job, the real one 😛

As said, the restaurant is located off the beaten tracks of the usual restaurants in Luxembourg, hidden in a residential area up the hill in Dommeldange. The “winter” indoor part is not fancy at all (at least, not for me..), just too similar to several Portuguese old fashion restaurants you might find in town. Indeed the very reason for coming here is the amazing terrace, that offers you a spectacular view of the sunset over Luxembourg.

We arrived there around 8.30ish, just in time to enjoy it, and start our dinner with a glass of cava. The menu is Portuguese, offers both meat and fish – and some veggie choices as well – but personally once here I always ended up on fish.

I had a tuna carpaccio with truffle while M. went for a codfish and shrimps mixed starter. To follow, I had marinated codfish with shrimps while he went for “gambas flambe'”. We dined drinking one of my favorite Portuguese wines, Esporao Reserva, and concluded with a glass – or maybe two, as usual – of Portuguese grappa.

Enjoy the pictures of our dinner – while imagining already the special person you want to take there ❤ – followed by my general impressions of La Grappe D’Or.

 

What I loved about La Grappe D’Or:

  • Ca va sans dire, the view is the main reason to visit La Grappe D’Or. Be sure to reserve a table like ours, on the balcony – those internally have a less incredible view -. This is definitely one of the most romantic view you can find in Luxembourg city for me.
  • The service is very smart and friendly – that South-European style all smile and laugh and small jokes.
  • Even if you allow yourself to indulge, the total bill will never be scary. We had aperitif, two starters, two mains, one of the best wines on the card, coffee, digestif and the total bill read slightly more than 100 euro in total. Exceptionally fair.

 

What I liked a bit less about La Grappe D’Or:

  • Let’s be honest: would I come here to eat if the restaurant had not this incredible view? No, I won’t. But while the food is not exceptional – average quality, informal presentation, pretty strong tastes tending to cover the main ingredients (like the oil on my carpaccio or the sauce on the codfish) at the same time it is not that bad. Fair. Portions are reasonable, tastes leave a good memories on your palate and the choice is quite good. At the end the combination between an amazing view, a decent menu and quite cheap prices (in terms of Luxembourg standards) is a win win.

 

In conclusion: if you want to have a romantic date in Luxembourg with a reasonable budget and your other half does not have a Michelin star background, there is no better place of the lovely La Grappe D’Or, the best view in Luxembourg. I regret already sharing it with you – but now it is too late 😛

Restaurant Essenza, Luxembourg City

~ Corie Bratter ~ 3 Comments

After the Christmas break, we decided to have a reunion with my girlfriends and arrange a fancy dinner in town to celebrate New Year and couple of other various personal achievements.
We booked at “Essenza“, the Italian restaurant upstairs Apoteca bar, in the very city center: I had always been extremely satisfied of all my dinners there, but recently I was missing from the place since my bacherolette party in 2014. Good timing for a come back 🙂

We got to the restaurant slightly in delay compared to the reserved time, after having advised, due to the crazy traffic and icy roads. Once arrived, we waited good ten minutes at the entrance, as nobody was in the reception area. We decided then to check upstairs and the waitress welcomed us to our table.

We started with an aperitif while waiting for the crew to be completed and we decided then to go for a fish dinner. I had Tuna Carpaccio with Bottarga as starter and Crumbs-Bread Shrimps with Orange as main. Most of my friends went for the mixed carpaccio platter as starter and the tuna tataki as main.

We had a decent Sicilian wine during the dinner and we concluded with some mirto and biscuits offered by the house.

Some pictures of our dinner followed by my feelings about the night.

What I liked about Essenza:

  • The location is really fancy – perfect either for a reunion with friends or for a romantic date. The candle lights are giving a very special mood to the rooms.
  • Dishes presentation is very appealing, the kind of you say “wow” when the plat arrives at the table.

What I did not like about Essenza:

  • Unfortunately, food was not good at all: the presentation was giving a lot of expectations that remained poorly deluded. My carpaccio was extremely watery – you cannot even feel the fish – while the gambas were badly defrozen. Potatoes, vegetables, amuse bouche, everything was missing of taste, like ingredients were only nicely assembled for the presentation and not for the palate. Everybody had the same feeling: dishes were “fine” but not delicious as we remember them to be. Without being arrogant, I would say you can get a better level at home, with supermarket ingredients.

In conclusion: I was really looking forward to come back to Essenza after long time, but my expectations were not satisfied. I remember it to be a very good Italian fish restaurant in town and now I would say it is on the average level, pricey side (we spent 62 euro each). While the location has lots of atmosphere and presentation of dishes was amazing, the food failed to impress us. Hope it was just a bad night for them.