Part of the problem with having a nice wine fridge and a girlfriend who likes filling it is that someone has to actually figure out how the damn bottles fit into it. And that is the abominable, reprehensible, enviable problem with our dear Smeg cabinet — advertised by the despicable lying British shits who seem to populate Smeg’s marketing department as capable of taking 350 bottles. Ours can’t. It’s bursting. I think. Either that, or it’s possessed by vile demons who, every time the kitchen light goes on, start giggling amongst themselves and plotting which bottle they’re going to push out of its precarious lodging when I try to remove some Pinot Gris or something. Then another bottle. And at that point, I’m out of hands, so I’m reduced to screaming for help as a torrent of decidedly fewer than 350 bottles threatens to engulf me and turn our kitchen floor into a chipped puddle of misery, rapidly fermenting in the hot Parisian sun.
At this point, the damn fridge is so full that I think it’s rapidly approaching some sort of gravitational collapse, so densely are the bottles packed in. Any semblance of order and organizational scheme has flown out the window. It makes me actually wish I had real problems, like having to keep marauding wild pigs off my farmland with a limited supply of ammo, or negotiating with sex-mad alien robot space bat invaders. I’m not good at puzzles, especially when not coming up with a correct solution means that a bottle of Merlot threatens to come plummeting down from the top shelf.
This is completely irrelevant, except that we bought more bottles in Riquewihr the day after having dinner at the Auberge Frankenbourg. Riquewihr is a really nice place, I suggest you go have a look there. It’s also close to the Haut Koenigsbourg, which was rebuilt by the Germans with “strong political will” and “conveniently recruited local workers”. I’ll have to remember that the next time I am on a difficult project for work.
The restaurant Frankenbourg is a nice place, in a wide open modern hall. La Vancelle is a bit of a hike from anywhere (ca. 50 minutes from Strasbourg, in the middle of a forest), but it’s worth the trip. The service is exceptional, food is varied and refined, and everything’s put together carefully and interestingly. The only complaint I had is that they put my friend Sam’s intricately assembled tower of different variations on peas (!) in front of me before OOPS changing their mind and cruelly removing it to its rightful owner. Screw you, evil restaurant staff. I wanted that tower. You can’t entice me. The cocoa-covered foie gras almost made up for it, though.
Hôtel Restaurant Frankenbourg
13, rue du Gal de Gaulle
67730 LA VANCELLE
Tél : +33 (0) 3 88 57 93 90
www.frankenbourg.com