In 2025, we organised eight menus of the month in Germany and Switzerland for the members of our Gourmet Club: we were guests at Tantris ** in Munich, Sonnora *** in Dreis, The Table *** in Hamburg, Schauenstein *** in Fürstenau/Switzerland, ES:SENZ *** in Grassau, Steinheuers ** in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, OPUS V ** in Mannheim and Lafleur ** in Frankfurt am Main.

Shortly after the evenings, we asked the participating gourmets to give the amuses, the individual courses, the petit fours and the wine accompaniment a score. Based on these votes, we have compiled the "Menu of the Year". It should be noted that the scoring is subject to certain statistical effects. Not the same people took part in the evenings. In addition, the number of people who took part differs, so that this alone results in different fractional numbers, which can be decisive for placement in the menu. We have therefore not compiled the menu strictly according to the average scores, but have also made sure that the menu makes sense from a culinary point of view. For example, we may have omitted two courses of goose and instead included a slightly lower-rated course in the menu.

In the voting, the club members were allowed to give the individual dishes and wine accompaniments a score from 1 to 6, with 6 being the highest score. Regardless of the rating of the individual courses, Schauenstein served us the best overall menu with an average score of 5.48 out of 6 points. Second place went to the Sonnora with an average score of 5.25 out of 6 points, just ahead of the OPUS V with 5.22 out of 6 points. Sonnora recently came first in all categories in our voting for menu, service and sommelier performance in 2025, but all users of the portal were entitled to vote, not just those who attended the Gourmet Club evenings in the respective restaurants. The most balanced menu with the smallest difference in points between the highest and lowest rated dish was served at Steinheuers with an average score of 5.

The best dish of the year comes from Andreas Caminada and Marcel Skibba at Schauenstein: "Zander - pea - lettuce". It is the only dish in the entire voting to receive the maximum score of six points.

Luca Marzullo served us the wine accompaniment of the year, also at Schauenstein. It received 5.75 out of a possible 6 points.

We would like to thank the teams of all the restaurants that welcomed us to a Menu of the Month this year.

The wines to accompany the menu at Schauenstein:

• Wegelin - Malanser Pinot Blanc, Switzerland
• Adega do Vulcano - Ameixâmbar, Portugal
• 2017 Gantenbein - Chardonnay
• Verduno Pelaverga - Comm. G. B. Burlotto, Italy
• El Pecado - Raúl Pérez, Spain
• 2018 Vouvray Première Trie -Domain VIncent Carême, France