Dialect is a beautiful word that can be played with excellently. The word tempts culinary and artistic associations. Peter Prüfer, chef at the Hotel Krone restaurant, together with hostess Sonja Hechler, is focusing on a new type of Markgräfler cuisine. The proximity to the region is also noticeable onomatopoeically. Because on the menu the courts carry names in dialect. The service staff is trained and always provides the High German translation at the table.
The Bunte Blüeämechol is factually supplemented by three explanatory components each and comes from the section From the Garden. Here the guest will find vegetarian and vegan dishes. Whether celery ‘us em Ofe or Gemues & Wald, they are all examples of the restaurant’s new unique selling point. Because vegan cuisine, composed as a 5-course menu, is hard to find at this level in the region.
Corona – Closing is not an option
The virus in the form of a corona initially also knocked the Hotel Krone off its feet. The enforced standstill became a creative phase that opened up scope for new concepts. Thus, in the early phase of the pandemic, the range of purely vegetable dishes was developed. In addition, virtually overnight, the concept for a drive-in was born. The takeaway also saw new audiences literally drive by. From young people who couldn’t cook to people who didn’t want to shop. The drive-in at Hotel Krone became a social meeting point. The kitchen team provided 80 to 100 meals in compostable dishes. The campaign attracted new guests who continued to visit the restaurant after the reopening.
Hotel Krone – surrounded by art and design
Hotel Krone has the perfect location between Basel, the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen with often top-class exhibitions and the Vitra Campus in Weil. Hotel manager Sonja Hechler has turned her parents’ former inn into a boutique hotel furnished with design classics. Artists and art patrons like to stay here, art hangs on the walls, and the hotel regularly initiates its own art events. In 2020, Sonja Hechler had planned a major project for ART Basel with artist Samuel Treindl. But like so many things, the world’s largest art fair has been canceled this year.
Samuel Treindl offered to do something despite the cancellation of the fair. Since the Krone team had already dealt with the topic of Corona and how to get through the pandemic for a restaurant and hotel business on various levels, Sonja Hechler came up with the very pragmatic idea of an artistic implementation of spittle protection walls. The neon-colored installations have been on the large terrace of the new building since June 2019 and are eye-catcher and spacer in one.
From the garden – Connected to the region
Since mid-2019, Peter Prüfer has been head chef at the Krone restaurant and has put together a crisp relaunch. The plant-based aspect is important to him. Peter Prüfer has a plant-based diet himself and enriches the kitchen with his vegan and vegetarian dishes. Several times a year, the young kitchen team creates seasonal culinary series.
Despite his own diet, Prüfer is not dogmatic-vegan, he tries everything that is created in his kitchen. As a professional, he also tastes the sauces of the meat dishes and roasts the lamb fillet. Prüfer avoids meat from factory farms and sea fish. Crayfish instead of lobster, so to speak.
Vegan dishes are under his heading From the Garden. The vegetables come from the region, are delivered unpackaged and in organic quality. He raves about the agriculture around the Kaiserstuhl region with its excellent supply of fruits and vegetables. This area is a land of milk and honey for him. Tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, root vegetables and cabbages grow here and Prüfer uses them in his cooking.
New Markgräfler cuisine
The cuisine of the region with traditional dishes of meat and fish are also on the menu under the heading Markgräfler menu crown. Here, Peter Prüfer reinterprets traditional dishes and also gives space to the by-products of an animal. For example, two kinds of calf’s head are offered, or sweetbreads are transformed into a crispy praline. The wine accompaniment at Restaurant Krone is also linked to the region. The Schneider winery from the immediate neighborhood is always on the restaurant’s menu. They are just as happy to present young, innovative vintners from the Markgräfler Land or wines from the nearby Kaiserstuhl.
From drive-in to food truck
The idea of a drive-in, born out of Corona’s need, drew a new idea from its success. Since September 2020, the Krone restaurant has been operating its own food truck and will also be on the road in the region. In addition to Markgräfler cuisine in a new ART, Sonja Hechler offers a culinary journey to Puglia in Restaurant La Cucina in neighboring Binzen. Guests of the Hotel Krone can book culinary packages with multi-course menus in both restaurants. The host at Hotel Mühle with its La Cecina restaurant is Fabio Elia, who was inspired by his grandmother’s Apulian dishes to create the restaurant’s southern Italian focus.
Hotel Krone – Harmonious triad of culture, design and wine
The Hotel Mühle brings Apulian cuisine to Binzen
On the road in Basel – A self-guided food tour and a visit to the Fondation Beyeler
Basel, the city on the Rhine. It served as a refuge for idiosyncratic thinkers
The cost of half board was not charged by the hotel
