Restaurant Ikarus (Salzburg, AUSTRIA) ★★★★★

Restaurant Ikarus at Hangar-7 first got on my radar almost a decade ago when they were the first restaurant in the world to adopt the "guest chef concept". Under the ambitious concept, the restaurant would bring in a different top chef from a different country or continent every single month (actually 11 out of 12 months to be exact. More on this later) and have them take over their kitchen with collaboration with the Ikarus Team. 

Eckart Witzigmann, Chef of the Century and patron of Restaurant Ikarus, was the person responsible for implementing this concept from 2003 to 2013, along with Executive Chef Roland Trettl. Following the departure of Chef Roland Trettl in 2013, Chef de Cuisine Martin Klein took over and is now the main man here at Ikarus. 

I have long been fascinated by Ikarus's "guest chef concept" and was really excited to finally get the chance to experience it personally.



So much for the background information. Let's talk about the drive from Munich to Salzburg and Hangar-7. It was a dreadfully slow drive with all the traffic jams and construction work! At the end, it took us almost 3.5 hours to get here and by the time we arrived at this beautifully decorated dining room, it was well past 2pm.

But to their credit, the Ikarus team was calm, poised and composed as ever. No, they did not give us a hard time for showing up late which made us a little more guilty.

Fortunately, we didn't have to think long about what to order as there were only 2 menus to choose from, a short and a long one and we wasted no time picking the shorter one due to the shortage of time we had.

Oh, did I mention the visiting chef on this day? There was no guest chef in August 2014 (Sigh). To be brutally honest, I was slightly disappointed when I first found out about this almost 2 months ago during my reservation. But when I came to think of it, I was curious in what Chef Klein and Team had waiting for us. So this was kind of exciting too. 

 


They started us off with an impressive array of interesting nibbles beginning with a delicate crab gazpacho shot. A molecular dish to kick off our meal, I didn't expect that.

The crab spherification definitely tasted like crab and the gazpacho helped to provide that extra kick. And of course the "explosion".

  
 

 .....Followed by porcini ice-cream served on crispy crackers.
 


More crisp cracker, this one with miso cream and what tasted like wasabi powder on top. Absolutely love the refined and contrasting flavors there.



Saving the best for last, there's this wonderfully prepared veal tartare burger from Chef Klein. It's as mouthwatering as it gets for a mini-burger. 

This is a stunning set of amuse bouches we just tasted here. I am very impressed (9.5/10).



They really got my attention now. Let's see what they've got for appetizers. I went with their marinated seafood salad with fennel and lemon-olive oil espuma which was very refreshing and indeed a great start to this very pleasant meal (7/10).



The second starter, Caesar salad with roasted breast of quail, was all about re-inventing the all-time classic and it proved to be nothing short of spectacular. Different ingredients from the Caesar was rolled into this gigantic "salad stick" and then served with poached eggs, roasted quail breast and a special mayo. A very innovative dish showing a great deal of creativity and imagination (8/10).



Now they've just set the bar very high for themselves. Will the wheel start to fall off? Not at all. Loup de mer with artichokes, fregola and Lechuga sauce was nicely executed with amazing depth of flavors (7.5/10).



Braised knuckle of veal with potato dumplings, porcini and leek was equally prominent with perhaps a minor blemish of a slightly too overpowering sauce (veal jus?) (6.5/10).



Dessert was a refreshing peach soup with fresh peach, cherry and kefir. That was the perfect end (almost) to our delightful meal kicking off our stay in Salzburg (7.5/10).



Petite four, including a piece of chocolate, madeleine and macaron, came in a very nice box which we could bring home as a souvenir.



Afterwards, we still had enough time to check out the aircraft museum at Hangar-7 which is located right underneath Restaurant Ikarus.




Chef Klein's cuisine dazzled us from start to finish like a true Michelin starred stalwart with the amuse bouche setting the tone right from the get-go. Without a question, Ikarus is well worth the stopover.




Food Rating: 8/10
Price: $$$
Address: Salzburg Airport, Wilhelm-Spazier-Str. 7A, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
Tel: +43 6622-1970
Website: www.hangar-7.com/en/ikarus/restaurant-ikarus/