Dormero Hotel Stuttgart (Stuttgart, GERMANY)

Stuttgart is our final stop in Germany before we head into the Alsace region of France. Since our stay will be a very brief one, I've decided against lodging in the city centre. Instead, it will be in the outskirt of Stuttgart closer to the highway.

Ticking all boxes for me was Dormero Hotel Stuttgart, a design hotel on the south side of Stuttgart directly connected to the convention centre.

The 454-key 4-star hotel is also next to SI Centrum, a lifestyle hub for entertainment, dining and wellness.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to explore this area since it was getting late after our dinner at Cube. So, once we got our keys from the reception, it was time for a quick shower and crash.

I had a seriously long day driving down from Prague but did manage to take a few pictures of the ultra sleek room before bed time. The room was predominately white with patches of red. 

The bed (mattress) was a bit on the hard side but I was too tired to bother about it.

They have a matching black-and-white bathroom to go with the all-white bedroom too.

Pretty spacious.

This is the view from our hotel room. Like I said, it goes right onto Highway 27. 

One of the reasons we decided to go through Stuttgart on our way to France was attractions like Porsche Museum.

But due to the early closing time, we didn't get to experience the history of the iconic German automobile marque in great lengths (since its inception in 1931). Perhaps this city really deserves another trip in the near future.

Rating: ❤❤❤

Price: €€€

Address: Plieninger Str. 100, 70567 Stuttgart, Germany

Closest Metro Station: Salzäcker

Tel: +49 711 7210

Website: www.dormero.de/en/hotel-stuttgart/

Cube Restaurant and Bar (Stuttgart, GERMANY) ★★★☆☆

There were three reasons why we picked Cube Restaurant and Bar at Stuttgart. Location, location and location.

We had merely 16 hours or so to spend in Stuttgart and to make the most of it, the destined restaurant had to be somewhere near the centre of the city where we could drop by a few tourist attractions in the process (ie. Altes Schloss - 'Old Castle' and Neues Schloss - 'New Castle'). Cube Restaurant and Bar turned out to tick all the boxes location-wise.




We had absolutely no complaints about the location. Cube Restaurant and Bar is located on the top floor of the Kunstmuseum, a cube-shaped building with all-glass walls. It was easily assessible by car and had a wonderful view of the Schlossplatz. We also managed to squeeze in some time to make a brief visit to the nearby Old Castle, New Castle, City Hall etc. So all went extremely well according to plans.

The restaurant serves a modern international cuisine with an Asian twist.

First up was our amuse bouche, a tomato gazpacho that served as a perfect cleanser for our palates.



Perhaps I have mistakenly read it as "creamy foie gras" but it was what it said it was - cream of foie gras with beetroot, pear, granny smith apple jelly and vanilla fleur de sel.

The taste of foie gras was weak and the texture was way too watery. Would prefer something like a foie gras mousse instead. 



Slightly better was the second starter, a cold cucumber mango soup with purple curry and pickled orange anise.



Scallops with salt lemon puree, lime leaf tapioka, spinach dumplings and coconut foam was our very next dish.

I thought this had a lot of Asian / Pacific Rim cuisine inspiration but still.....I have had much better roasted scallops elsewhere.

(and noticed the dramatic difference in sizes between some of these scallops?)



Finally our last main course, seawater grilled prawns with lemon-herb butter bread and two kinds of chutneys arrived. Disappointingly, not much cooking technique there.

For dessert, we picked Cube's own bananas tiramisu to share.

In this deconstructed tiramisu, we found traces of ladyfinger crumbs, coffee jelly, mascarpone cream, banana etc. This was the best we had all night.

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: €€€

Address: Kleiner Schloßplatz 1, 70173 Stuttgart, Germany
Closest Metro Station: Schlossplatz
Tel: +49 711 2804441
Website: www.cube-restaurant.de

ALEX Regensburg (Regensburg, GERMANY) ★★★☆☆

I have to admit, time management has never been my strong suit. So, when I thought I could make it to Regensburg from Prague (a 2.5 hour drive) around noon, I knew deep down it's going to take more than a miracle to do so. We ended up getting there at 2pm. Slightly off the mark, shall we say?

Oh, and we were supposed to have lunch at Michelin starred Historisches Eck. We were late by half an hour so agree, they had the right not to serve us but they should have called.

Instead of wasting more time to find a place for our late lunch, we decided to simply grab something quick at ALEX Regensburg, a gastropub just 2-minutes away from Historisches Eck in the Old Town.

The folks here in Regensburg obviously don't like to eat late. 

The 2-storey pub was much bigger than I first thought.

Fish and Chips - Not bad. At 3pm, I am not going to be picky about the beer batter which wasn't crispy enough or.....

Pork Schnitzel - Since we have just crossed the border into Germany, I thought it was a good idea for us to check out the classic Pork Schnitzel. This was served with mushroom sauce and homemade fries. Way way better than the fish and chips I thought.

Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to fully explore Regensburg's Old Town as we still have a couple of attractions to visit before finishing the day in Stuttgart.

So, once we got our shots of their famous Old Stone Bridge, we literally ran back to the parking lot and off to our next destination - Porsche Museum in North of Stuttgart.

Food Rating: 4/10

Price: €€€

Address: Neupfarrplatz 6a, 93047, Regensburg, Germany

Tel: +49 941-584060

Website: www.dein-alex.de/regensburg