We are sitting in the Chamber of Deputies directly under the Chamber, we have a first and a second vote, but no real choice, even if someone is about to come by with an urn, and we seriously ask ourselves whether democracy is actually the best of all forms of existence. What good is it if - like next Sunday - we can only painfully choose between black bread, brown bread and white bread? And how much nicer it is to let a cook heat you up with black, red and green pepper, which brings us to the heart of the matter: We are not in the Reichstag, but at least in the Lower Saxony state parliament, and we are delighted with our freedom of choice To be able to almost completely give up at least for the next three hours in favor of an autocratic menu sequence, although paradoxically our restaurant is called “Votum”.
GDR classics with bourgeois decadence
Jakob Strobel y Serra
Deputy head of the features section.
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The restaurant, which only opened at the beginning of August, is what an honorable politician should never be: a chameleon. During the day, it serves as a canteen for members of parliament and employees of the state parliament and as an upscale lunch menu for the citizens of Hanover with three dishes for 6.50 to 8.50 euros, which are served at a counter. In the evening it is transformed into a gourmet restaurant with a standard menu, which can be expanded to include three additional courses - as a kind of culinary overhang mandate - by ticking the box. The menu is designed like a ballot paper and is collected by the waiters after ticking the box with an urn, the courses are listed as the first vote, the accompanying wines as the second vote, and that's enough of the political allusions. Because otherwise the gag would quickly be deadwhich the head chef would not even fit into the concept.
Benjamin Gallein wants joy, fun and liveliness in his house, on the plate as well as at the table. Right at the beginning, it takes away any stale bakedness from a pancanella salad thanks to tomato chips, iced goat cheese and ceviche from Alsatian char. The native Saxony-Anhalt then relishly surrenders the GDR classic Würzfleisch to bourgeois decadence by serving it as a meringue made from bread toast with goose liver, imperial caviar and veal tartar.
And finally, he breathes new life into a trout from nearby Wedemark: He lets it dry for 24 hours so that its taste is intensified but not adulterated, not only combining it in the traditional housewife style with apple, cucumber, onion and sour cream, but also with tomato water, smoked fish, juiced garden cucumber, marinated mirabelle plums and fermented algae oil - and with this prelude to his menu proves a gift that very few politicians have: Gallein credibly combines conservatism with progressiveness, loyalty to tradition with open-mindedness and obstinacy with the ability to compromise.