Shiraz

Sequence before the pass

A course is set by sequence before it reaches the pass. Silvio Nickol, chef at Shiraz in Wuppertal, works here through the discipline of a tasting menu, where each plate has to hold its place in the progression rather than stand apart from it. His current work spans Shiraz and Silvio Nickol Gourmet Restaurant im Palais Coburg in Vienna; the Wuppertal address earned One Michelin star in 2024 for a creative fine-dining format built on timing, seasonal produce, and control.

At Shiraz, Nickol’s role is chef, and the house presents his work less as a fixed national category than as a method. The kitchen’s language is modern European fine dining with Syrian influence, carried through a set menu and a formal room, with wine pairing treated as part of the composition. That is the bench-side measure here. Not spectacle, but calibration.

Five courses with Syrian inflection

The menu at Shiraz moves through a five-course structure, with aperos, amuse bouche, bread, and a sweet close around it. The work is specific enough to show its hand: eel with pear and sour cream, sole with tomato beurre blanc, spinach, couscous and tarragon, pea with lime and sour cream, Manti 2.0 by Shiraz with Wagyu, noodle sheet, yogurt and tahini, then venison with rosemary jus, filled croquettes, Asiago flan, chestnut, quince and carrot. Dessert can bring banana, vanilla, date and whey into the same line of thought.

The named signatures make the method plain. Mushroom risotto with miso foam and dates brings earth, salt, sweetness and fermentation into one course, with tramezzini used as a textural counterpoint. Wagyu Entrecote A5 sits at the richer end of the program, while the wine pairing gives the room another register for pacing. Pickling, beurre blanc, foams, jus reductions and filled pasta are not presented as display techniques here; they are the grammar of the meal. Syrian influence enters through seasoning, memory and combination rather than as a border around the cooking.

Clay walls, beams, and a protected bar

The room carries the work without crowding it. Shiraz now operates at Einern 120, on the grounds of Gut Einern in Oberbarmen, described as Wuppertal’s oldest inn. Clay walls, wooden beams and a heritage-protected bar give the dining room a material weight that suits a quiet service style. The setting is intimate, more house than theatre, with the pass sending out composed plates into a space that keeps its voice low.

That restraint matters in a tasting menu. A room like this does not need to announce the craft; it lets the sequence do the work. Wine arrives as a continuation of the kitchen, not an interruption, and the historical fabric of Gut Einern gives the modern plates a grounded counterweight. The final memory is likely to be tactile as much as flavored: date, tahini, rosemary jus, clay wall, wooden beam, the heritage-protected bar at Shiraz.