An island garden of German delights

April 12, 2009|Rave

GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands - Roland's Garden is one of the most unusual restaurants you will ever visit. It has no menu, no set prices, no alcohol (bringing your own is allowed), no roof, and no walls.

And the food is terrific.

Roland Schoefer, the chef and owner, owned restaurants and a nightclub in his native Heidelberg, Germany. He went to the United States to cook at a German restaurant in Monterey, Calif., then moved to the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory, where he cooked in a number of restaurants before "retiring" to his funky house near the beach with a tropical garden as its front yard.

Schoefer serves up delicious German-style, five-course dinners on his large garden grill. As he says, "Whatever I cook that's what you get." We had a chilled herring appetizer, perfectly grilled veal schnitzel, spätzle, and an apple cobbler.

There are only five tables, so reservations are strongly encouraged, as there is always a waiting list. When we arrived, Julian Schoefer, Roland's son, said with a wink, "You're at Table 79."

The elder Shoefer, who was already manning the grill, asked whether we would like to see inside his house, and directed us to "go around the corner, go inside; there's a bottle of cognac on the table; take a little sip." Throughout the meal, opera wafted from the house.

As we departed, and as directed, we left cash in the envelopes provided near the front gate.

Roland's Garden, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, 345-926-7670, www.chefroland.com/ 1.html.

JULIE HATFIELD