Moriki

Moriki is the Japanese-and-pan-Asian dining room of Brenner's Park-Hotel & Spa — an Oetker-family property, the grandest of Baden-Baden's grand hotels, spa to European aristocracy for 150 years. Moriki itself is newer: opened in 2015 on the ground floor of the spa wing, designed by Dante Bonuccelli in black-lacquer-and-brass with a long pale-oak sushi counter running the room's length.

The menu is 70 percent Japanese — sushi and sashimi from a counter run by a Tokyo-trained itamae, a small omakase offering, robata-grill skewers — with a 30 percent pan-Asian expansion of Thai, Korean and Chinese small plates for diners who want both directions in one meal. The tuna is flown in twice a week from the same supplier the Oetker group uses at their Dorchester Collection properties; the wagyu is Miyazaki A5.

The room is the quietest at Brenner's: no piano, no chandeliers, soft uplighting, a view into the spa garden. Service is pan-European and unfailingly polite. Dress is smart but loose — this is the grand hotel's after-massage restaurant, and a blazer over a cashmere t-shirt is welcomed. A counter seat is the best seat in the house.

For Solo Dining: Moriki's long sushi counter is the most elegant solo room in Baden-Baden. The itamae takes care of the pace without small talk; the omakase gives you eight courses without a decision beyond sake pairings; and the spa-garden view rewards looking up between plates. A second glass of Junmai Daiginjo is legitimate.