Finer Things

Germany Cuisine Landscape Sits on the Nucleus of the Emerging Food Movement
By Rita Cook

In Germany as in most European countries the thought of green living is a must. Of possible surprise might be the number of Michelin star chefs who are getting in on the action in the one to the three star kitchens. Germany is only second to France in Michelin starred restaurants. This year there are 11 three star Michelin restaurants in the country out of the 97 three-starred worldwide. On a recent culinary trip to Germany I had the
chance to explore a number of Michelin star restaurants from the three Michelin star Aqua in Wolfsburg to the two-starred La Vie in Osnabruck to Lerbach near Cologne to the one Michelin star Zierbelstube in Stuttgart. To top off a round of succulent dishes each night with good company and courses ranging from six to 16 and three to six hour lunches and dinners, I also had the good fortune to attend the 2011 Chef Sache. At the event were the six chefs who made it with their restaurants on the list of the “World’s 50 Best Restaurants” seen live onstage talking about their passion and how they bring it to life.

By the time one reaches, at least the three-star Michelin designation, it seems that cooking is just a part of the overall package the restaurant offers coming out of the kitchen. Add to that art, each little morsel being a cacophony of what is to come and how it fits together in the whole. In Wolfsburg at Aqua, which is located in the Ritz Carlton, we found Chef Sven Elverfled. Offering a modern European cuisine the interior of Aqua was designed by Andree Putman with a low-key, but stunning décor ala still life flower photographs and art deco armchairs, fit for any Michelin experience. Add to that the fresh cuisine of the likes of char and caviar from Tainach with just the right touch of dill and sorrel or the skewed topside of Muritz Lamb with Frankfurter green sauce, potato and egg. Wine at Aqua did not disappoint with the standout the 1995 Chateau Couhins Lurton Double magnum from Pessac-Leognan/Bordeaux.

From the town of Wolfsburg where Volkswagen also reigns, I then rumbled on to Osnabruck where Chef Thomas Buhner and the two Michelin star La Vie lay in wait. Located in the historic old town, Buhner is as down to earth and fresh as the meals he dictates. More modern German avant-garde, his culinary style can also be described as technically astute, refined and multifaceted. At the gourmet restaurant Lerbach located in the Schlosshotel Lerbach, the kitchen is normally commanded by Chef Nils Henkel. On this night when I dined he and the aforementioned Buhner and Elverfled as well as Chef Christian Bau renowned for his three star Michelin kitchen in Perl at Schloss berg took over the menu jointly.

First a few words on Bau, whose affinity for Asian cuisine creates the perfect blends of aroma, herb and produce. With French Asian, Bau sets himself apart and the idea at his restaurant is for people to sit, relax and enjoy. It’s a Japanese accent, a wedding of east and west brought to the plate as well as a journey through a seasoning landscape. As for Lerbach’s kitchen owner it’s Henkel who offered up summer tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella and basil and the much appreciated lightly smoked arctic char with vinaigrettes of elder-capers, cress mash and char caviar.

With pure nature, Henkel’s culinary style is a near-to-nature cuisine emphasizing the intelligent use of herbs and vegetables. His style has two facets from the cold appetizers in which he mainly works avant-garde with a touch for the aromatic as well as the texturally subtle and complex tastes to the simpler options on the menu in which there is a basic product in the focus along with unusual flavors allowing for the pureness to come out.

At my final meal in Stuttgart at hotel AM Schlossgarten at Zierbelstube with chef Bernhard Diers a final one star Michelin experience proved a good end to the trip with goose liver in grape sauce, Tuna pulpo with red onion and mango vinaigrette or the pepper crust celery puree with red wine ravioli. Indeed, while the Michelin stars pile up on the German landscape the nucleus of the emerging food movement and the chefs making it possible are taking the French haute cuisine and the nouvelle cuisine Francaise and putting it to good use. From the preparation, to the clean foods being procured to the exploration of the German product portfolios being discovered in a signature dish here or there the movement is ahead of the curve promising regional products, food and cooking as art, and personalities just as big and ready to share the vision.

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