SSensational, nothing less, is the news that the Guide Michelin 2023 had to announce to gourmet country Germany at its gala in Karlsruhe on Tuesday. Ironically, in these post-pandemic, pre-apocalyptic times, the French restaurant guide not only awarded a record number of 334 restaurants one, two or three Michelin stars, seven more than in the previous record year 2022. He also had the audacity to propose Jan Hartwigs just a few months ago to award three stars to the newly opened restaurant “Jan” in Munich, a case almost without precedent in the more than hundred-year history of the Michelin.
The testers had been to “Jan” half a dozen times, and everyone was in complete agreement that Hartwig was cooking at an absolutely world-class level, said Ralf Flinkenflügel, Director of the Guide Michelin Germany, to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: “It’s one of the best restaurants not only in Germany, and they are three stars without a shadow of a doubt. Jan Hartwig has a special gift, similar to Messi or Ronaldo. Others can train as long as they want, they will never reach this level,” says Flinkenflügel. And anyone who has been lucky enough to eat at Hartwig’s knows how spot on the Michelin Guide was with its decision.
The pyramid keeps getting bigger
Since all other three-star chefs were able to keep their ratings – effortlessly and also without a doubt, as Flinkenflügel emphasizes – there are now ten German restaurants in the highest category again: Marco Müller’s “Rutz” in Berlin, Kevin Fehling’s “The Table ‘ in Hamburg, Christian Jürgens’ ‘Überfahrt’ in Rottach-Egern, Christian Bau’s ‘Victor’s Fine Dining’ in Perl, Clemens Rambichler’s ‘Sonnora’ in Dreis, Thomas Schanz’ ‘schanz.restaurant’ in Piesport, Claus-Peter Lumpp’s ‘Bareiss ‘ in Baiersbronn, Torsten Michel’s ‘Schwarzwaldstube’ also in Baiersbronn and ‘Aqua’ by Hartwig’s teacher Sven Elverfeld in Wolfsburg.
World-class kitchen craftsmanship: this is what you can experience in Jan Hartwig’s restaurant “Jan” under the glamor of three stars.
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Image: Restaurant Jan
The number of two-star restaurants has risen by eight to an impressive 50, a clear indication that the pyramid of top German gastronomy is on an ever broader footing. The upgrades by Thomas Kellermann (“Gourmet Restaurant Dichter”, Rottach-Egern) and Daniel Schimkowitsch (“LA Jordan”, Deidesheim) were long overdue. The second star for Thorsten Bender comes as a bit of a surprise from “being” in Karlsruhe.
The double stars for Niclas Nussbaumer (“Mühle”, Schluchsee), Max Natmessnig (“Alois”, Munich), Benjamin Gallein (“Votum”, Hanover), Julian Stowasser (“Lakeside”, Hamburg ) and Frédéric Morel (“Cœur d’Artichaut”, Münster). Sorely missing from the list, however, is Sigi Schelling, who cooks at least as well at the “Werneckhof” in Munich as before in the two-star establishment “Tantris”. The fact that TV riot chef Frank Rosin lost his second star, on the other hand, will not hurt anyone seriously – in contrast to the death of cooking legend Heinz Winkler, with which the two stars of his “residence” in Aschau also went out.
With the 34 new one-star hotels, the wide geographical spread of the bars is remarkable. The round dance stretches from Leipzig to Donaueschingen, from Munich to Münster, from Hamburg to Prien am Chiemsee, whereby the Michelin has to put up with the slight accusation of inflationary generosity in this category. And the last gaps are closed.
The city of Freiburg, which is completely unsuspected of any pietistic hostility to pleasure and which previously had not a single starred restaurant, is now represented by three addresses, including Martin Fauster’s excellent “Wolf’s Cave”. There are no spectacular devaluations in the new Michelin Guide, and the fact that Berlin’s top gastronomy is losing a little momentum and no longer springing up new starred restaurants like mushrooms in Grunewald is more due to consolidation than to a crisis.
Jan Hartwig was awarded the third star at the Michelin restaurant guide awards ceremony for Germany
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Image: dpa
The impressive courage of top chefs
In any case, there can be no talk of a crisis in German cuisine in these notorious times of crisis. On the contrary, the Michelin director himself is amazed at how confidently top gastronomy has come through the turbulence of war, inflation, energy price hysteria and a shortage of skilled workers. 2022 was actually a black year for the restaurateurs, but in the star hotels you hardly felt anything of it, says Flinkenflügel.
The level has not only been maintained, but even increased, and the courage of the top chefs not to back down in difficult times is as admirable as it is impressive. However, one should not forget that none of this would work without the guests, especially the younger ones, whom he sees more and more often in the starred hotels – and that is probably the best news from the new Michelin Guide: It seems that Germany is slowly getting better yet a united gourmet country.