In portrait
Three-star chef Christian Jürgens had a meteoric rise, now he is in danger of falling
Christian Jürgens has been awarded three Michelin stars.
© Christian Juergens
Christian Jürgens is one of the best chefs in Germany and has been celebrated as a star for decades. Former employees are now accusing the three-star chef of inappropriate behavior, which “Spiegel” reported. Jürgens himself dismisses the allegations as “untrue”. In the meantime he has been released from running his gourmet restaurant Überfahrt on Lake Tegernsee. This is the story of his ascent to the Koch Olympus.
He should be a butcher. Getting up at three in the morning, slaughtering pigs and calves, as has been a family tradition for generations. He, the son, should continue the butcher’s dynasty. But he didn’t want to. At least not really. How else could it be explained that he, Christian Jürgens, accepted the first offer that offered him a detour from this predetermined path in life. His story, it has something of the American dream. She tells the story of someone who started out as a dishwasher in order to become a three-star chef.
Jürgens is one of the top 9 best chefs in Germany, one of the nine whose work has been awarded three stars by the Michelin Guide critics. What he serves in the “Überfahrt” restaurant on the shore of Lake Tegernsee has been world class for almost two decades. “I enjoy it every day and I’m also a little humble,” he says. After all, the stars are not like in football, where a goal decides more about victory, but more like in figure skating. “Third parties decide: Was that technically world class? And what about the B grade? For us, this B grade is feeling, emotion, and uniqueness, so it’s very important.”
Christian Jürgens: “I knew: I want everything”
It all started with a coincidence. He was 16, had fled from his parents’ house and into his sister’s arms and restaurant, where he filled in as a dishwasher. And when there was nothing to wash up, he peeled potatoes and cleaned chanterelles, doing what nobody else wanted to do. He didn’t think about becoming a chef until the chef approached him. He liked to cook, but at the time he knew nothing about the world of high-end astronomy. For him, Michelin was a tire manufacturer and Paul Bocuse, he was just some chef on TV. That changed quickly. It soon became clear to young Jürgens that he wanted to learn from the best – “if Witzigmann can do it so well, I thought to myself, I’d like to work for him” – and that he wanted to reach for the stars. This dream, he says, accompanied him through all stages of his apprenticeship.
Jürgens learned under the aegis of Gerd Käfer and Heinz Winkler, Jörg Müller and, this wish was also to be fulfilled, with the great Eckart Witzigmann. And at 30, Jürgens finally had it, his first star. “It was there in 1998, the longed-for star. After three minutes it was clear to me: I want the second one. I really want it,” said Jürgens. In 2002 the time had come: “Then it only took a second until I knew: I want everything!” Eleven years later, two days before his 45th birthday, he was now head of the “Althoff Seehotel Überfahrt” in Rottach-Egern and had reached the top. And that, although he describes himself as just “moderately talented”, he has earned the stars “the hard way”.
His cuisine is modern and creative without forgetting its classic roots. “My top priority is to put a taste on the guest’s plate that they won’t forget,” says Jürgens. For the star chef, taste is the beginning and the end. Everything builds on him, submits to him. “The guests who come to us are looking for something unique, the ultimate taste kick. And what our kitchen stands for – the experience, the surprise!”
This text was first published on April 8, 2022.
Isolde Heinz and Gunnar Meinhardt have more about Christian Jürgens and nine other three-star chefs, how they tick and what drives them in the Portrait Collection “Three Stars: More is not possible” written down. The quotes are taken from the book.
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