One could almost think that the Bavarian state government is the last bastion against decadence when it comes to food and drink. During election campaigns in particular, there are fierce polemics against those who allegedly make regulations for daily nutrition. Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) and Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) currently seem to be in a real competition to see who defends the down-to-earth cuisine most energetically. This usually boils down to the old Bavarian dictum that Bavarians prefer to eat vegetables after they have been eaten by the sow. And a year ago the Prime Minister revealed the Passauer Neue Presse: “Sometimes I surprise the highest chefs by not choosing the finest international cuisine, but preferring to focus on regional and home cooking.”
This is astonishing in that it was the Bavarian state government that founded its own “Genussakademie” based in Kulmbach in 2016. Courses are offered there for people who are eager to learn, mainly from the catering industry, who want to train to become a sommelier for wine, beer and cheese, for example. The Agriculture Minister at the time, Helmut Brunner (CSU), launched the Gourmet Academy as part of his “premium strategy for food”. During his ten-year tenure, the quality of these was of great concern to him anyway. In Bavaria, too, he introduced the most progressive and strictest regional organic seal of all federal states.
In fact, a lot has happened in Bavaria in terms of cuisine. That will be shown again this Tuesday when the gourmet bible Guide Michelin will award its German stars for the year 2023 in Karlsruhe. There were a total of 82 for Bayern last year. If you subtract the 21 stars in the state capital, there are still 42 one-star restaurants spread across the entire state with one three-star restaurant and eight two-star restaurants. Five years ago there were 16 fewer stars in Bavaria and only half as many two-star restaurants outside of Munich. Even if one shouldn’t rate the assessments of a gourmet guide too highly – it shows that a lot has happened in terms of the quality of top-class cuisine.
Anton Schmaus cooks at the Storstad in Regensburg and is also the team chef for the national soccer team.
(Photo: Michael Krug)
It is by no means limited to the wealthy south with its idyllic lakes, where people who can and want to afford a dinner for 150 or 250 euros (without drinks, of course) settle down. Culinary centers have now also emerged in Nuremberg and Regensburg. In the Franconian metropolis and Söder’s hometown, there are already two restaurants that have been awarded two stars: Essigbrätlein (chef: Andree Köthe) and Etz (chef: Felix Schneider). But there are also five more with one star. And in Regensburg, with the Storstad by Anton Schmaus, which incidentally also bears the publicity-laden title of team chef of the German national soccer team, you will not only find a restaurant that has been awarded a star for years for its high quality. There are now two more with the Aska and the Red Rooster. This also continues to some extent in the flat country – where, unfortunately, a Michelin tester only very rarely ends up, unless he happens to find out about such a special restaurant.
So while the simple taverns have to close because nobody can make a living from a few beer-drinking regulars and from roast pork for truck drivers and sales representatives passing through, eating out seems to be experiencing a boom. Bavaria’s only three-star chef at the moment, Christian Jürgens from the Überfahrt am Tegernsee restaurant in Rottach-Egern, is of course happy about that. He’s invited back to the Michelin Gala this year, suggesting he’ll be awarded three stars for the tenth year in a row. “It’s wonderful,” he says, “that we now have such a great food culture here in Bavaria.” In Rottach-Egern alone there are two great star colleagues, Alois Neuschmid with his Restaurant Haubenaucher and Thomas Kellermann in the Hotel Egerner Höfe. Incidentally, with its completely redesigned Dichter restaurant and its focus on fine vegetable cuisine, which is now very trendy, it should be a hot candidate for a second star.
And of course Jürgens is pleased that he finds many former colleagues in the Bavarian star league. For example, he names Cornelia Fischer, who holds a star with the Weinstock restaurant in Volkach, and Florian Vogel from Camers Castle Restaurant in Hohenkammer Castle near Freising, also a star. “It’s a great feeling to be able to say to yourself: they’ve all worked with you at the stove,” says Jürgens.
He can also say the same about Edip Sigl, the high-flyer from the Es:senz restaurant in the Das Achental golf resort in Grassau am Chiemsee, which opened two years ago. Sigl got two stars there straight away (although he had just cooked two at the Munich restaurant Les Deux a year earlier). Almost two months ago, Jürgens and Sigl met at Es:senz for the “Four Hands Dinner”, i.e. they set up a joint menu together. Jürgens’ classics such as the “potato box” filled with truffle mousseline are still sensational, and his ironic use of effects always surprises – for example when he deconstructs a Bundt cake for dessert. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t finished,” he serves it, but the guests would like to mix it up themselves. There’s then a plate of nut butter ice cream, vanilla curd, and raisins that are perfectly matched yet vaguely reminiscent of a baking mix on the plate. Edip Sigl can keep up. Even his amuse gueules with the bacon-scented Chiemsee cloud, reminiscent of cotton candy, or the duck liver packaged in the shape of cherries called “Mon Cherie” are fantastic culinary art. Likewise his interpretations of regional products such as the “Salmon trout from the Thalhammer mill”. Sooner or later – the Michelin testers don’t rush things – Sigl should probably move up into the three-star league.
Incidentally, both Christian Jürgens and Edip Sigl have also worked for a legend of German gourmet cuisine, albeit not at the same time: for Heinz Winkler, the three-star chef, in his Heinz Winkler residence in Aschau am Chiemsee. Winkler died unexpectedly in October; his restaurant had long since lost its third star. They are bravely continuing to cook there, although the future prospects are not all that rosy. Winkler’s designated successor, Armin Karrer, left the residence in December 2022 after a short time, citing “complicated circumstances”; one could also use the term “escaped”.
So the future of Bavarian gourmet cuisine seems to lie elsewhere.