Status: 09.03.2022 5:10 p.m
Whether lobster or rather vegetarian: Germany is one of the most important countries for gourmets. The new “Michelin Guide” lists 327 star restaurants – more than ever before. This also has to do with the pandemic.
Despite – or rather probably because of – the Corona crisis, more top chefs earned a Michelin star for their restaurant last year than ever before. In the new “Guide Michelin” restaurant guide, 327 restaurants have been awarded the coveted stars for the first time, as Michelin has now announced. Last year the number was 310 restaurants.
One reason for the many stars is the Corona crisis, said the director of the “Guide Michelin” for Germany and Switzerland, Ralf Flinkenflügel, the dpa news agency. Many questioned themselves at the time and that was good for creativity in the kitchens.
Nine times “world class” level
A gourmet kitchen from Rhineland-Palatinate has made it into the ranks of three-star restaurants – the highest award: The “schanz.restaurant” in the wine-growing town of Piesport has won another star with its “world-class” cuisine and is thus climbed to the top of German gastronomy. “It’s unbelievable, I have to say. Getting three stars now – that’s a really big dream that’s coming true here. It’s really big,” said head chef Thomas Schanz after the award ceremony.
This means that there are nine three-star restaurants in Germany: In addition to the “schanz.restaurant”, there is another one in Rhineland-Palatinate, one in Saarland, one at Tegernsee in Bavaria, one in Wolfsburg and one each in Hamburg and Berlin. The small town of Baiersbronn in the Black Forest remains Germany’s “gourmet stronghold” with two three-star restaurants.
The “Michelin Guide” is published every year for different countries. The tourism department of the tire manufacturer Michelin originally published it as a workshop guide at the beginning of the last century. More and more he developed into a restaurant guide.
Image: dpa
23 restaurants have lost stars
In addition, five restaurants from Bavaria and one each from Baden-Württemberg, Hamburg and Saarland have been included in the ranks of the now 46 two-star restaurants thanks to the culinary skills of their chefs. At the same time, there are now 272 restaurants, each with one star in the gourmet guide, and 31 restaurants were added in 2022. The publication of the “Michelin Guide” also came as a rude awakening for many a chef: 23 restaurants lost at least one star.
“Very important role – behind France”
The “Guide Michelin” is considered one of the most important gourmet travel guides. According to the publisher, the international inspectors go anonymously into the restaurants to rate restaurants. Your rating refers solely to the food, not to the ambiance of a restaurant.
The first Michelin stars in Germany were awarded in 1966. According to Flinkenflügel, top German cuisine does not have to hide in an international comparison. “Behind France, Germany plays a very, very important role.”