He cooked for kings, athletes and stars, and wanted to retire after a great career. Now Heinz Winkler is fighting for his life.
An incomparable career lies behind him: At the end of the 1970s, Heinz Winkler succeeded chef de cuisine Eckart Witzigmann in the famous Munich restaurant “Tantris”. In 1981 he was named the youngest three-star chef of all time, and 20 years later he was the first German chef to be awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. Winkler spoiled the most famous palates in the world – from the Swedish royal couple Silvia and Carl Gustav to John D. Rockefeller, Richard von Weizsäcker, Franz Beckenbauer and Boris Becker to Claudia Schiffer and Max Schautzer.
At the beginning of the 1990s he opened his “Residenz” in Aschau, where he also received several Michelin stars. He has been running the restaurant for over 20 years and wanted to take his well-deserved retirement as soon as a successor was found. To Mallorca, as the native of South Tyrol revealed to “Bild” just a few weeks ago. But now Heinz Winkler has to fight for his retirement. As the newspaper claims to have learned from the cook’s immediate family, he is in the hospital – in critical condition.