When Sigi Schelling’s Werneckhof opened last July, it was already clear that a new living room for Munich’s gourmets would be created here. Not a few knew and missed the Werneckhof after two-star chef Tohru Nakamura had to move out and close the restaurant in the first year of the pandemic. And a similar number of gourmets knew and missed Sigi Schelling’s fine “feel-good kitchen”, as she had served as a sous-chef in the former Tantris for years until the handover in autumn 2020, reliably like clockwork, with Hans Haas classics.
The Werneckhof and Sigi Schelling – that was like “winning the lottery”, said Haas, whom the cook only calls “boss” to this day. The gourmet restaurant under her management should be a “guesthouse,” Schelling often emphasizes, “a house for the guest,” open-minded and not buttoned down, as haute cuisine sometimes is to this day.
The guests thanked Schelling by making their reservations right from the start, as if starving and half dead of thirst – the former Tantris sommelier Paula Bosch is responsible for the construction of the wine cellar, speaking of Munich’s gourmet living room. If you want to get a table in the two small guest rooms with usually just under 40 seats, you should plan in advance.
The hospitality begins at the door, where a dispenser sprays the currently most fragrant disinfectant in town – flavored with fresh lemon balm by Schelling’s hand. The friendly service is behind the door ready to peel the guests out of their jackets and coats. After a careful facelift, the rooms have become lighter, with a delicate flower frieze under the antique wooden ceiling.
Sigi Schelling communicates with her guests via the plates.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
On the wall in the rear, an art installation by Hans Haas – “Wellenreiter” is a housewarming present, brightly painted fish carcasses on the inside of a double spring core mattress – shows that Schelling has no qualms about the mentor’s presence. You don’t have to frantically “cut a new kitchen line out of your ribs,” says the chef frankly in interviews. It’s about the best products and the most precise craftsmanship, about a classically based style, as she perfected it in Tantris.
Hans Haas is also quoted in the menu (five courses in the evening 170 euros, three courses at lunchtime 75 euros, four courses with wine on Saturday afternoons 155 euros). Sometimes because Schelling sends his famous potato and leek puree with nut butter and caviar as a kitchen greeting, sometimes because the “lukewarm lake trout” – just like Haas’ legendary salmon – is cooked under foil at a low temperature, which is why it perfectly combines melt and bite. Sigi Schelling says she knows from the Haas kitchen that the “Bayerisches Bresse Hendl” is juiciest if you first confit it and then use steam and heat to make it crispy. Why change? The chef tops the chicken with Perigord truffles and has it carved at the table, where the best parts then bathe in happy truffle jus alongside a tender risotto.
The result is not always the most modern top kitchen in Munich, but the most comforting and attentive. The way the landlady, who is known to be reserved, consistently places herself at the service of guests and good taste, how she communicates lovingly and subtly about her plates, that is of enormous value in times of noisy self-portrayal. And far less self-evident than claimed by many chefs. Is quiet the new sound? is what one hopes at the table when, as a guest, one feels particularly protected. To which sommelier Xavier Didier also contributes a lot.
After careful lifting, the rooms have become a little brighter.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
On two evenings no plate disappointed. The menus started generously and with a high comfort factor. For example, with the greeting from the kitchen: nutty, round lentil cream soup, flanked as a small tip by a char tartare on a linseed chip with horseradish cream. Sigi Schelling serves her duck liver terrine with melty cranberry ice cream, warm, crispy brioche, shiitake mushrooms and a few extra slices of truffle. The trio of shelled crustaceans (lobster, langostino, gamba) impresses with its impeccable quality and precise cooking points and is accompanied by herbal oil and a cauliflower variation – a cream with fruity hibiscus curry and sour pickled cabbage florets.
The highlight, however, are the sauces, with which the chef shows again and again how timeless classic can be. The service carelessly always puts small refill jugs on the table, from which we help ourselves shamelessly until the bread basket is empty and the plate is bare. Lake trout and mashed celery dumplings swim in a velvety bergamot sauce that elegantly combines the delicate bitter notes of three citrus fruits, with tiny pulp strands of pomelo and orange adding an exciting kick of freshness. Also of great depth is the lemongrass-flavored lobster stock sauce that accompanies cuttlefish pasta and Breton turbot, topped with crab meat and passion fruit mayonnaise. Everything here has depth anyway, whether it’s the wonderful bouillabaisse with baby monkfish or the jus for the Poltinger saddle of venison with curd pasta, trumpet mushrooms, caramelized chicory and red cabbage.
The restaurant review “Kostprobe” in the Süddeutsche Zeitung has a long tradition: it has been published weekly in the local section since 1975, and online for a few years now and with a rating scale. About a dozen editors with culinary expertise from all departments – from Munich, science to politics – take turns writing about the city’s gastronomy. The selection is endless, the Bavarian economy is just as important as the Greek fish restaurant, the American fast food chain, the special bratwurst stand or the gourmet restaurant decorated with stars. The special thing about the SZ taster: The authors write under pseudonyms, often with a culinary touch. They go into the restaurant to be tested unnoticed about two or three times, depending on how long the budget given by the editors lasts. Iron basic rules: a grace period of one hundred days for the kitchen of a new restaurant to familiarize itself. And: Never get caught working as a restaurant critic – to be able to describe food and drink, service and atmosphere impartially. SZ
Finally, to address luxury issues: the desserts could still be improved. Flavoring a coconut soufflé with soaked flakes is a trade-off for flavor as well as texture – if it’s too fibrous. After the successful opening, Schelling can now allow himself to be a little braver here and there. The boss is always welcome. But the kitchen no longer needs him because it now has a great boss. Schelling has announced that it intends to “carefully” develop further on the basis of what has been achieved, also with a view to its roots in the Bregenz Forest. Is slow the new fast? It would be too nice!
Werneckhof Sigi Schellingaddress: Werneckstraße 11, 80802 Munich, phone: 089/244189190, opening hours: Wednesday to Saturday 12 noon to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to midnight.