Whether Michelin stars or Gault-Millau - behind each of these awards is a vision, a lot of love for food, craftsmanship and, last but not least, hard work. The Bavarian capital scores top marks in the top gastronomic rankings year after year. Munich's star chefs and restaurants at a glance.
Munich finally has a three-star restaurant again in the Michelin Guide 2023: Gourmet chef Jan Hartwig won three stars at the first attempt with his own restaurant JAN - even though the restaurant only opened in October 2022. This is unusual for a first restaurant award, although Hartwig had already been cooking at three-star level for years at the Atelier in the Hotel Bayerischer Hof.
Munich also has five two-star restaurants, even though there were some changes in the chefs last year: the Alois - Dallmayr Fine Dining with its new head chef Max Natmessnig, the Atelier at Bayerischer Hof, where Anton Gschwendtner is now cooking, and the Tantris, where Benjamin Chmura has been in charge of the kitchen since the renovation. Tohru Nakamur also managed to get two stars again with his own restaurant Tohru in der Schreiberei. And most consistently, chef Bobby Bräuer holds his own in the two-star league with his EssZimmer in the BMW Welt.
Eleven restaurants in Munich have also received one Michelin star: Les Deux and Mural in the Muca-Street-Art Museum in the Old Town, Tantris DNA and Werneckhof with top chef Sigi Schelling at Schwabing, Sparkling Bistro at Maxvorstadt, the small Showroom by Dominik Käppeler in Au, Acquarello in Bogenhausen, Gabelspiel in Giesing and Mountain Hub Gourmet at Munich Airport. New additions are the restaurant Brothers by twin brothers Tobias and Markus Klaas and the newly opened Mural Farmhouse in Sendling.
Since 2002, the Gault&Millau restaurant guide has been awarding toques instead of points - and there is a maximum of five. The awarding process also distinguishes between black and red bonnets: red is awarded to outstanding restaurants in the respective category. In Munich, a total of 55 restaurants were awarded by Gault&Millau this year, eight of which are new.
The highest award in the Bavarian capital went to Jan Hartwig's JAN with five black toques. The reopened restaurant Alois at Dallymar was also newly placed, receiving four red toques. In addition, the restaurant guide awarded four black toques to the following Munich restaurants: Tantris, Tohru in der Schreiberei Ess.Zimmer at BMW Welt and the Werneckhof Sigi Schelling. Three black toques were awarded to Les Deux, Sparkling Bistro and Schwarzreiter in the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten.
Nine restaurants in Munich received two red toques - including some starred restaurants such as Brothers, Gabelspiel, Mural, Showroom, but also Acetaia, Der Dantler, das Essence, Hippocampus and Landersdorfer & Innerhofer. Almost as many Munich restaurants received two black toques: Acquarello, Blauer Bock, Jin, Käfer-Schänke, Restaurant Ederer, Restaurant Huber, Pageou and Weinhaus Neuner.
The following were awarded with one red toque: Asam Schlössl, Beccofino, Garden, Grapes, Japatapa Toshibar, Matsuhisa, Mun, Mural Farmhouse, Restaurant Le Stollberg, Schreiberei, TiVu, Vinothek by Geisel. One black toque was awarded to: : Bar Mural, Bavarie, Brasserie Colette Tim Raue, Broeding, Délice La Brasserie, Little Wolf, Mona Restaurant, Blaue Libelle, Gasthaus Waltz, Pardi, Restaurant Atlantik, Schumann’s Bar Am Hofgarten, Sophia's Restaurant & Bar, Usagi, Vecchia Lanterna, Xaver's.
Star chef Sigi Schelling from the Werneckhof was also named "Rising Star of the Year". Excitingly, for its 40th anniversary, Gault&Millau has for the first time given all personal awards such as "Discovery of the Year" and "Gastronome of the Year" to women.
The listed 1970s building which houses legendary foodie mecca Tantris in Schwabing district has achieved cult status in Munich. The building is one of the city’s most prominent examples of post-war architecture, and the establishment itself is considered to be the birthplace of award-winning German gastronomy. The name Tantris means “the quest for perfection”, and for many years the creation of perfect culinary delights has been the mission of star chefs Eckard Witzigmann and Heinz Winkler. The pair has trained many of Munich’s top chefs and apprentices in the high art of French cuisine. Born in 1941, Witzigmann has held the title of “Chef of the Century” since 1994 – an honour Gault&Millau has bestowed on just four individuals worldwide to date, among them Paul Bocuse.
Witzigmann's student Hans Haas was head chef at the Tantris for almost 30 years until the end of 2020, and the Tantris was awarded two Michelin stars for just as long under his leadership. After a renovation, the Tantris reopened its doors in autumn 2021: the new chef Benjamin Chmura is in charge of the menu restaurant, while á-la-carte diners are served by 30-year-old Frenchwoman Virginie Protat in the "Tantris DNA" restaurant.
Traditional Munich hotel the Bayerischer Hof has been a family-owned business for over a hundred years. The establishment was built and opened back in 1841, in response to the King’s desire for a first-class hotel. Its guest list has encompassed such illustrious personages as Empress Elisabeth of Austria and her husband Emperor Franz Joseph I, not to mention Franz Kafka and Sigmund Freud. More recently, the five-star hotel even served as a retreat for Michael Jackson and his family while they were staying in Munich.
In keeping with the traditions of the hotel, many parts of the Bayerischer Hof are open to locals, including its luxury restaurant, Atelier. The restaurant was designed by Belgian interior designer, art collector and antiques dealer Axel Vervoordt in the style of an artist’s studio, with antique side tables, a private room and a tranquil terrace, planted with Amur maples. The new chef of the Atelier, Anton Gschwendtner, follows in the footsteps of the well-known Jan Hartwig.
He left the restaurant in autumn 2021 and is now opening his own shop "Jan" in the early summer of 2022 in the beautiful Schlossgarten near Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg. In 2017, Hartwig was named "Rising Star of the Year" by the jury of the gastronomic guide Gault&Millau. Just one year earlier, he had been named "Chef of the Year 2016" by the magazine "Feinschmecker". In 2023, the Atelier won two Michelin stars, and Jan Hartwig's new restaurant JAN was awarded three stars at the first attempt.
I am very excited to be able to show my style of cooking at the Alois. There are 18 to 20 courses that build harmoniously on each other - you definitely get full, but leave our restaurant with a feeling of lightness.
The origins of the delicatessen Alois Dallmayr date back to the early 18th century. The original store, in Munich’s Altstadt, is one of the largest of its kind in the world, and a stroll through its ground-floor delicatessen department is considered one of the highlights of a stay in Munich. Since 2006, Dallmayr has had a fine dining restaurant on the first floor, the Alois – Dallmayr Fine Dining since 2018, which currently boasts two Michelin stars.
The Alois sees itself as a restaurant with light, contemporary product cuisine presented in an informal atmosphere. The new head chef Max Natmessnig took over the job on 1 October 2022, replacing Christoph Kunz: "I am very much looking forward to being able to showcase my style of cooking at the Alois. There are 18 to 20 courses that build harmoniously on each other - you definitely get full, but leave our restaurant with a feeling of lightness." Natmessnig was named "Chef of the Year 2022" by Austria's Gault Millau.
Munich-born German-Japanese Tohru Nakamura was head chef at the Werneckhof until it closed in 2020 - he was voted "Chef of the Year" in the 2020 German edition of Gault&Millau. After his training, Nakamura worked at Munich's Hotel Königshof and in several three-star restaurants in Germany and abroad, helping the Werneckhof's cuisine to achieve international recognition. The secret of his success lies in the successful combination of local and Far Eastern ingredients.
European cuisine is the basis of my cooking. What makes it special is the Asian touch, especially my love of Japanese flavours.
Until March 2021, Tohru Nakamura and his team were already able to demonstrate their culinary skills in the pop-up restaurant "Salon rouge" in the former Stadtschreiberei. After a short renovation, the restaurant "Tohru in der Schreiberei" opened in winter 2021 and was awarded two stars by the Michelin Guide at the first attempt!
The futuristic BMW Welt building, designed by architectural duo Coop Himmelb(l)au accommodates several premium gastronomic offerings, including gourmet restaurant EssZimmer, headed by Bobby Bräuer. The name means “dining room”, offering a sense of the cosy yet luxurious setting, with open fireplace, elegant wood and dark leather, all of which is intended to make guests feel truly at home.
All star chefs can cook. I think what makes EssZimmer so special is the setting it offers – it’s modern but still cosy. We want our guests to enjoy simply arriving and succumbing to enjoyment without disruption. That is why I never ask my guests if they have enjoyed their food, but rather whether they have had a nice evening.
Munich-born top chef Bobby Bräuer and his team are synonymous with exquisite French cuisine. This year, too, this was worth two stars to the Guide Michelin - Bräuer has been defending these two since 2014. As a special part of its offering, all guests are offered a free, exclusive chauffeur service after their meal, to anywhere within the Munich metropolitan area.
Since January 2017, head chef Dominik Käppeler has been continuing the tradition of foodie hotspot schweiger 2 in Munich’s Au district under a new name: Showroom. The chef has been defending the restaurant’s Michelin star since 2015, and strives to ensure continuity and identity in the city’s smallest starred restaurant. A set menu, changing every 14 days, is served in Showroom’s pleasantly bright, intimate setting.
You think eel, banana, mustard and Stilton don’t go together? Oh, but they do – it’s all about aroma pairing. Let your palate decide whether it tastes good – not your head!
Inside the Schäfflerhof – one of Munich’s finest shopping destinations, in the square formed between Theatinerstrasse, Maffeistrasse and Schäfflerstrasse – Les Deux restaurant extends over two fully-glazed storeys. The “les deux” of the name is a reference to the two founders Alsace-born Fabrice Kieffer and his wife Katrin Kieffer, whose dual restaurant and brasserie concept saw them once awarded with one Michelin star in 2022. Chef Fabrice Kieffer trained under Heinz Winkler at the Residenz and won several major awards as maître d’hôtel and head chef before realising his dream of opening his own restaurant with the launch of Les Deux in Munich. The first-floor restaurant serves multifaceted modern French cuisine, while the brasserie on the ground floor offers traditional and international fare.
Bavarian cordiality paired with French charm is lived in our house. We are always there for our guests. The cuisine bears the hallmarks of French cuisine, although it is lighter and occasionally features Asian flavours.
Fabrice and Katrin Kieffer: "Our restaurant embodies Bavarian warmth, combined with French charm. We are always here for our guests. The cuisine bears the hallmarks of French cooking, but it is lighter and also incorporates some Asian flavours from time to time."
Heinz Winkler also played an important role in the career of Mario Gamba, an Italian from Bergamo who trained alongside the legendary chef for 12 years. For over 20 years, he has been serving the very finest Italian cuisine in Acquarello, his restaurant in Munich-Bogenhausen, and his establishment is widely acknowledged as perhaps the best Italian eatery outside Italy. Gamba cites his pure joy at cooking and preparing food as the motivating factor that drove him to leave his job as a translator of French and Spanish and to try his hand at cooking – which, incidentally, he taught himself. Acquarello retained its Michelin star in 2022.
“I am not a great chef. But I cook as if my family are sitting out in the dining room. All I do is simply separate the good from the bad. It is that easy to create quality. My cooking tastes of the Mediterranean, the sun, and a zest for life.”
Giesing restaurant Gabelspiel, owned and run by head chef Florian Berger, has also retained its Michelin star. Berger focuses on refined creations based on French cuisine, while his wife Sabrina is the restaurant’s host and wine expert. On the restaurant’s website, Florian and Sabrina Berger wax lyrical about the joys of experimenting with cooking: "We love all the foods on offer in markets around the world, and we strive to live healthily and, most importantly, happily through the balanced use of these foods. For us, no combination is too daring, no food too outlandish. For all those who love and value good food."
Newly opened in 2020, Mural restaurant at Muca Street Art Museum, under head chef Joshua Leise, also joined the ranks of those awarded one Michelin star in 2022. The trendy restaurant in the heart of Munich’s Altstadt district offers a relaxed bar menu during the day and an attractive fine dining evening concept which presents an appealing, creative menu. The team places particular importance on getting the very best out of their carefully selected local ingredients.
"We work mainly with small regional producers whose craftsmanship and attention to sustainability and resource conservation are particularly close to our hearts."
Joshua Leise is always on the lookout for the best seasonal produce: "We work mainly with small local producers, whose craft and attention to sustainability and protection of resources we particularly value. The same goes for the wines and winemakers we select. We value authenticity and craft in our suppliers, and we also try to incorporate them into all of our creations."
Jürgen Wolfsgruber successfully retained his Michelin star for Sparkling Bistro. He was voted “Chef of the Month” by Feinschmecker magazine in April 2021. Located on the historic premises of former Tantris offshoot Terrine, on Amalienpassage in the heart of Maxvorstadt, the restaurant focuses on the interplay between natural products sourced directly from the producer as well as sustainable production and first-class culinary craft. Honest food with character and the almost 50-year-old Molteni oven are at the heart of the kitchen at Sparkling Bistro.
Jürgen Wolfsgruber: "Cooking requires time and it must be enjoyable above all. I made a career our of my hobby and my passion. We need to relearn how to value the food we have around us, from our own lands and regions. That is what we are all about here at the Bistro. It’s the reason why we only have one menu, with 5 or 7 courses, and no à la carte option. Our guests eat what’s put in front of them."
Reopened last autumn and already awarded its first star: the Moutain Hub Gourmet in the Hilton Munich Airport was awarded its first Michelin Guide in 2022. The Mountain Hub Gourmet now counts as the only starred restaurant at a German airport. Perfect for those who have booked a late flight or fancy an exclusive stopover!
