E.r is back where it belongs, in its only legitimate place, anything else would be absurd: Torsten Michel, the head chef of the “Schwarzwaldstube” in the Hotel Traube Tonbach in Baiersbronn, is again one of the ten best chefs in Germany for the Michelin Guide 2021 and rightly got its three stars back.
It stole a stroke of fate from him on the night of January 5, 2020: At that time, the “Schwarzwaldstube”, one of the few iconographic places in the history of top German gastronomy, burned to the ground. According to its regulations, the Michelin had no choice but to take away the stars. But Michel and his patron Heiner Finkbeiner did not submit to their fate, but set up a temporary arrangement in no time at all, which they gave the programmatic name “temporaire – Black Forest room”. Since then, Torsten Michel has been cooking there as if nothing had happened: he continues to serve culinary world class in his double kitchen container and gives his guests moments of happiness for eternity in the temporary restaurant.
A lot and a home
For Torsten Michel, the “Schwarzwaldstube” is much more than just a job or a rung on his career ladder. She is his lot and his home. After his original career aspiration to become a pilot was shattered, he discovered his true calling in the kitchen. In his hometown of Dresden he was taken under the wing of the star chef Stefan Hermann, who referred the twenty-six year old Michel to Harald Wohlfahrt in Baiersbronn in 2004. The doyen of the top German chefs at the time immediately recognized the outstanding talent of his protégé, encouraged him to the best of his ability, made him his sous-chef and systematically built him up as his successor. The change of management in 2017 – through no fault of Torsten Michels or anything else – did not go as smoothly as everyone involved would have liked, but all of this is a thing of the past in the Black Forest.
Has found his own way with virtuosity: Torsten Michel
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Image: Wonge Bergmann
Torsten Michel has long since brilliantly emancipated himself from his teacher, confidently defended the three stars of the “Black Forest Room” up to the fire and found his own way with virtuosity. He has freed classic haute cuisine from all trinkets and pomp, carefully added Asian flavors and dressed in a modern garment that is at the same time of timeless beauty. Anyone who has ever tasted their poached Gillardeau oyster with Impérial caviar as a perfectly proportioned high mass of the purist product kitchen or has been sent on a journey of flavors with mackerel and hamachi including an entourage of coconut, chili, mango, coriander and kaffir lime, has no doubt: There is no guardian of the Grail at work here, but a cook who is well on his way to making history himself.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/three-stars-for-torsten-michel-return-to-olympus/
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