I followed the first editions of the Sternefresser creative think tank with great interest from afar. I was all the more pleased to be able to participate live and on site at the event in Hamburg. Whereby “on site” is somewhat of an understatement. It is hard to imagine a better location in which around 30 chefs can work in a relaxed and concentrated manner at the same time than the huge and, since the renovation, also beautiful kitchen catacombs of the Haerlin, in the traditional five-star hotel Fairmont Vier Jahreszeiten.
In any case, Christoph Rüffer, who was attending a CookTank for the first time, proved to be a perfect host. And at the same time again strongly recommended the Haerlin as one of the top culinary addresses in the Hanseatic city.
First visual impressions can be seen in this video from the colleagues at White Plate:
The event focused on the exchange of ideas and experiences with eight of the best top chefs in northern Germany as well as three wildcard participants. So in total there were 11 courses for tasting and discussion. Some of the chefs experimented with slight reinterpretations of their own classics, but many also showed the courage to launch entirely new compositions especially for this day. It is precisely the open, joint and constructive exchange that is so appealing and unique about this type of event – after all, it is rare for so much culinary expertise to come together.
The knowledge of the participants was further deepened by an entertaining lecture by Dr. Matthias Keller, Managing Director of the Federal Association for the Fish Industry, who was available to answer questions on the subject of “Sustainable fish farming and aquaculture” as an expert. And with whom I have arranged for a spontaneous visit to the Hamburg fish market in the coming weeks.
[metaslider id=”6920″]Basically, the personal exchange was very much in the foreground and I was surprised by the openness and commitment of many participants. In addition to many new culinary impressions and inspirations, I am urgently looking forward to visit some of the represented restaurants hopefully in the short term. For example, of course, the Haerlin. Not only, but absolutely also to deal a little more intensively with the fabulous creations from the Pâtissierie of Christian Hümbs. But also again the Belle Epoque (here my report from last year), the restaurant Stolz in Plön and of course finally once the Söl’ring Hof of Johannes King.
