MarvinBöhm from Aqua in Wolfsburg wins the national Bocuse d’Or and will represent Germany in Budapest in May. If he masters the European elimination there, he will cook for the world championship in Lyon next year.
Second place went to Eric Kröber, Clouds Heaven’s Kitchen in Hamburg, while third place went to Martin Stopp from La Maison Hotel in Saarlouis.
In total, these six chefs presented their performances to the very distinguished jury:
- Christian Mathiak – Restaurant Poission from Cologne
- Eric Kröber – Clouds Heaven’s Kitchen from Hamburg
- Marvin Böhm – Restaurant Aqua / Ritz Carlton from Wolfsburg
- Johannes Steiger – Scharff’s Schlossweinstube from Heidelberg
- Serkan Güzelcoban – Restaurant handicap from Künzelsau
- Martin Stop – La Maison Hotel from Saarlouis
Thankfully, for the first time I had the opportunity to attend the exciting competition live, to look over the shoulders of the chefs and their commis and into the pots, but above all to taste the dishes and thus get an overview for myself. A very special privilege. Because among the many participants in the large hall at Intergastra, our table was the only one that, in addition to the jury, had the honor of also tasting – and extensively discussing – all the creations. For this, many thanks to the organizers and especially to the dear colleagues of Metro, who made this possible!
“People don’t cook properly anymore these days,” jury member Nils Henkel was quoted as saying during the Night of Stars in Stuttgart. Of course, one must first attest the opposite to all participants. Cooking was done in each of the six boxes. And sometimes at a very high level and with a lot of technical precision and finesse. In part, I interpret this slight criticism, the focus was perhaps a bit too much on the technology. Some plates were more like a current show of one’s own skills, presenting many components and variations of a product and sometimes lacking the overarching concept. But that is criticism at the very highest level.
It is necessary to pay the highest respect to all participants. The concentrated work under the immensely high competition conditions cannot be appreciated highly enough – and the results were very successful throughout.
The dishes of the participants
All the chefs had in common the task of presenting one course each for the jury, which specialized in fish. The task was to work with sturgeon. The second course for the six judges in the meat section was set up around the theme of lamb. For the jury, the presentation took the form of a huge plate, each individually designed. At our table, a reduced version of the meat course was plated.
