Lively, international and trendsetting: These are the Berlin Master Chefs 2022

They are the flagship for gastronomic diversity and culinary Berlin: the “Berlin Master Chefs”.  The winners have now been awarded in the categories “Berlin Master Chef 2022”, “Rising Star of the Year 2022”, “Berlin Host 2022”, “Berlin Hip Restaurant 2022”, “Berlin District Champion 2022”, “Berlin Bar Culture 2022” and “Gastronomic Innovator 2022”. In the “Hall of Taste” in the Schöneweide S-Bahn station, the independent, eight-strong Berlin Master Chefs jury honoured the winners they had previously chosen, who reflect the city’s liveliness, gourmet enjoyment and creativity.

Michael Biel, State Secretary of the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises: “The gastronomy scene is an important economic factor and a flagship for our city. The Berlin Master Chefs award shows again and again what a great restaurant culture we have. The Master Chefs set culinary standards with creativity and skill!”

Dr Stefan Franzke, Managing Director, Partner für Berlin: “The high quality, but also the variety of the gastronomy scene in Berlin is a magnet for gourmets and friends of good food from all over the world. Over the years, the capital has developed into an outstanding food metropolis, and Berlin’s Master Chefs play a large part in this. They are culinary trendsetters and also important ambassadors for the city.”                                                 

The award winners:

Jonas Zörner, from the restaurant “Golvet” is „Berlin Master Chef 2022“.
The jury stated in its decision: Some restaurants are visited mainly for the excellent food, some for the exceptional wine list or drink accompaniment from the bar. For others, it’s the spectacular location that draws you in magically. It is rare when that all comes together. In Golvet, this is the case.
The competition for the Berlin Master Chef was tough again this year, but Jonas Zörner, the head chef at Golvet and not yet 30 years old, prevailed. For us as a jury, he is simply this year’s Berlin Master Chef – age is not a factor. Jonas Zörner has made a name for himself in record time and found his style: and he is bursting with his own ideas, while being aromatically and texturally unerring. Whether it’s an umami bomb like the roasted oyster with hazelnut, verbena and caviar. Or - to stay down to earth in the literal sense - a forest mushroom consommé with pickled mushrooms from the surrounding area. Zörner cooks close to nature and sustainably. At Golvet they created a roof garden during the lockdown which the team is taking care of: Shiso, sweet clover, tree spinach blossoms, herbs and some vegetables are freshly harvested and come from there without any packaging.
The team spirit in the kitchen and among the staff can be felt, which is reflected in the guests and the atmosphere. The only question that remains is: What if Jonas Zörner continues to develop so quickly? Then we will just have to invent a new superlative as an award at some point.                             

The title „Rising Star of the year 2022“ goes to Christopher Kujanski of the restaurant “POTS”.        
The jury stated in its decision: He combines velvety tender duck liver with Brandenburg buffalo mozzarella, roasted pumpkin, pumpkin seed pesto and ham broth. Baltic cod is a treat with black pudding and Spreewald gherkin, grandma's rice pudding is refined with celeriac and golden parmane. Nothing about Christopher Kujanski’s gourmet cuisine seems old-fashioned, aloof or intentional. Seemingly playful, he succeeds in creating aroma-rich creations with a stable classical basis that draw on the rich repertoire of the cuisines of Central Europe. Christopher Kujanski was born in Berlin and grew up in Poznan, Poland. After his training at the Berlin Capital Club, he cooked with Joachim Wissler at Vendôme and was sous-chef at Facil in The Mandala Hotel. He took over the kitchen in Dieter Müller’s POTS at The Ritz-Carlton am Potsdamer Platz in 2020 in the midst of a phase of upheaval, in which concept kitchens were also up for debate. Our rising star now convincingly demonstrates that it is individual culinary art that inspires and makes people happy. Praise also for the team and general manager. 

In the „Berlin Host 2022“ category, the jury chose Fabian Fischer from the restaurant “Bricole”.                 
The jury stated in its decision: Fabian Fischer has left his mark on the Bricole restaurant right from the start. He is patron, host and sommelier all in one - and therefore the heart and soul of the enchanting restaurant in Prenzlauer Berg. And that is right, because majestically and nonchalantly Fabian Fischer always finds the best for the guest, who can indulge in the culinary hustle and bustle in Bricole.
During the lockdown, Fabian Fischer started the to-go sale “Feinkostwirtschaft”: From an open window with an improvised counter, he offered hearty soul food like Köngisberger Klopse, bouillabaisse or duck terrine – since then, Bricole has been the favourite restaurant in the neighbourhood for many.
He gained his experience as a restaurateur in the trendy restaurants Borchardt, Café am Neuen See and Grosz. From there he brought that inimitable charm with him, which he now radiates from the heart in Bricole and which makes every guest return again and again.

The „Berlin Hip Restaurant 2022“ goes to the restaurant “Frühstück 3000” this year.
The jury stated in its decision: After a year with their pop-up series of the same name in changing top Berlin restaurants, Maximiliane Wetzel, Lukas Mann and Martin Pöller opened their first place in Schöneberg in October 2020. With the concept of a fine-dining breakfast restaurant, they have not only opened up a niche in the market, but also created a very special place. Their recipe for success: Three passionate restaurateurs with a star or luxury hotel past, who make their self-employment more casual but no less high-quality, plus the location in the rainbow district. The décor in shades of blue and green with wooden elements, warm lighting and a disco ball in the toilet make every day as pleasant as a Sunday, the service is perfect and relaxed at the same time, the crowd is unexcitingly diverse, the mood already in the morning is shimmering and exuberant. The menu caters for every budget, from the free-flow champagne menu to bircher muesli.

The „Berlin District Champion 2022“ is “Wen Cheng” in Prenzlauer Berg.   
The jury stated in its decision: Berlin has 18 one-star restaurants, five two-star restaurants and one three-star restaurant. But just as these outstanding achievements make up the culinary DNA of the capital, so do the small snack bars and restaurants run by people and their children who have come to us from other countries.
And Berlin is crazy about authentic Chinese noodles – at “Wen Cheng” they taste so good that Berliners and tourists are happy to queue – if you don’t queue in front of one of the two places in Prenzlauer Berg you won’t even get a table.
The menu at “Wen Cheng” features thick noodles from the northern Chinese province of Shanxi. Guests can watch how the so-called “Biang Biang” noodles are hand-made: Their name comes from the sound the strands of dough make when they smack on the kitchen worktop. They are served with a nutty, spicy soy sauce, black vinegar, Szechuan pepper, chilli oil and meat or aubergine. The dish is on the table within ten minutes – and costs less than twelve euros.
Berlin is international – again and again.

The award for the „Berlin Bar Culture 2022“ goes to the “Velvet Bar Berlin”.      
The jury stated in its decision: Many ingredients from the region, some even from the neighbourhood, working with the season, tradition meets trend, old preparation and modern kitchen techniques go hand in hand: “Velvet” works like a regional-seasonal fine dining restaurant, except that it’s all about “fine drinking”. And how fine: sensational and innovative in the glass, unpretentious and cordial in the service – this place is just as much a top bar with an international reputation as a Neukölln dive bar. A place that makes you want to dive in even from the outside – when you look in from the street through the window, through the back buffet, over the counter into the evening scenery and sometimes you can’t help but become a part of it: Where can you find that? “Tonight we are playing in the premier league again. It’s going to be really big” is what applies night after night in “Velvet”. If there were stars for bars, there would probably be at least one on the wall here.  

And in the „Gastronomic Innovator 2022“ category, the jury chose Cookie Heinz Gindullis, owner of “Cookies Cream” and “Crackers”.
The jury stated in its decision: Cookie, Cookies Cream, Crackers – names and places stand for Berlin worldwide. Cookie himself, the maker behind it, is known only to a few. Heinz Gindullis, known as Cookie, is modest and likes to stay in the background. In 1992 he came to Berlin from London, moved to Mitte, was a kitchen assistant, bartender. Berlin’s forgotten places, which did not exist like this in any metropolis, fascinated him. “Cookies” is a club with a kitchen and legendary parties which he introduced and was therefore not only the co-founder of Berlin’s post-reunification myth, with his idea of “Cookies Cream”, the vegetarian restaurant and icing on the cake for the respective club location (Cookie is a vegetarian), he additionally set the course for Berlin’s celebrated vegetable cuisine. They moved seven times. Then there was “Crackers”, the restaurant that also serves meat and fish. Anyone who enters Cookies’ world today in the well-hidden, mysterious concrete building from the GDR era will experience a different and magical world as if in a time capsule. For him, says Heinz Gindullis, maintaining and spreading diversity, togetherness, positive thinking and optimism is always the driving force in everything. His “Cookies Cream” with Stephan Hentschel in the kitchen is now Germany’s only Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant, “Crackers” is the city’s cosmopolitan flagship for many, and the bar has just opened.

A lot of new things have happened in the format of the Berlin Master Chefs: In an extraordinary location, the Schöneweide S-Bahn station, a special format took place this year with the “Hall of Taste”: For the first time, the best of all three Berlin Master Chef concepts “Gala Diner”, “Walk of Taste” and “Place to Taste” were combined in one event. The 300 invited guests were cooked for by the award winners of the previous year in replica pop-up restaurants. The location was changed with each new course.

And there is also news to report from the jurors this year: Tina Huttl and Dr. Stefan Ivory lead the jury as dual leaders.

The jury consists of the following jurors:

• Dr. Stefan Elfenbein, chair of the jury, author for the magazines “Der Feinschmecker” and “FOODIE”
• Tina Hüttl, chair of the jury, Berliner Zeitung
• Prof. Dr. Dieter Grossklaus, “Chaîne des Rôtisseurs” (Honorary President, without voting rights)
• Stefanie Hofeditz, freelance editor / journalist, B.Z., BILD, Ich&Berlin
• Nikolas Rechenberg, Gourmetwelten
• Annika Schönstädt, freelance journalist
• Dr. Erwin Seitz, freelance journalist, book author and gastronomy critic
• Jan-Peter Wulf, specialist journalist and founder of nomyblog

The winners up to now of the Berlin Master Chefs since the award ceremony began in 1997 have been communicated in a chronicle. For more information on the Berlin Master Chefs project and the history, please go to: www.berliner-meisterkoeche.de. The Berlin Master Chefs can also be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BerlinerMeisterkoeche and on Instagram @berlinermeisterkoeche.

The Berlin Master Chefs
Berlin Partner has been honouring the capital’s best chefs every year since 1997. With the award for Berlin Master Chefs, Berlin Partner distinguishes the capital’s sophisticated restaurant culture and gastronomic scene as an import and economic factor and flagship of the city.

More than 140 chefs and restaurateurs have been honoured so far in the various categories of the Berlin Master Chefs. Former award winners include Sonja Frühsammer, Tim Raue, Daniel Achilles and Sebastian Frank.

The jury of the Berlin Master Chefs
The independent jury, made up of Berlin’s leading food journalists and connoisseurs, not only evaluates the quality of the culinary art, but also the originality of the creations, the presentation of the dishes, the service and the ambience. By honouring Berlin’s Master Chefs, the sophisticated restaurant culture in the capital is positioned as the city’s flagship and the diverse gastronomy in Berlin is made visible as an important economic factor for Berlin Partner.

You can find our press kit with background information and photos on all award winners and the history of the Berlin Master Chefs here. Please note the copyright of the photos.