Vegetarian at star level: A star chef is staying at the Munich Seehaus
Created: 04/06/2022, 09:28
By: Stephanie Ebner
Fine, sustainable and with lots of vegetables - this is what top chef Jan Hoffmann's cuisine tastes like.
© Bodmer
Feasting without meat and fish.
Star chef Jan Hoffmann's cuisine is regional and often vegetarian.
Guests of the Seehaus can now enjoy it.
Munich – Wild garlic is currently drifting around the Kleinhesseloher See in the English Garden.
Just like once, when the chef of the century Eckart Witzigmann (80) discovered the herb there and brought the gourmets back to the taste of the forgotten wild garlic.
That was a good 40 years ago.
Now a star chef is out and about in the English Garden again: Jan Hoffmann.
However, his favorite herb is not wild garlic, but chickweed - "because it reminds me of my grandma and tastes crazy good".
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Pop-up kitchen with star chef Jan Hoffmann in the English Garden
The restaurateurs Stefan and Sebastian Kuffler have spatially separated part of the Seehaus operation for the summer and are turning the previous parlor into a pop-up restaurant.
Space for around 45 guests.
The star at the stove: Jan Hoffmann, one of the few chefs to have been awarded a Michelin star for their veggie cuisine.
However, the pop-up is not only vegetarian.
If you want, you can also eat fish and meat.
But the really exciting dishes are the vegetarian ones.
"That's what my heart beats for."
The Seehaus in Schwabing: The previous parlor will become a pop-up restaurant in the summer.
© Bodmer
Sustainability is very important to the top chef - pineapple, mangoes and lemons are therefore not to be found in his dishes.
"Great fruit, but ecologically unacceptable in our region." The 38-year-old even uses vegetables for dessert: asparagus foam and beetroot jelly.
Sounds crazy, but tastes good.
Hoffmann processes regional products, preferably when he also knows the producers.
The fact that he doesn't use pepper is his "personal whim", as he calls it.
But the spiciness is not lacking on the plates.
At Hoffmann, everything is used and little is thrown away
Nothing is thrown away at Hoffmann.
If he has to peel the carrot (“a pity, because most of the flavor is in the peel”), then the peel is also used.
As a crunch, for example.
The yellow turnip cabbage does not end up in the bin either, but is processed further.
Speaking of throwing away: Of course, the decoration on the plate also belongs in the mouth and should not go back into the kitchen.
The ideas for his dishes come to him at night, in bed.
A notepad is always ready to hand, he says.
Simply copying other people's recipes is too boring for him.
"Cooking starts in my head."
Jan Hoffmann owes his down-to-earth attitude to his “grandmother”.
Despite all the craziness - Jan Hoffmann also loves to be down-to-earth.
“Omma” once laid the foundation for this: with her potato pancakes.
Little Jan's favorite dish, which later became his first meal, which he cooked as a professional for guests.
As a tribute to his grandmother, he had the recipe tattooed on his left arm.
Just like his favorite herb, chickweed.
A funky guy at the stove who "enjoys getting the best out of simple products".
He will be at the stove in Munich until the end of September.
Jan Hoffmann in the Seehaus, Wednesday to Saturday evening and Sunday lunchtime.
The vegetarian menu "Flora" costs 69 euros, the classic "Fauna" 89 euros.
Reservation requested.
Email: seehaus@kuffler.de or telephone (089) 3 81 61 30.
Another pop-up restaurant in Munich with another top chef
Because the opening of star chef Tohru Nakamura's second restaurant concept in the "Schreiberei" on Burgstrasse has been delayed until the summer, there is now an interim solution in Munich's Hofstatt: the Bar Tatar as a pop-up.
As a kind of foretaste of what guests can experience from summer.
The new chef de cuisine, Tom Heeg, dedicates himself exclusively to the tartar.
But not only in the classic version.
Star chef Tohru Nakamura is also trying his hand at a pop-up restaurant.
© Peter Kneffel/dpa
Guests can look forward to changing fish, meat and vegetarian options.
The menu includes Japanese beef tartar (with miso, ginger and parmesan), salmon trout tartar from Niki Birnbaum (with roasted sesame and salted lemon) and colorful carrot tartar (with cumin, tapioca and shiitake).
The "Bar Tatar" can accommodate around 25 guests inside and 20 guests on the terrace in front of the restaurant.
A “to go” offer is not planned.
Opening hours: Monday to Thursday, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The location is in the premises of KaffeeWerk (Hofstatt, Sendlinger Straße 12a).
