Gastronomy and gender: Top female chefs take the helm

Behind the sunny yellow facade of the "Werneckhof" in Munich-Schwabing, things are happening. Tradespeople are coming and going, wines are being delivered, cell phones are ringing, and right in the middle of it all stands Sigi Schelling, keeping a cool head.

More women in the kitchen!

Her solo venture is already considered one of the most talked-about new openings after the pandemic. And it sends a signal: it looks like the time is ripe for more women in the kitchen.

Until now, every DAX-listed company was more women-friendly than our fine-dining kitchens. But that's changing, because now committed female talents are entering the scene with attractive concepts. Sigi Schelling, who grew up with three brothers on a farm in the Bregenzerwald region and was usually the only woman in the kitchen at "Tantris," has no problem holding her own among men. And she's certain: "My style of cuisine will be even more in demand after Corona."

Haas supports her as an advisor, she has a well-established team at her side, and she herself is motivated to the core: "For me, cooking is not work, but passion." Her unpretentious style fits well into the stylish inn with dark wood paneling and original Art Nouveau windows, which already brought Tohru Nakamura luck.

Nathalie Leblond

Munich is currently providing fertile ground for a more female-dominated top-class cuisine, another sous chef is stepping out of her mentor's shadow and really getting going after the lockdown: Nathalie Leblond, previously at Jan Hartwig's side, is taking over the "Les Deux" kitchen in the Schäfflerhof in a dual leadership role with Gregor Goncharov.

The purist and elegant restaurant, housed in an extravagantly wedge-shaped building, has long since become a fixture on Munich's culinary scene under the management of Fabrice Kieffer. He hopes that the new duo will "bring us a few more horsepower in terms of cuisine."

Nathalie Leblond: For more high-quality bistro cuisine

Leblond and Goncharov not only want to further develop the style of the gourmet restaurant on the first floor, but also give more value to the brasserie on the ground floor: "Really good bistro cuisine is rare in Germany," says the always cheerful young woman with the long blonde fringe.

“We will focus on higher-quality products and refined recipes, but also emphasize the feel-good element of this type of cuisine more strongly.” More French influences are welcome in the future, for example “a really good beef bourguignon”.

Typical of Nathalie Leblond

Fried langoustine, served with green asparagus in miso glaze and garam masala mayonnaise.

"Taste is a matter of personality."

Two restaurants at once, and at just 28 years old? She's well-prepared: she first learned top-level cuisine at Dirk Luther's "Meierei," then at Hartwig's "Atelier" in the Bayerischer Hof. In the gourmet restaurant, she wants to "push the boundaries more in terms of aroma, really explore the interplay of sweetness, acidity, and spiciness."

Leblond intends to maintain the "Les Deux" style, based on classic French cuisine with Asian accents, but will increasingly focus on "classics in a new guise." She considers the notion that women cook differently than men to be outdated stereotyping: "Taste is very individual and much more a matter of personality than gender."

vegetables and strong flavors

The menu of her new restaurant “Lovis”, which opened after the lockdown at the quieter end of Kantstrasse, unmistakably features French-Mediterranean influences, her preference for strong flavors, but also for vegetables.

Inspired by the southern French anchovy dish, she is planning a vegetable variation, marinated and fermented raw, with shaved fennel, artichoke chips, and a delicately spiced anchovy cream. Or an open raviolo: "Instead of pasta dough, we use wafer-thin slices of mushrooms as a casing, fill them with mushroom duxelles, warm the whole thing in sage butter, and shave cured egg yolk over it."

Unlike many of her male colleagues, the 34-year-old is less concerned with quickly winning prestigious awards: "I don't have to prove anything to myself. I care about the guests."

From left to right: Light cuisine with delicate aromas and many herbs: Seafood delight by Douce Steiner; Grilled porcini mushrooms with strong aromas such as lime, garlic and chili, typical for Sophia Rudolph; Wild with a twist by Viktoria Fuchs: Partridge breast with grilled asparagus and blood orange hollandaise.

Committed female bosses are still a rarity...

...but they are already bringing fresh impetus to the scene. For example, Viki Fuchs, who, together with her sister, continues the traditional "Spielweg" restaurant in Münstertal, spicing up the Black Forest's game cuisine with her penchant for Asian flavors. Or Magdalena Klein, who cleverly mixes the products of her Upper Bavarian homeland with Mediterranean influences at "Fährhütte 14" in Tegernsee. Or Sonja Baumann, who, together with Erik Scheffler, founded "Neobiota" in Cologne, where the two combine brunch with gourmet offerings and dare to create unusual aromatic combinations.

Among the sous-chefs, further talents are emerging, such as Julia Anna Leitner, who has worked closely with René Frank at Berlin's "Coda" since day one. Hanna Lehmann is also forging her own path at "Laurus" in Hartmannsdorf near Chemnitz: she broke off her German studies to become a chef. And after an internship with Johannes King on Sylt, she turned down a permanent position to return to her Saxon homeland: "I don't want to do anything just for my CV anymore. I want to do it because it suits me."

The conscious decision to forgo traditionally male-dominated career paths has paid off. Her light, fresh cuisine is characterized by over 50 herbs from the "Laurus Garden." The 25-year-old doesn't cook for her own ego: "The pandemic has shown how important restaurants are for our social fabric. We will do even more for the well-being of our guests in the future."