Munich's gourmet restaurants are as colourful as the city's districts. We meet Munich's top chefs in places where they like to have lunch themselves. This time with: Stefan Barnhusen from Mountain Hub Gourmet at Schned's Gourmet Grill in Eching for “currywurst“ (sausage in curry sauce).
At only 34 years old, chef Stefan Barnhusen has already earned his second star. In 2019, Barnhusen was awarded a star in the Jellyfish restaurant in Hamburg, followed by the next one at the Mountain Hub Gourmet in Munich in 2022. He has been employed at the fine-dining restaurant Hilton Munich Airport for three years now. Barnhusen was born in North Rhine-Westphalia, has worked all over the world and now lives in Eching. From here, he not only has a short commute to the airport, there is also very good ‘currywurst’.
The Schned's Gourmet Grill's red umbrellas flash through the grey industrial area of Eching. Here, huge furniture stores line up with traditional dress outlets, fast-food franchises and supermarkets. And in the middle of it all, a snack bar that makes the best ‘currywurst’ in town, an opinion shared not only by Radio Gong. You wouldn't expect that at the centre of the industrial area of a Munich suburb, in a street that is not only called Dieselstrasse – Diesel Street, but also looks like one.
We order chilli and käsekrainer sausages in curry sauce, served with fries – tastes fantastic. The fries have the perfect crispiness, the currywurst the exact contingency and doesn't drown in the sauce like elsewhere. The sausages are prepared by an Austrian butcher according to his personal recipe, and the curry sauce is prepared fresh daily by the boss himself. The people behind the snack bar are gourmet chef Franz Schned and his parents.
Stefan Barnhusen has known Franz Schned for many years, which is one reason why you often meet him here eating ‘currywurst’. Schned also works as a chef; he and Barnhusen met many years ago at the three-star Überfahrt restaurant on Tegernsee (lake) and the two have been close friends ever since. Before Schned opened the snack bar, he asked Barnhusen for his recipe and advice. And, in turn, when Barnhusen was looking for a new job, he learned from Schned that a fine dining restaurant was soon to open at Munich airport.
In the middle of it all, a snack bar that makes the best ‘currywurst’ in town. You wouldn't expect this in the industrial area in a street that is not only called Dieselstrasse – Diesel Street, but also looks like one.
“I share a close friendship with Franz. We are inseparable, also because we are similar in many ways: Franz is just as ardent a cook as I am, passionate about his work and loves travelling the world, always gaining new impressions from other cultures,“ Stefan Barnhusen tells us as we eat our 'currywurst' at the red bar tables. For many years, the two worked in ship kitchens and travelled to several continents.
Barnhusen has seen a lot while working on cruise ships: He spent months travelling in Asia, America and Australia. Singapore particularly impressed him, he says. “As a cook, you complete your stations on the way to becoming a chef. The more restaurants you get to know, the more you can develop your own style and the more knowledge you gain.” After his training, Stefan Barnhusen first moved to Hamburg in 2008 to work at Landhaus Scherrer, a starred restaurant. And exactly ten years later, he returned to the Hanseatic city – for a position as head chef at Jellyfish restaurant and thus also for his first star.
"It’s like football. If you want to play in the Champions League, you have to give everything and be ready to go beyond your limits. The only way is to look ahead – after all, you want to win!"
In between, there were reputable stages, such as luxury hotel Bareiss in Baiersbronn, Guesthouse Klaus Erfort in Saarbrücken or Luce d'Oro restaurant in Elmau Castle. Looking back, he describes his work in Bavaria's currently only three-star restaurant Überfahrt as an instructive time: “It’s like football. If you want to play in the Champions League, you have to give everything and be ready to go beyond your limits. The only way is to look ahead – after all, you want to win! That requires not only passion and talent, but above all ambition, hard work, mental strength and full focus.“
Winning every day is what Barnhusen still strives for today. His day in the restaurant starts between ten and eleven o'clock – relatively early for a starred restaurant, because the Mountain Hub Gourmet offers a business lunch three times a week in addition to the evening menu. The small team is then in the restaurant until at least midnight, easily 14 hours. In return, Barnhusen and his team only work a four-day week.
After a cup of coffee and checking his e-mails, the gourmet chef goes straight to the “mise en place“, prepares his workplace, coordinates with the individual kitchen posts and inspects the goods that have arrived. Unlike other chefs, Barnhusen still takes his place in the kitchen: He cooks broths and sauces, tastes every dish and – almost incidentally – creates new dishes with his team for the daily changing menu. On top of that, Barnhusen will fly to the Algarve next week to cook for 50 guests with other gourmet chefs.
"You put yourself under new athletic pressure in a positive sense every day, warm up before the guests arrive and then give everything until the last course leaves the kitchen."
If you don't like stress and a heavy workload, you probably won't choose this profession. But Barnhusen knew exactly what to expect: “This feeling after a physically demanding evening service is simply indescribable. You put yourself under new athletic pressure in a positive sense every day, warm up before the guests arrive and then give everything until the last course leaves the kitchen. It's an adrenaline rush!“ During his time on the ship, he says, he once worked for eight months and 23 days straight. But after that, he was really ready for a holiday.
Barnhusen did his training in a sports clinic. At that time there were no star restaurants in the Warstein area, at least Barnhusen didn't know of any. “I had my first contact with top gastronomy during an internship in an upmarket restaurant. When I saw how meticulously the work is done there, how the plates were arranged and what you can get out of food in terms of taste, I knew immediately where my professional journey would take me.“ he recalls enthusiastically.
"I had my first contact with top gastronomy during an internship in an upmarket restaurant. When I saw how meticulously the work is done there, how the plates were arranged and what you can get out of food in terms of taste, I knew immediately where my professional journey would take me,"
Today he is a trainer himself, passing on his fascination to young chefs: “I believe that as a chef, you also have a responsibility to promote the next generation. Just complaining about a shortage of skilled workers is simply not sufficient and won't solve the problem.“ What is important to him in the kitchen is that there is no competition with each other, that people work together and not against one another. Barnhusen attaches great value to trust and honesty.
Mountain Hub Gourmet is the only Michelin-starred restaurant at a German airport. The clear advantage: You can have food flown in fresh from all over the world. Barnhusen's cuisine is also regional, but his main focus is on the produce: “If cauliflower from 50 kilometres away is better, then of course I buy there. For me, the quality of the products comes first.“ In autumn 2022, venison from the Polting farm estate in Lower Bavaria will be on the menu, but also loup de mer from France and chocolate from the Congo.
Char tartare in ball form with iced horseradish pearls, herb emulsion and citrus splashes. The dish is served on a glass plate, which makes it look even more spectacular.
Barnhusen does not have a personal favourite course in his kitchen. Each dish has its own intensity and entitlement on the menu, otherwise he would not serve it to the guests. However, there is one dish that guests have requested so often that it could be called a “signature dish“: char tartare in ball form with iced horseradish pearls, herb emulsion and citrus splashes. The dish is served on a glass plate, which makes it look even more spectacular.
I come for a business lunch – four courses are offered with coffee and water at a fair price. Loup de mer is served with eel, pear, bean and lardo, Bavarian venison with pistachio, cassis and red berry. The dishes are all fresh and at the same time very flavourful. The gravy for the venison is perfect – thick, intense, glossy. All of Barnhusen's sauces are so fantastic that you don't want to leave any. Even though it might be frowned upon in a Michelin-starred restaurant, I can't help but dip the last of it up with a piece of bread.
All of Barnhusen's sauces are so fantastic that you don't want to leave any. I can't help but dip up the last bit with a piece of bread.
At first glance, Barnhusen's cuisine cannot be pigeonholed; it is neither classically French nor typically Alpine. Stefan Barnhusen himself describes his style of cooking as cosmopolitan “Impressive Expressive Cuisine“: Dishes full of culinary impressions from his travels around the world, rounded and rich in flavour. “Umami“, the fifth flavour or also called “the round taste“, is at the forefront of Barnhusen's cuisine, but also manifests itself visually in the form of spherical creations.
Barnhusen used to always have the next two stops in mind, but now he has finally reached his destination – Munich and the Mountain Hub Gourmet. Another reason he enjoys his job at the restaurant so much is that he can work creatively. He tells me that as a chef you're always looking for a platform to express yourself. The globetrotter has become a settled gourmet chef. “I don't know how many times I've moved. If you always stay in one place for only a short time, you don't furnish your apartment anymore. Now I finally want to stay!”
Stefan Barnhusen left Mountain Hub Gourmet at the turn of the year 2023.
