The food in Austria is getting better and better – at least that’s how the results of the newly published ratings of the Gault Millau restaurant guide can be interpreted. 762 award-winning restaurants with a total of 1486 toques were awarded throughout Austria – more than ever before.
Upper Austria is doing particularly well this time: Lukas Nagl, head chef at Bootshaus in Traunkirchen, was voted Chef of the Year 2023; Hedi Klinger, senior manager of the recently closed Gasthof Klinger in Gaspoltshofen, was honored with the lifetime achievement award.
Lukas Nagl is also at the top of the Upper Austria ranking with 18.5 points and four toques. The 35-year-old cooked for Heinz Reitbauer in Steirereck and gained experience abroad in Zanzibar: “What has shaped me the most in my cooking career is not so much the kitchen itself, but meaningful, ethically correct work for the region.” In the Bootshaus he has been putting this into practice for years and creates culinary masterpieces from regional products. “It is important that we develop a food culture in which we are proud of the products of the region and dare to discover new things,” says the father of three children. “By focusing on the lake, Lukas Nagl has achieved true mastery in recent years, and this award goes to him, well deserved,” is the verdict of Gault-Millau.
Philip Rachinger with his Ois in Neufelden is also top rated from an Upper Austrian point of view. The 33-year-old also earned 18.5 points and four toques with his style of discovery and focus on local delicacies.
With 17 points and four toques, what Max Schellerer in the Tanglberg in Vorchdorf, Lukas Kienbauer in the Lukas in Schärding and Marco Barth and Sebastian Rossbach in the Rossbarth in Linz bring to the plate is also a guarantee for sophisticated cuisine. Not far behind, with 16.5 points, are the Waldschänke in Grieskirchen, the Holzpoldl in Lichtenberg, Rau in Großraming and Verdi in Linz.
New five-toque chef
Among Austria’s best rated restaurants with five toques – the Ikarus in Salzburg, Konstantin Filippou in Vienna, Obauer in Werfen, Silvio Nickol in Vienna and Steirereck also in Vienna – there was also a newcomer: Benjamin Parth, 34, head chef at the Stüva restaurant in Ischgl in Tyrol, was knighted as Austria’s youngest five-toque chef. Even as a small child, 89-year-old Hedi Klinger was passionate about cooking. Sand cake was quickly followed by scrambled eggs and semolina pudding, later home cooking from the Hausruck district and roasts with “the finest juices,” as her son Willi enthuses. As the head of the restaurant at Gasthof Klinger and the trainer of a total of 100 young chefs, Klinger has always placed particular value on one thing: accuracy. “I never cooked by instinct, always according to the recipe, I had to explain it to the young people,” she says.
Based on recipes that one of the greatest figures in Austrian literary history particularly appreciated: Thomas Bernhard loved to spoon up his Fritatten soup there.
Despite this honor, she has internalized modesty and had to be persuaded to write her own cookbook. “As far as I’m concerned, there would have been no Kochbiachl,” she says. “There are so many, I don’t need to make one too.” Klinger actually only wanted one thing: “A nice inn, one that women also like to go to.” That was the Gasthof Klinger for decades until it had to be closed this year due to a lack of staff.
Source: Nachrichten
