Chef of the year award for Alain Weissgerber

SCHÜTZEN AM GEBIRGE. Big names from politics, business and culture travelled to the tranquil village of Schützen am Gebirge to honour Alain Weissgerber as Gault&Millau Chef of the Year. The venue was the gifted chef's place of work, the Taubenkobel. So that Weissgerber didn't have to cook for everyone himself, four of his long-time companions were on hand to introduce the menu with finger food for the aperitif and highly creative amuse bouche: Vincent Zanardi, Jürgen Csenscits, Christoph Mandl and Francesco Cortadella.

The Gault&Millau editors Martina and Karl Hohenlohe honoured Weissgerber not only as a chef, but above all as a person and personality. Deputy Governor Astrid Eisenkopf and Chamber of Commerce President Andrea Wirth paid tribute to the chef and recognised his role as an ambassador for Burgenland and the economic importance of the exceptional restaurant.

"Giving a laudatory speech for Alain Weissgerber is more than that: it is an honour, a pleasure, a joy, all in one. You have to let his life, his work, his creations melt in your mouth," opened laudator Mavie Hörbiger with emotional words.

The official highlight was the presentation of the certificate honouring Weissgerber as Chef of the Year. This was accompanied by gifts to enrich the creative chef's everyday life. Lohberger ambassador Reinhard Hanusch handed over a customised chef's jacket and cult knifemaker Richard Kapeller presented a valuable, custom-made knife with a shaft made from giraffe bone, the hardest and most durable bones known to Kappeller.

The unofficial highlight was not just one, it was served on plates in several acts. The dishes included butter brioche with farmer's butter, duck from the wood-fired oven and a magnificent yoghurt and rhubarb dessert made by patisserie grandmaster Vincent Zanardi, who incidentally created the birthday cake for Victoria Beckham last weekend. Celebrity guests such as Mavie Hörbiger, Florian Scheuba, Birgit Lauda, Konstantin Filippou, Andreas Döllerer and many more enjoyed culinary art at the highest level.  "For me, Alain Weissgerber is clearly a chef of the year. I'm a big fan of his, I've appreciated his cuisine for years and I'm a huge fan of the whole family and what the house is all about. It's an oasis! Art and cuisine together. What has been created here is extraordinary," said Konstantin Filippou

Support and applause came particularly warmly from the family. First and foremost from wife and host Barbara Eselböck, from the parents-in-law and Taubenkobel founders Eveline and Walter Eselböck and from the winegrowing couple Stefanie and Eduard Tscheppe from Gut Purbach. Martina and Karl Hohenlohe would like to thank their partners Lohberger, Metro, Laurent Perrier, Omnibiotic and the Ziegler distillery.

This is why Weissgerber is Chef of the Year 

Although Alain Weissgerber doesn't exactly seek the limelight, he is a permanent fixture in the country's culinary sky. A rock in the gastronomic surf - and that is precisely why Gault&Millau honours him. He comes from Alsace, studied at hotel management school and cooked there at a young age with Dominique Le Stanc, at the Bristol in Niederbronn and at the Stöneck in Heidelberg. Among other things. He then moved to Austria and docked at the Steirereck. A centre of excellence that is known in Austria for its excellent cuisine as well as for laying the foundations for solid careers. Weissgerber left the Steirereck, took over the Blaue Gans and finally arrived at the Taubenkobel in Schützen am Gebirge.

In the kitchen, Weissgerber is a gifted craftsman who can't really hide the Alsatian in him. From time to time, he confidently puts old French classics on the menu, which you won't find better served anywhere else in the country than at taubenkobel. Otherwise, his cuisine tends to focus on the region and, above all, the season. Weissgerber's dishes reflect the character of the region with such precision that you would otherwise only recognise it from Japanese kaiseki cuisine. The dishes are straightforward, focussed on the essentials and highly precise. And have been for years.