Gourmet experience for 2,400 guests

The 38th season of the Schleswig-Holstein Gourmet Festival (SHGF) came to a close with two culinary highlights: On 30 March 2025, Taro Bünemann, head pastry chef at the Orangerie in the Maritim Seehotel, delighted guests with a sweet and savoury dessert menu of cleverly designed dishes. Just a few days later, on 4 and 5 April 2025, team player Michael Kempf from Berlin's Facil brought the festival to a glittering close with a brilliant 5-course menu at Waldhaus Reinbek.

This year's festival results speak for themselves: around 2,400 guests enjoyed the finest culinary delights at the highest level at 33 inspiring events. In total, over 14,245 skilfully prepared plates were passed over the kitchen pass - impressive proof of the enduring appeal of Germany's oldest gourmet festival.

The season got off to a festive start on 15 September 2024 with the opening gala at the Hotel Cap Polonio, where South Tyrol's best chef Gerhard Wieser (Castel fine dining) and Hamburg's famous top chef Cornelia Poletto set the bar high for the coming months with exquisite dishes. The 38th season brought together an impressive line-up of product refiners who created unforgettable moments of pleasure with their individual signatures. 3-star chef Marco Müller from Rutz in Berlin shone at the Maritim Seehotel, while ThomasMartin from Hamburg impressed gourmets with his French signature at the Zur Erholung restaurant. Two-star chef Jan-Philipp Berner, TV celebrity Nelson Müller and globetrotter Felix Gabel also provided culinary highlights with their creative menus.

The first purely vegetarian menu in the history of the SHGF e.V. was a particular highlight. On 8 and 9 November 2024 at the Seeblick Genuss und Spa Resort on Amrum, Nicholas Hahn proved that plant-based cuisine can be as refined as it is enjoyable - a premiere that was enthusiastically received by the guests. In addition to established culinary champions such as Heiko Antoniewicz, Marcus Blonkowski, Tony Hohlfeld and Maurizio Oster, Quirin Brundobler and the two Italians Carmelo Greco & Benedetto Russo celebrated their festival debut in the 38th season. International accents were set by top Finnish chef Sauli Kemppainen, whose product-focused Nordic cuisine was a talking point in the Gutsküche, and David Goerne, who travelled from Normandy in France to Hotel Wassersleben on the Baltic Sea and spoiled the gourmets with his exuberant savoir vivre.

Klaus-Peter Willhöft, President of SHGF e.V., is delighted with the great response from guests and guest chefs despite the tense economic and political situation worldwide: "With the Schleswig-Holstein Gourmet Festival, we offer our guests an enjoyable break and the opportunity to get to know other people and restaurants in a relaxed atmosphere. In addition to the events, we also organise new events, such as a BBQ with a knife workshop and the interesting dessert menu. Two members are leaving after the 38th season for operational reasons: Berger's Hotel & Landgasthof and Boutique Hotel Wassersleben. We warmly welcome the two family-run hotels on the west coast: Küstenperle Strandhotel & Spa in Büsum and Eichhorn's Hotel in Risum-Lindholm."

The anticipation for the 39th season is already palpable. It starts on Sunday, 28 September 2025, with the kick-off event at the Maritim Seehotel with star chefs Nathalie Leblond (Les Deux) and Christoph Rüffer (Haerlin), among others.

The dates and information for the new season will be published on the SHGF website at the beginning of June: www.gourmetfestival.de