Thinking about Germany one might have in mind pittoresque castles in a remote landscape above in the hills stemming from medieval years. Most of them are ruins (like Burg Schwarzenberg where Jonnie Boer performed some magic recently), some can be visited but very seldom they shelter a culinary treasure.
At Burg Wernberg, that’s different – since the Conrad family has leased the Burg from Wernberg in 1992 and opened the Hotel Burg Wernberg in 1998 after extensive renovation. Jürgen Benker was the first chef de cuisine and Christian Jürgens the second. Jürgens began to further developed his potential at the Burg and is now regarded as one of the next potential three star candidates. After Jürgens signed to the Althoff Group in mid 2008 Conrad could “persuade” Thomas Kellermann from the Vitrum in Berlin to become the new chef de cuisine at the Burg.
Burg Wernberg
One has to admit that Kellermann’s new domain is not so central when looking at a map of Germany. It is rather very near the Czech border but this could be a very nice trip from Nuremberg especially around Christmas time (about 40 minutes by car). After almost seven years in Berlin it was time for Kellermann to go back to “his” region and nearer to the skiing areas…