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Daniel Gottschlich: from engineer to 2-Michelin-star chef with Ox & Klee

by:
Elisa Erriu
|
copertina Daniel Gottschlich

The son of parents who dreamed of a solid career for him as an engineer or technician, he followed their advice, only to discover that his true passion lay elsewhere.

The chef

Between drumbeats and smoky aromas, Daniel Gottschlich paints dishes as if they were notes on a score, transforming each course into a multisensory symphony. In Cologne, at his restaurant Ox & Klee, the cuisine is not just about satisfying hunger: it is a performance. It is a living art form, where ingredients dance to the rhythm of creativity and flavors are sculpted with the precision of a sculptor. It is no surprise that it is he – a former energy plant technician with the heart of a musician – who has won the honor, unprecedented for a chef, of a scholarship at the Villa Massimo in Rome, reserved for the brightest minds on the German art scene. A recognition that, more than rewarding, defines. Daniel Gottschlich, two Michelin stars, does not just cook: he composes. And in his restaurant, the art of the dish begins well before plating. It starts with an idea, an intuition. But, as he himself states with disarming realism: “When a restaurant is successful, everything seems simple. But behind it all is hard work, because you have to reinvent yourself every day, today more than ever,” he explained to ROLLING PIN.

 

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Dimi Katsavaris

His Ox & Klee, founded in 2010 as a small gastronomic workshop, is now a reference point for those seeking an experience that goes beyond the very concept of fine dining. Here, even bread—usually relegated to a supporting role—becomes the star of the show, in a crescendo of flavors that defy predictability: six tastings that evoke the six dimensions of human taste—sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami, and fatty—through ingredients such as nori seaweed, truffle, turmeric, and crème épaisse. Bread, yes. But like you've never tasted it before. Gottschlich's talent for weaving connections between distant worlds – cuisine, music, design, writing – makes his work a continuous search for balance and contrast. His roots, firmly planted in the Rhineland, surface in every reinterpretation he proposes. This is the case with the famous Halver Hahn, a dish that symbolizes Cologne, whose name is misleading: it is not half a chicken at all, but a slice of rye bread with cheese and spices. Gottschlich transforms it into a rye consommé with Gouda cream and cockscomb, to be accompanied—as tradition dictates—by a glass of Kölsch, the city's light lager. A gastronomic irony that makes you smile, but also reflects on how tradition can flourish in new forms.

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This chef's career path has been anything but straightforward. The son of parents who dreamed of a solid career for him as an engineer or technician, he followed their advice, only to discover that his true passion lay elsewhere. After his first experiences at the Grandhotel Petersberg and as a sous-chef in a Cologne brewery, he realized that cooking was his true calling. And from there, his rise began. He earned his first Michelin star in 2015, followed by a second in 2019. Always with the same approach: no compromises on taste, no fear of experimentation, zero concessions to banality. In 2022, Gottschlich staged a new act in his gastronomic opera with Puls, a restaurant housed in the boutique hotel Legend, also in Cologne. A younger but equally ambitious project, where he continues to explore the boundaries of what is possible between cuisine and culture, between performance and plate. Here you can feel the same energy as in his first restaurant, but with an even more direct, almost vibrant freshness. Gottschlich's cuisine is never self-referential: it feeds on the outside world, art, music, and details. It is recognizable by its theatrical touch, which transforms every dinner into a complete experience that engages the intellect even before the palate. The result? Dishes that tell stories without words, edible installations that leave their mark—in the mind and on the palate.

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Ox & Klee is now a must for anyone who wants to savor the essence of cutting-edge German cuisine. Not only for the aesthetics of the dishes or the brilliance of the technique, but for the vision that guides them. A philosophy that combines form and content, inviting guests to be amazed, but also to question. And at the end of the meal, when the lights dim and the symphony ends, there remains that rare sensation that accompanies only great works: you have not just eaten, you have experienced something. Because every dish created by Daniel Gottschlich does not just nourish: it vibrates.

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