Eckart Witzigmann
Austrian chef
Biography
Eckart Witzigmann (born 1941 in Austria) is one of the most influential German-speaking chefs of the second half of the twentieth century. His career helped secure a place for Austrian and German cooking in international fine dining at a time when French cuisine set the standard.
He trained at the Hotel Straubinger in Bad Gastein between 1957 and 1960, then held posts in prestigious restaurants in several countries, among them a stint as a student of Paul Bocuse in Lyon. His work in Germany began in 1970 at Tantris in Munich, a restaurant designed by the architect Justus Dahinden. He later opened Aubergine, also in Munich, which in November 1978 earned three Michelin stars, making him the first German-speaking chef and the third chef outside France to receive them.
In 1994 the Aubergine lost its licence after Witzigmann was convicted of cocaine possession, and he sold the restaurant that year. The same year Gault Millau gave him its rare title of chef of the century, which only three other chefs have received. Since then he has published many cookbooks, which continue to shape contemporary German-language cooking.
Key contributions
- Establishing German-speaking haute cuisine on the international stage by showing that a restaurant in the German-speaking world could reach three Michelin stars.
- Tantris in Munich, where his work in Germany began in 1970.
- Aubergine in Munich, awarded three Michelin stars in 1978.
- Chef of the century title from Gault Millau in 1994.
- His cookbooks, published in large numbers since the 1990s.