JAN

Rating: 19
Author: Gault&Millau

Luisenstraße 27, 80333 Munich, Germany

19/20
Exceptional Restaurant

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Chef: Jan Hartwig
Cooking: French | Gastronomic | International | Vegetarian
Services: Access for people with disabilities | Private Room
Style: Casual | Romantic | With friends

Gault&Millau's review 2025

Much has been written about Jan Hartwig in the last two years. Accordingly, the expectations are not high, but very high, when you open the door of the inconspicuous 50s building a few steps away from Munich's Königsplatz – and in the middle of it all, in the restaurant, which is simply called "Jan" – stands like "the chef". Anyone expecting ostentation, pomp or grand opera here, in one of the best – if not the best – German restaurants will be disappointed in every respect. Everyone else, and especially those who appreciate the highest sensitivity, absolute concentration and creative intelligence, will not see their high expectations fulfilled either. But exceeded. Nothing here seems overloaded or even royal – especially not the premises. Calm, clear design with lots of light Douglas fir, windows with wooden slats, originals by Heiko Pippig, Maximilian Seitz and Ägidius Geisselmann on the walls, round dining tables made of charred oak with small set doilies, 40 seats. The chef greets you in a friendly manner from the open kitchen, the unpretentious, quiet service team accompanies you to your seat, and then a few hours begin, during which it will become clear to the attentive eater that absolute top quality does not mean as much as possible of the best, but the precisely calibrated dose of the right thing. And that the greatest happiness of the gourmets does not necessarily mean caviar and lobster, but can also be such seemingly banal ingredients as kale or a baked pepper – provided that you are served them in the combinations that Jan Hartwig has come up with, which he works his way up to again and again in his "laboratory of love", varies, changes, constantly optimizes them again. Which is why a large number of regulars can be found in Luisenstraße – because no one can guarantee that the sweetbreads (always on the menu) will taste the same next week as they did this week. Jan Hartwig is not a confident veteran who has served his signature dishes thousands of times (perhaps apart from the first kitchen greeting in the form of foie gras à la Chantilly, a foamed liver with brittle caper in filigree tartlet with sliced pecan slices, finger limes and smoked maple syrup – light, multi-layered, surprising, harmonious and yet rich in contrasts). Rather, he is a manic obsessed with his cause, a fanatic of the ever-better – but with the cool head of an ingenious combiner, who groups the most complex ingredients around usually two, often seemingly contradictory main players and reunites them congenially and often enough unseen and eaten. At the same time, and this is what distinguishes both the person and the kitchen, he is also an approachable, warm person who simply cooks well and wants to make other people happy with it. Jan's cuisine may be complex and unusual, but it always remains accessible and enjoyable. Which, by the way, also applies to the wine list, for which Hartwig has access to an outstanding wine cellar whose potential for "perfect matches" is inexhaustible. Which is not difficult here, because the chef is a veritable wine connoisseur himself and likes to think about the wine when creating new dishes. We only want to go into three menu components here, which may clarify what has been said: Another greeting is a tea cup with highly aromatic contents. As in classic cuisine, a largely liquid course is an integral part of Jan Hartwig's menu, but here not with the idea of feeding the guests early in the sense of an appetizer soup, but on the contrary, awakening the senses for the familiar and yet unfamiliar. North German audiences will be very familiar with an eel stew with boiled fish. At best, root vegetables the size of square millimetres also float in a (wonderfully light) broth with marrow dumplings, but the eel is smoked and, together with a little added prunes and eel lard, unfolds an aroma for which the classic model would need several litres – here a small "shot" is enough. After the only very lightly pickled Schliersee char (with fennel beurre blanc and kohlrabi as well as almonds on one side and combava citrus vinaigrette and roe on the other, also a prime example of the harmonious union of what is actually incompatible), we are thrilled by the "Pike Dumpling 2.0": Not only does Hartwig fill the traditional dumpling with spice tagetes oil and add around 40% scallops to the pike mousse to gain a little more subtlety: He tastes the dashi beurre blanc classically with a little vinegar and sauternes, but sets a brilliant counterpoint with mackerel sashimi placed on top and a crispy nest of kataifi dough. Just a small plate - and yet an incredible variety of aromas, textures and sensations, which is simply ingenious in its almost outrageous combination. Finally, the glazed sweetbreads: Comme il faut crispy, perfectly juicy cooked and certainly eaten far more than a hundred times in the tester's life. But never before in goulash stock, with finely grated celery and crowned by a star of beetroot pasta, served with cornichon cubes: It is pointless to describe the combination and variety of aromas in detail, only this much: it works. And how! This is crazy, courageous, wild, but simply skilful and ultimately typical of Hartwig, who loves to play with elements from traditional home cooking until completely new dimensions emerge - without ever losing harmony. With all the means of culinary art, but without any show effect as an end in itself or even just a single purely visually justified ingredient from the long list that the service explains for each dish. Do we have to mention that the home-baked bread with ingredients à la kale and Pinkel came to the table as a "greeting from home"? That the duck was convincing for the main course with iceberg lettuce and blood orange in an incredibly aromatic stock? That the pâtisserie was in no way, absolutely not inferior to the quality of the warm cuisine? You can guess it - because the sophisticated dramaturgy and intelligence of what is on offer also includes not allowing any weaknesses. The fact that all this comes to the table from a service under Kilian Skalet, our host of the year - friendly, competent, calm, invisible and yet always immediately on the spot, makes a visit to Jan an experience that lasts. In every respect. And that with a probability bordering on certainty will actually let a wide variety of people go home happy.