Soft mattresses, polished silver cutlery? We don’t need any of that. We want hosts who value our opinion more than Michelin stars and hotel awards, who live for what they sizzle in the pan or still proudly swell their chests every time they enter their own hotel rooms. Tim Raue is one of the coolest socks among hoteliers, chefs and restaurant owners.
Tim Raue
Chef and head chef / 45 years / from gang member to starred top chef
Tim Raue is loud and assertive. It is no coincidence that he is able to assert himself. What he learned as a teenager on the streets of Berlin can also be put into practice in the kitchen, where he has been working since his apprenticeship. Only the latter gets him out of the quagmire into which his father’s beatings and the Berlin gang “36 Boys” push him. He swaps graffiti and wrangling for a wooden spoon and apron – but his muzzle remains the same. And that has taken him far: chef at 23, “Chef of the Year” at 33, head of his own restaurant at 36. Raue has two Michelin stars and 19.5 Gault&Millau points, cooks his way through TV shows such as “The Taste” or “Kitchen Impossible” and, in addition to his own restaurants, is also responsible for restaurants such as “The K – by Tim Raue” in St. Moritz or “Hanami by Tim Raue” on the TUI Mein Schiff 5.
Tim Raue keeps a tight rein on his kitchen. Because he knows how quickly fame can pass – tenacity, ambition and perseverance, on the other hand, remain. And so the boy from the Berlin ghetto makes it into the ranks of Germany’s top chefs.
FACES: How did you get into your profession?
Tim Raue: I wanted to pursue a creative career, but without a high school diploma, it had to be something craft-related. I liked chefs much more than painters or landscape gardeners.
F: How would you describe your restaurant in one sentence?
Tim Raue: A place where you can go on a culinary journey that takes you out of your everyday life.
F: From the idea to the concept to the finished restaurant: How long did it take you to get there?
Tim Raue: First of all, it was my business partner Marie-Anne Raue who gave me the impetus to set up my own business. Then we had four months until the opening, and for nine years now we have been working and investing in our restaurant, which fortunately is paying off.
F: Why should we definitely dine with you?
Tim Raue: Because it’s really fun to be our guest.
F: What do hosts need to think about that others don’t?
Tim Raue: That the guest feels comfortable, that the atmosphere is appropriate to the occasion and that you do what you do with all your heart, passion and the will to do something good for others.
F: What are you worrying too much about?
Tim Raue: Whether what I do is good enough.
F: What are you like as a boss?
Tim Raue: Loyal, supportive and demanding.
F: What qualities does a good host need?
Tim Raue: He should wholeheartedly enjoy and have fun inspiring his guests.
F: What do you like most about guests?
Tim Raue: When I see that the guests are enjoying themselves, laughing and eating and drinking with pleasure, then I am very happy.
F: What do you dislike in guests?
Tim Raue: Bad manners.
F: What are your standards for your restaurant, and how have your guests’ expectations changed in recent years?
Tim Raue: To be unique. A vegan diet is now fundamental.
F: What do you think of take-away?
Tim Raue: After work, I like to take food from my favorite Thai restaurant with me.
F: What do you look out for when you dine out yourself?
Tim Raue: I generally really enjoy eating in restaurants and love going to regular restaurants. Every now and then I also try out something new. When I travel, I always try to visit the top restaurants in a city, but I also try to eat something simple and local. to try out street food.
F: What is the best restaurant in the world (other than your own) that you yourself have eaten at?
Tim Raue: It would go beyond the scope of this list, I would have to name around 70 to 80 restaurants and places. So here are three recommendations: I love mature wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy, and the best wine list with mature treasures and a heavenly chicken cooked in a pig’s bladder can be found at the Schwarzer Adler in Vogtsburg-Oberbergen.then Cantonese: The dim sum, the BBQ dishes and the pork belly from the wok with two kinds of Sichuan pepper are magical at Lung King Heen in Hong Kong, so for me it’s the best Chinese restaurant in the world. Be sure to go there for lunch to enjoy the view. Sonvea Fushi Resort in the Maldives has a culinary concept that features world-class Thai cuisine, a three-star Japanese sushi master and a superb Maldivian chef. It also hosts a dozen Michelin-starred chefs from all over the world as guest chefs every season, and the restaurant is built on stilts in the Indian Ocean – my culinary paradise.
F: Which restaurant would you like to own yourself?
Tim Raue: I would like to have a small butte where I would only serve my “Wasabi Kaisergranat”, accompanied by the wine we created for it, the “KOLIBRI Cuvée” from the Dreissigacker winery, and still water. The absolute reduction to the essentials.
F: What do you cook for yourself?
Tim Raue: Nothing.
F: Where is your own bed?
Tim Raue: In Berlin, Graz and Modica.
What Tim Raue says about…
Avocado…
is still the tastiest with spicy mayo, prawns and lemon juice.
Toast Hawaii…
I love! But in my version: brioche fried in butter, Milkana cream, Austrian ham, cheddar and Appenzeller on top – gratinate, done.
Molecular cuisine…
has given us an enormous new technical understanding of cooking.
Spray cream…
baaaah!
Pre-sliced bread…
I do not know.
Tofu…
can be delicious, but not if it has been industrially produced.
Nose to tail…
is without alternative.
Vegan sausage…
I don’t like substitute products, I prefer fresh vegetables on my sandwich.
Nutella…
I have never eaten.
Thermomix…
I resisted it for a long time, but now I can’t imagine our kitchen without it!
Microwave…
is elementary for me in the kitchen.
Chia…
I don’t need it.
What is your favorite finished product or Which product do you not make yourself?
Salted French raw milk butter.
Restaurant Tim Raue in Berlin and Brasserie Colette in Berlin, Munich and Constance
Tim Raue has four restaurants under his belt. The Berlin restaurant named after him serves Asian-inspired dishes and avoids white sugar and dairy products whenever possible. Raues Brasserie Colette in Berlin, Munich and Constance is a little more hearty, with dishes based on French classics.
www.tim-raue.com
www.brasseriecolette.de
Click here for the interview with another cool host: Daniel Lauber.
