Manuel Ulrich

Ösch Noir in Donaueschingen earned its first Michelin star in 2020 and its second in 2021 under head chef Manuel Ulrich. A kitchen profile like Manuel Ulrich’s is built through repetition, seasonality, and gradual responsibility. He started as a trainee at Öschberghof in Donaueschingen until 2012, learning the basic demands of service from the ground up. From 2012, winter seasons at Burg Hotel Oberlech in Lech added the pressure and pace that come with a seasonal room.

The next stages tightened the work further. At Restaurant Haerlin, Fairmont Four Seasons in Hamburg (2016–2017), Manuel Ulrich continued to refine his range and discipline. A brief but meaningful stint under Torsten Michel at Schwarzwaldstube (2017) added another layer to that formation. Since 2018, he has been head chef of Ösch Noir, where those years of movement and repetition now sit inside a single role. Today “And then it comes in the oven to get cooked.

That's how we present it.” That line is plain, and that is the point. At Ösch Noir, Manuel Ulrich’s work is framed by timing, sequence, and the decision to stop once the preparation is right. The craft here is not about adding noise. It is about knowing when a dish has been assembled properly, when heat should finish the job, and when the plate is ready to leave the pass.