Nicolas Hahn

The Climb

At Hotel Schwanen, Köngen, the base level of the trade was set: pace, rhythm, and the basic demands of a professional kitchen. The next stretch came in Berlin, where Hahn served as Sous Chef at Gourmetrestaurant first floor from 2010–2015, a period that would have tested timing, consistency, and standards in a capital kitchen. In 2019–2022, he moved into the responsibilities of Head Chef at Ristorante Ai Pero in Andernach, a role that asked for both command and continuity. Today, Nicolas is Head Chef of Restaurant Griggeler Stuba (since 2022) and chef of Cookies Cream, moving through both with the steadiness of a career built by accumulation rather than by leaps. The work reads as ordered progression: each post extending the last, each step adding a clearer edge to the one before it.

Today

He serves as chef of Cookies Cream in Berlin, Germany, where another of his own phrases gives a direct reading of the kitchen culture: “That one is with body and soul.” It is the kind of language that keeps the work grounded. No flourish, just the expectation that effort should be visible in the finished plate. At Cookies Cream, Hahn’s cooking is described by attentiveness, deliberation, and exactness. The restaurant and the chef’s manner of speaking land in the same register: composed, controlled, and without hurry. The emphasis is on balance and intent, on knowing what the plate needs and leaving the rest out.

Signature

Nicolas Hahn focuses on vegetarian fine dining. That focus defines the craft. Vegetarian fine dining requires restraint as much as invention, and Hahn’s route through the profession points to a cook who values structure, texture, and clean composition. The register is controlled, but not sterile; personal, but not sentimental.

In Their Words “Food that comes from the heart.” “That one is with body and soul.” Taken together, those two lines sketch the working frame: one points to intent, the other to commitment. The result is a chef whose cooking is measured not only by technique, but by the seriousness brought to the work.

Recognition

Nicolas's honors include Berliner Meisterkoch (2025) and Aufsteiger des Jahres. Those honors track with the shape of his career: steady build, then formal recognition. They confirm what the chronology already shows — a cook whose standing has been earned through sustained work, not noise.