Michelin-Starred Chef Micha Schäfer Honors Childhood Memories Through Traditional Kohlroulade Recipe

Micha Schäfer, head chef at Berlin's Nobelhart & Schmutzig restaurant, draws inspiration from his grandmother's cooking in the Sauerland region for his culinary approach. Schäfer, who has maintained a Michelin star since 2015, recently decided with restaurant founder Billy Wagner to present authentic regional cuisine without the refinement typical of fine dining. His signature dish, a cabbage roll, deliberately avoids exotic spices and complex techniques, instead following his grandmother's methods. Schäfer emphasizes intuition over strict recipes, learned from his grandmother's practices like briefly blanching cabbage and simplifying sauce preparation. The chef, born in Switzerland and raised in Ostwestfalen, now based in Berlin's Kreuzberg district, is the only one of six siblings to pursue cooking professionally. His restaurant focuses on radical culinary regionalism inspired by Nordic models. Schäfer's childhood experiences with his grandmother's garden produce, homemade preserves, and beekeeping grandfather fundamentally shaped his understanding of food and home.