Michelin-starred Sühring twins wooed Delhi's culinary scene with a pop-up, but have no India plants yet

They’re redefining German food, making even vegetarians fall in love with it, and serving up some delectable beer while at it. I’m talking about Michelin-starred chefs Thomas and Mathias Sühring, who recently made debut in the National Capital.

The setting is the Taj Mahal hotel’s iconic Varq, the guest list – the crème de la crème of Delhi’s culinary scene, and the occasion – the magic-makers behind Bangkok’s iconic Sühring are in the city for an exclusive pop-up (an addition to the increasing number of Michelin-starred soirees taking place in the Capital – take a hint Michelin!)

It’s nothing like your regular Friday evening - considering it is the twins’ maiden visit to Delhi. And the Sühring brothers’ reputation precedes them.


For the uninitiated, they received a Michelin star in the first year of opening, and their Bangkok restaurant is now No. 4 among Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. But it’s not just these rankings that do justice to their food. Opening only for dinner (though they make up for it by serving 7 days a week), the restaurant does over 70 covers on a week night, with the numbers going up to over 90 on the weekends.

While these stats talk for themselves, they are still not enough to prepare you for the magic that these brothers create.

As a vegetarian, I arrived not knowing what to expect from a cuisine, often stereotyped about being mostly sausages and sauerbraten. But that’s exactly the misconception that Thomas and Mathias Sühring say they want to dispel.

“Our mission is to bring something new to the mindset of people, and introduce German food as we see it,” Thomas says.

And they sure manage to do that as I discover through the course of my meal, that begins with a serving of Obatzda rolls (Bavarian cheese spread) and lemonade beer - a treat that made me want to already make reservations at their always-busy restaurant.

Their love for food dates back to a time long before their Bangkok journey started, around 2008 at the Mezzaluna restaurant in the Lebua hotel (This is also where they met friend, and now partner, Gaggan Anand). Having worked in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy before Asia, the chefs say they get their inspiration from every place that they have travelled to and eaten at.

“We have been around the world and cooked in different restaurants in different countries. Everywhere you go, you get inspired by the chef, the culture, or by the food you eat or even by the street food. There is a lot of inspiration from how chefs dress the plate, to what kind of ingredients they use and even how the kitchen is set up,” Thomas adds.

In India too, this journey of food continues, not just as they showcase their culinary skills, but also explore the cuisine. The twins say they have already eaten at the award-winning Indian Accent (at The Lodhi Hotel), and next up on their list is Bukhara (at ITC Maurya).

While Indian food is on their charts, the German food on our plates has us drooling. As I dig into my zucchini, spiced bell pepper, beetroot and smoked cream herb tartlet, I am at a loss to decide – does the food look or taste better? The non-vegetarians at the table, are, clearly equally won over by their smoked sturgeon & buttermilk, pickled sardine served in a bun.

Though the chefs get their inspiration from across the world, they are extremely cautious when it comes to sourcing their ingredients. Even as they focus on using local produce, they do end up importing 50% of their ingredients; the caviar is farmed specially for them in China, while the truffles come from Australia.

This attention to detail is evident in the flavours. The spätzle with black winter truffle (veg version: spaghetti with black winter truffle) is a delectable delight, and the eggplant with aromatic herbs and tomato served with risotto is like having the vegetable in a new avatar.

Meal done, I can’t help but ask them if India features on their expansion plans, but have to settle for a no, at least for now.

At present, they say they want to focus on the Bangkok restaurant and start opening for lunch (on weekends, to begin with).

“Everybody wants to be a chef on the stage and get the applause, but it’s a very hard and tiring journey to reach there. And to maintain that, is even harder,” says Mathias, thoughtfully.

“You have to be able to sacrifice a lot of the things,” Thomas adds. Ask them the advice they would give to someone wanting to enter the food business, and they echo, ‘be patient and keep motivating yourself’.

It’s advice that clearly seems to have worked for them, I would say, as I look at the two men whose food is reason enough to book a ticket to Bangkok!

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