Nils Henkel

Success rewards the culinary development of Nils Henkel and his team. Gault Millau named Success has rewarded the culinary development of Nils Henkel and his teams time and again over the years. Gault Millau named Henkel Chef of the Year in 2009. In 2010, his first cookbook Pure Nature was published by Fackelträger Verlag, and he was named Favorite Vegetable Chef of the Year by the FAZ. The readers of Diners Club magazine also voted him the most innovative chef of the year in 2010. In 2012, the industry magazine RollingPin named him Chef of the Year in the Leaders of the Year Awards. In 2017, Nils Henkel was named Chef of the Year by Der Feinschmecker magazine. In 2020, Nils Henkel was again named Darling of the Year by FAZ, this time for the most exciting comeback of the year. In 2021, his second cookbook Flora is published with his vegetarian dishes and is awarded two gold medals and two silver medals. Nils Henkel has been a member of the Jeunes Restaurateurs in Germany since 2006.

Henkel began his career with his apprenticeship in 1986 at the romantic hotel "Voss-Haus" in Eutin, which he continued at the Hamburg restaurants "Le Jardin" at the "Raphael Hotel" as well as at the "Landhaus Scherrer" with Heinz Wehmann and at "Il Ristorante" with Uwe Witzke. As a sous chef, he went to Münsterland and worked at the "Valkenhof" in Coesfeld with Pascal Levallois and at "Averbeck's Giebelhof" in Senden. Henkel put the finishing touches to his career as sous-chef at the Schlosshotel Lerbach in the "Dieter Müller" restaurant from 1997, where he took over the position of head chef and Dieter Müller's deputy in 2004. In 2008, Nils Henkel becomes the sole head chef, and in 2010 the restaurant gets a completely new design and a new name: Gourmetrestaurant Lerbach, a new era begins. Nils Henkel and his team in the kitchen and service lead the traditional house with 3 stars into the culinary modern age.

At the beginning of 2015, Schlosshotel Lerbach was closed and Nils Henkel worked as a freelancer after a creative sabbatical. He gave cooking seminars, developed recipes and products, and advised catering establishments and companies. In addition, he was and is a welcome guest at gourmet festivals at home and abroad.

From the beginning of 2017 to mid-2020, Nils Henkel took over culinary responsibility for the Schwarzenstein Restaurant at the Relais & Châteaux Hotel Burg Schwarzenstein, Johannisberg. There, Henkel continued his successes and led the restaurant into the league of top German restaurants and cooked with his team already in the first year 2 Michelin stars. After three successful years at Burg Schwarzenstein in the Rheingau, he embarked on a new culinary mission. Since August 2020, the top chef has been in charge of the kitchen at the Bootshaus - the restaurant in the new Hotel Papa Rhein - where he is responsible for a more relaxed but still ambitious style of cooking.

2008: Chef of the month "Der Feinschmecker
2008: Awarded 3 stars in the Guide Michelin
2009: Chef of the year in "Gault & Millau" with 19 points
2010: Chef of the year, "Our Favourites" Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
2010: Most innovative chef of the year, Diners Club Magazine
2011: Silver medal of the GAD for the cookbook Pure Nature
2011: Chef of the Year, Rolling Pin - Leaders of the Year
2017: Awarded 2 stars in the Guide Michelin
2017: Chef of the Year "Der Feinschmecker" and 4,5 F
2018: Award as top chef of the year at Schlemmeratlas
2019: Awarded with the highest rating 10 pans in the Gusto restaurant guide
2019: Awarded with the highest rating 5 hoods in „Der große Guide“
2020: Comeback of the year, "Our Favourites" Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
2022: Gold medal of the GAD for the cookbook Flora
2023: Swiss Gourmet Book Award in gold for the cookbook Flora
2024: Restaurant Tipken´s by Nils Henkel receives a Michelin star
2024: Gold medal of the GAD for the cookbook Fauna
2024: Vegetable Chef of the year, "Our Favourites" Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung