Sönke Höltgen almost became a tax advisor. How fortunate it was that the native of Sylt used his summer holidays as a teenager to decide on an apprenticeship at Restaurant Jörg Müller instead.
Whether it was the Michelin star or the 18 Gault Millau points remains open. A good decision, even if the apprenticeship with Jörg Müller was demanding.

After successfully completing his apprenticeship, Sönke Höltgen moved to the mainland.
We travelled past Lübeck into the Wiesengrund business park.
The ample freedom and creative scope paid off for Hans-Peter Hussong's small brigade. „Trendsetters of the Year,“ „Chef of the Year,“ and Michelin stars turned the restaurant into an institution in Switzerland.

Despite a quality of life similar to Sylt in Switzerland, Sönke Höltgen has made the Rhineland his home.
He cooked with Dieter Müller at Schloss Lerbach, in the Bitzerhof, and at the Erftstädter Husarenquartier.
After a.

His role model is still his former mentor Jörg Müller. He has developed his own style on a solid foundation.
On Sönke's plates, one can recognise haute cuisine, a cosmopolitan curiosity and a passion for perfection.
For 10 years now, he has been implementing sustainable aspects with this energy. He knows how to inspire with regional and seasonal produce. His enthusiasm, for example, for a line-caught fish, is immediately infectious.

Making an evening more beautiful with good food and thereby also making life better spurs him on both professionally and privately. Sönke Höltgen loves his job, reads, tastes, tries and relives this enthusiasm again and again. This is also true for the Fine Food Days Cologne. When Sönke looks out over the city from KölnSKY, he sees the spires of the cathedral – and a culinary hotspot.

For him, luxury is: going out to eat with his wife Nina. Alternatively: cooking together with his family. All family members cook excellently; Sönke was recently impressed by his son's Japanese dumplings.
One day a week, Sönke Höltgen practices what is known as a digital detox, as much as possible. Phone off, cross-breed Lilli on the lead, and then out into the fresh air. How lucky that Sönke didn't become a tax advisor.