Julia Komp : the German new generation of Gastronomy
- German 1 Star chef
- The youngest female star chef in Germany in 2016
- Chef of the year in 2020
More 1 stars chefs here. Other German Chefs here. More Female Chefs here.
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Julia Komp won her first Michelin star at the age of 27, within just twelve months of taking over as head chef at Schloss Loersfeld in Kerpen. This made Komp, in 2016, the youngest female chef in Germany to helm a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Having recently quit her job, Komp has travelled through 30 countries in fourteen months, on a food cultural exchange of sorts. Known for her mastery over avant-garde cuisine, Komp believes in the harmony between taste and visual details, elevating these to a perfectly balanced sensory dining experience. She is fond of modern cooking techniques but only uses these when they uplift a dish. Every ingredient on the plate is present for a reason.
“Food has to be fruity, hearty and real. No unnecessary gimmicks,” she declares, adding, “Garlic and passion fruit are my favourite ingredients, but in each dish, one base ingredient has to be the hero. Others plays an important but supporting role. Ingredients matter to me and I want the whole journey from sourcing to consumption to be perfect.”
Although she trained in some of Germany’s top kitchens, Komp stayed true to her childhood love for Arabic aromas and ingredients owing to frequent visits to her grandmother’s home in Tunisia) as she made her culinary journey to the top echelons. As a child, Julia Komp baked cakes with her grandmother and watched her prepare food; gradually, cooking became a passion for Julia. At 10, she was already trying out family recipes in the kitchen. By 14, she had signed up for her first internship at the local one-starred eatery Zur Tant.
“I observed that food makes people happy and I wanted to cook to see that smile on people’s faces,” she says. “Even today, that is what keeps me going when I am exhausted.”
As for her current travels, Komp explains: “I want to open my own restaurant so I thought I needed to discover the world and learn something new before I go back and start something. I wanted to get a taste of the original cuisine.”
A small 30-seater restaurant in Cologne, possibly with a summer 2020 launch, is what Komp is working towards. “It has to be something extraordinary, something Germany has not seen, so I have to work very hard.” In 2020, she is opening Lindgens gastronomie including a bistro called Lindgens Lokschuppen by Julia, a Harbour Club named Anker 7 and a fine dining place, Sahila, still under construction.
