Hallmann & Klee

Dining

Hallmann & Klee

9 November 2026

Dining

Hallmann & Klee

9 November 2026

Q: Hallmann & Klee started as a brunch spot on this same square before it became the restaurant it is today. What did those early days teach you that you still carry with you now?

A: We opened in April 2016 as a breakfast place. For the first years this was a neighbourhood spot before it was anything else. What stayed with me is how easy it was. People came in for coffee, sat down, talked loudly, nobody was on their best behaviour. I never wanted to lose that. Even now, with a star, the room is loud. The other thing is that we started with very little and built everything out of what the restaurant earned. You learn to work with what you have instead of waiting for the right conditions.

Q: Your potato dish with lovage oil and whey foam has stayed on the menu almost since day one. What makes a dish earn that kind of staying power, and off the record, what’s your own favorite way to eat a potato?

A: The dish isn’t complicated. Potato cream, whey foam, lovage oil, that’s it. For me it still feels like a warm hug, like a small moment of world peace where everything is fine. I think that’s why it stays. A dish stays when I still feel something when I taste it. If I stop feeling it, it comes off, no matter how popular it is. And with the potato there is nothing to hide behind, so everything has to be right.

Off the record, what I like best is potatoes on their own. I cook them in their skin, and at the last moment I pour off the water, dissolve salt in what’s left and let it evaporate, so a salt crust forms and the potatoes dry out a bit. Then I just halve them and put a piece of butter on top. That’s it. Very satisfying.

Q: If someone was visiting Hallmann & Klee for the very first time, which dish would you recommend to best understand the philosophy behind the restaurant, and why?

A: The potato. It’s the most reduced thing we do and it says everything about how we think. Clear, reduced, with depth. If you want the other side of us, the Toast Hawaii ‚Quattro Formaggi‘. It started as a staff meal for the team, braised apple instead of pineapple, and it never left the menu. The two together say quite a lot.

"We take the craft completely seriously and ourselves not so much."

Q: Hallmann & Klee earned recognition in the Michelin Star quite quickly. What do you think contributed most to that achievement? What does success mean to you beyond awards and ratings?

A: Honestly, it wasn’t quick. We opened in 2016 and the star came in March 2024. Eight years of doing our thing, nine of them on a simple four-burner gas stove. If anything helped, it’s that we never adapted to what a starred restaurant is supposed to look like. We just kept going, dish by dish. Beyond awards, success for me is that people stay. My team, and guests who have been coming since the breakfast days. And that I can run this place without investors and still sleep at night.

Q: What’s the hardest part of running a restaurant that guests never see, and what would you tell someone who dreams of opening one?

A: The decisions never stop. Twelve people depend on this working, and that doesn’t switch off when service ends. Rosters, numbers, planning, all the things that have nothing to do with cooking. What I would tell someone: start smaller than you think you need to. You don’t need a 500,000-euro kitchen to cook well. And be clear about why you’re doing it, because that’s what carries you through the years when nothing is happening yet.

Q: Are there other places in Berlin, or in Neukölln specifically, that you keep going back to?

A: Breda on a Sunday afternoon. I live not far from there and I love sitting on the terrace with those italo vibes. La Maison for a toasted ham and cheese baguette – I’m fairly simple that way, and honestly, I could eat that every day. Tulus Lotrek, which has the best service in the city. And stoke – that one I’d recommend to anyone right now.