Restaurant Wintergarten is one of the restaurants of the grand hotel Brenners Park-Hotel und Spa in Baden-Baden. It occupies the ground floor of the main building, facing the hotel park and the Lichtentaler Allee, and has been there since 2002.[1] Unlike Fritz & Felix, which opens in the evening only, the Wintergarten serves both lunch and dinner.[2]
Concept and cuisine
The hotel describes the restaurant’s cooking as regional in character with French accents. Seasonal produce shapes a changing set of specialities, alongside fixtures such as the steak tartare prepared at the table.[2] That work at the guest’s table is part of the concept, from the tartare to the carving of a lobster.[1] From Monday to Thursday there is a separate business lunch menu, and several set menus from 6 p.m.[2]
The Falstaff Restaurant- und Gasthausguide lists the Wintergarten in its 2026 edition with 89 out of 100 points, 43 of 50 for the food and 19 of 20 for the wine.[3]
The wine list runs to 220 entries and is compiled by Master of Wine Konstantin Baum, who also put together the Fritz & Felix list when that restaurant opened. Champagne and Riesling from the Mosel and the Ruwer are its focal points.[4] The list has repeatedly earned the restaurant the Award of Excellence from the wine magazine Wine Spectator.[2]
The dining room and the terrace
The dining room is glazed from floor to ceiling and takes further light from large skylights. White wicker chairs are part of the furnishing.[4] The windows open onto the terrace and give a view across the hotel park to the Lichtentaler Allee and the Oos.[3] The planted park terrace faces the river and is served from April to October.[4]
Visiting
The Wintergarten opens daily from 12 to 2 p.m. and from 6 to 9:30 p.m., taking last orders at 1:45 and 9:15 p.m. respectively. The restaurant takes reservations by telephone and email. Pets are not admitted to the hotel’s restaurants.[2] In the afternoon the hotel serves its Brenners Afternoon Tea in the Wintergarten or in the Kaminhalle.[5] Guests can park in the hotel’s underground car park.
History
The Wintergarten opened in 2002 and by its own account has stood ever since for contemporary fine dining with French influences.[1]
In March 2018 the Swiss chef Joël Ellenberger took over the kitchen. He was 24, had worked at the Baur au Lac in Zurich and had been at Brenners Park-Restaurant since December 2015, latterly as head of the pâtisserie. He worked under Rudolf Pellkofer, the hotel’s long-serving director of cuisine.[6] Stefan Naatz has led the kitchen team since 2022. Darius Wieczorek took over as manager of the restaurant in October 2023, after 17 years at the Jahreszeiten Grill of the Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Hamburg.[1] As executive chef, Sebastian Haverkemper is responsible for the kitchens of the entire hotel.[7]
From October 2023 the hotel’s main building was rebuilt, and it reopened in October 2025.[8] The work covered the first to the fifth floor. The Wintergarten on the ground floor stayed in operation throughout, as did the Oleander Bar and Fritz & Felix.[9]
References
- ↑1.1↑1.2↑1.3↑1.4 Darius Wieczorek übernimmt Leitung des Restaurants Wintergarten im Brenners Park-Hotel, Tageskarte, 24 October 2023, accessed 30 July 2026 (Archived)
- ↑2.1↑2.2↑2.3↑2.4↑2.5 Restaurant Wintergarten, Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa, accessed 30 July 2026 (Archived)
- ↑3.1↑3.2 Wintergarten im Brenners Park-Hotel, Falstaff Restaurant- & Gasthausguide Deutschland 2026, accessed 30 July 2026
- ↑4.1↑4.2↑4.3 Park Views, Riverside Dining and Great Wine at Wintergarten in Germany, Wine Spectator, 12 December 2024, accessed 30 July 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ Restaurants & Bars, Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa, accessed 30 July 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ 24-jähriger Schweizer wird Küchenchef in deutschem Luxushotel, Hotel & Tourismus Revue, HotellerieSuisse, 17 April 2018, accessed 30 July 2026
- ↑ Unsere Köche, Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa, accessed 30 July 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ Brenners Park-Hotel zeigt sich im neuen Gewand, Tophotel, 8 October 2025, accessed 30 July 2026 (Archived)
- ↑ Henning Matthiesen über den großen Brenners-Umbau, Tophotel, 19 August 2024, accessed 30 July 2026 (Archived)