Dirk Heidemann is head chef at the “Restaurant Schloßblick” in the Hotel am Schloß Apolda. His menu offers a wide range of dishes, from modern interpretations of Thuringian home cooking to light, fresh cuisine with Mediterranean flavours. Everything is freshly prepared in the hotel kitchen using mainly regional and seasonal ingredients and served on the hotel terrace in the summer months.

Pasta meets dandelion. Dandelion with its ingredients is a local powerhouse. And it is also a true all-rounder in culinary terms. From the flower to the leaves to the root – everything is edible. Dirk Heinemann appreciates the benefits of the dandelion and turns its leaves into a delicious pesto. Served with pasta, asparagus and tomatoes, the result is a Mediterranean-influenced dish that scores highly with delicious local ingredients.

The small village of Nauendorf near Kranichfeld is well worth a stop for a very special Weimarer Land meal. We look beyond the borders of Thuringia to Ukrainian cuisine. Using local ingredients, Natalya cooks her grandmother’s traditional recipes from her home in Nikolayev. The menu tempts with Ukrainian home cooking, including blini, pelmeni, vareniki, solyanka and, of course, borscht.

In her Weimarer Land meal, Natalya Kogan combines the flavours of home with the ingredients of the region: borscht, a traditional Ukrainian dish, is refined with fresh chives to give it that extra zing. But chives are not just the culinary icing on the cake. Its health-promoting properties also make it indispensable in the kitchen. In addition to its positive properties for blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, it can also contribute to detoxification.

The lemonade pavilion welcomes guests to the Thuringian Open-Air Museum Hohenfelden right at the entrance. Whether before or after a tour through history, you can enjoy the delicacies that Sabrina Frommann and her team conjure up. Homemade lemonade, fragrant waffles made to a home recipe and hearty soups have attracted many a visitor to the museum for the pleasure of savouring them.

With a farm garden right on her doorstep, it’s no surprise that herbs are the most important ingredients in Sabrina Frommann’s cooking.

The most important seasoning herb for her savoury hotpot is tarragon. Its unique flavour, which is at its most pronounced when harvested shortly before flowering, enhances the fiery stew and gives it that special something extra.

The Hotel Resort Schloss Auerstedt, run by the married couple Kati and Frank Reinhardt, is located in the centre of the Thuringian wine region around the spa and wine town of Bad Sulza. Frank Reinhardt is a master at developing culinary creations that skilfully combine tradition and innovation. He succeeds in conjuring up tasty dishes that impress with their uncomplicated nature and emphasise the freshness of regional seasonal produce.

It’s all in the mix: Frank Reinhardt knows how to skilfully combine the tried and tested with the exotic, impressing his guests with creative cuisine. The sweet potato soup with scallops and lemongrass is a successful example of this. With its fresh, delicate flavour, the lemongrass gives this dish a special touch. The scallops round off the flavour experience.

“When I see the lake, I don’t need the sea anymore”, the slogan of the Hanslbar is one that many visitors to the beautiful reservoir in the Hohenfelden adventure region can relate to. Karlheinz Teifke is a trained chef. He organises, cooks, serves up and comes up with new delicacies for his snack bar. He serves these with humour to anyone looking for a break by the water in a deckchair or beach chair. It goes without saying that most of his ingredients come from the region. The eel from the fisherman at the reservoir, which comes on crispy bread rolls for the Weimarer Land meal, has probably travelled the shortest distance. The Hanslbar chef is particularly proud of this.

Karlheinz Teifke conjures up culinary delights in the Hanslbar. For the Weimarer Land meal, he serves a special kind of eel and fish roll. The secret of the fish roll lies in the gremolata, in which parsley plays the leading role. This herb and spice mixture not only adds an aromatic flavour, but is also rich in vitamins and antioxidants. Feasting can be sooo healthy.

The brothers Friedhelm and Olaf Büchner run the scenic inn on the Riechheimer Berg near Hohenfelden, which was built in 1895. Olaf always greets guests with a “warm welcome”. He is the first point of contact and is responsible for the successful running of the service, while Friedhelm, the chef, is in charge “behind the scenes”. His daughter Christin Büchner-Schröder supports the team in service and also in the kitchen. Here, the trained chef is responsible for desserts, starters, cakes and tarts.

Intense flavour, full nutritional power: this is how lovage, also known as Maggi herb, can be described. With its intense sweet and bitter flavour, it gives Friedhelm Büchner’s boiled beef with horseradish sauce a very individual touch. Lovage also scores highly as a real powerhouse with numerous vitamins and minerals. Enjoy this perfect combination of flavour and well-being.

The country hotel “Zur Tanne” is now run by the third generation of the Röder family in the small village of Ballstedt on the Ettersberg. Opened by their grandparents in 1992, siblings Susann and Marcus Röder took over the business from their parents in 2014. Head chef Marcus cooks home-style cooking, preferably using regional ingredients. The menu at the “Tanne” adapts to the seasons and therefore to what is available at the market and from the garden.

At Landhotel Zur Tanne, chef Marcus Röder conjures up delicious braised leg of venison with regional ingredients and rosemary as his secret weapon. The aromatic herb gives the dish a very special flavour with its strong aroma and is quietly reminiscent of a sunny day by the sea. However, rosemary is not only a tasty spice, but also a remedy. Hearty meals benefit from its use as it makes them more easily digestible.

In the “Fine Dining Restaurant Masters”, which has been awarded a star in the Michelin Guide since 2023, chef Danny Schwabe and his team offer a special selection of dishes. Mediterranean, Francophile cuisine with regional products is served here and there are always new creations and combinations to discover. The interplay of flavours, textures, various spices and products, which ultimately form a small work of art on the plate, is often surprising, but always a delight.

Danny Schwabe, head chef at Masters Restaurant, impresses with Mediterranean, Francophile cuisine made from local ingredients. His catfish fillet with Jerusalem artichokes is made special by the green sauce, which comes with the refreshing flavour of lemon verbena. Its leaves, particularly appreciated in French cuisine, give dishes a delicious lemon flavour and are also unbeatable as a medicinal herb. Pleasure and health combined in one plant.