Hangar-7

Wolfsburg's 3-star chef Sven Elverfeld's secret recipe? Childhood classics transformed into a taste sensation.

One of Germany's best chefs: Sven Elverfeld from "Aqua" in Wolfsburg, surprises with native individuality.

If I'm going to tell you about Germany's 3-star celebrity Sven Elverfeld, I first have to tell you about VW motor city in Wolfsburg. There is an impressive mixture of contemporary architecture and successful landscaping at this 25 hectare-plus museum and theme park. Everything is so perfect and clean you feel like you're in an artificial world. The only thing missing is a disembodied voice telling you to please not drop cigarette butts on the clean paths. There is now the perfect "Ritz Carlton" in this perfect setting, with the no less perfect "Aqua" restaurant. And at the heart of it is Sven Elverfeld, with his celebrated cuisine.

I'll quickly move on to Elverfeld's first dish so I can stay with the word "perfect" – pork belly slow cooked sous-vide, i.e. vacuum-packed in a plastic bag and cooked at a low temperature, served with goose liver, pancakes and variations on plums. What a daring composition – rich belly pork, rich foie gras and rich pancakes fried in goose fat. But what a finish – because it's served with a mousse, a jus and what is known as plum dust, a kind of powder which melts away to a perfume in the mouth. It's pretty good and great and courageous and thus a dish which superbly characterises Sven. The man is really going out on a limb.

It may sound banal of a 3-star chef, but Sven's "Aqua" has really delicious things that simply make you want more. His potato pot-au-feu, for example, a wonderful combination of potato, spinach and truffle.

The vision: classic meets modern

Or the cold calves' tail essence (it's so strong it doesn't need gelatine), with caviar and crème fraîche. This is the second aspect of Sven's cooking philosophy – his devotion to classical dishes that everyone knows from their childhood. The third is his passion for intelligently and humorously bringing highly traditional dishes bang up to date.

Sven, who collects old cookery books, occasionally puts dishes such as Jägerschnitzel (pork or veal cutlets in a mushroom sauce) or beef Stroganoff on the menu. The transformation that they undergo can be seen from the difference between traditional northern German sole Finkenwerder style, which in Sven's version mutates into a Breton sole, with dried mushroom flakes, slices of toasted bread, diced dried bacon, parsley oil, onion purée and a beurre noisette foam. The connoisseur laughs, the traditionalist and the fan of all things contemporary rejoice, and all enjoy.
Sven told me that the name "Aqua" is supposed to stand for transparency and clarity. In view of this I am absolutely sure that my colleague will feel very much at home in the goldfish bowl that is Hangar-7.

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Guest chefs at Restaurant Ikarus: May 2013

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Guest chef at Restaurant Ikarus: March 2013

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Trettl meets Bertrand Grébaut

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Paris, France /en/ikarus/roland-trettl-on-tour/2013/roland-trettl-meets-bertrand-grebaut/

Guest chef at Restaurant Ikarus: February 2013

Enrique Olvera /en/ikarus/guest-chef-at-restaurant-ikarus/2013/enrique-olvera/

Trettl meets Enrique Olvera

Enrique Olvera
Mexico City, Mexico /en/ikarus/roland-trettl-on-tour/2013/roland-trettl-meets-enrique-olvera/

Guest chef at Restaurant Ikarus: January 2013

Davide Scabin /en/ikarus/guest-chef-at-restaurant-ikarus/2013/davide-scabin/

Trettl meets Davide Scabin

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Guest chef at Restaurant Ikarus: December 2012

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Trettl meets Ramon Freixa

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Jacob Jan Boerma /en/ikarus/guest-chef-at-restaurant-ikarus/2012/jacob-jan-boerma/

Trettl meets Jacob Jan Boerma

Jacob Jan Boerma
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Guest chef at Restaurant Ikarus: October 2012

Peter Gilmore /en/ikarus/guest-chef-at-restaurant-ikarus/2012/peter-gilmore/

Trettl meets Peter Gilmore

Peter Gilmore
Sydney, Australia /en/ikarus/roland-trettl-on-tour/2012/roland-trettl-meets-peter-gilmore/

Guest chef at Restaurant Ikarus: September 2012

Rasmus Kofoed /en/ikarus/guest-chef-at-restaurant-ikarus/2012/rasmus-kofoed/

Trettl meets Rasmus Kofoed

Rasmus Kofoed
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Guest chef at Restaurant Ikarus: August 2012

Ikarus Team /en/ikarus/guest-chef-at-restaurant-ikarus/2012/ikarus-team/

Roland Trettl and the
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Guest chef at Restaurant Ikarus: July 2012

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Trettl meets Pascal Barbot

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Paris, France /en/ikarus/roland-trettl-on-tour/2012/roland-trettl-meets-pascal-barbot/

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Trettl meets Pino Lavarra

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Guest chef at Restaurant Ikarus: April 2012

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Trettl meets Tanja Grandits

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Switzerland /en/ikarus/roland-trettl-on-tour/2012/roland-trettl-meets-tanja-grandits/

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