The Table Kevin Fehling

The Table is Kevin Fehling's restaurant and effectively an exercise in reduction: one room, one cherry-wood serpentine table eight metres long, twenty seats, one tasting menu, and an open kitchen where Fehling and a team of ten cook in direct sight-line of every diner. Fehling earned his first Michelin star in 2006 at twenty-eight, a second star in 2008, and a third — at the age of thirty-eight — at the opening of The Table in Hamburg in 2015/2016. The three stars have been continuous since.

The menu is a single eight- to ten-course tasting, priced at €320 for food, with a wine pairing at €210. The cooking vocabulary is modern-European with a serious Asian (Thai-Japanese) thread that Fehling has developed since the Söllhuth years in Travemünde. A typical progression: a signature lobster amuse with yuzu and daikon; a Breton langoustine with green curry and kaffir lime; a hand-dived Scottish scallop with jasmine-rice crème and vanilla; a Nordic-European veal tongue with Sauternes and nasturtium; a dry-aged Simmental ribeye with black truffle and Calvados jus; and a fermented-soy-bean caramel ice cream that has been the signature dessert since opening.

The kitchen brigade of ten works in full view; Fehling is behind the pass for every service. The room's 20-seat configuration means the service ratio is 1:2, which is exceptional even for a three-star. The wine programme runs deep in Burgundy and Champagne with an unusual German-Riesling list that favours the smaller Mosel and Rheingau growers. The bill, at around €550-€650 per head with pairing, is Germany's most expensive tasting menu; the eight-week waiting list confirms its position. It is the Hamburg table the city is most proud of and the one most visitors fly in specifically to book.

For a Proposal: The Table's single-table format and the 1:2 service ratio mean that a proposal here is essentially a private event with the other eighteen diners as witnesses. Kevin Fehling's team will time a champagne course to a chosen moment; the cherry-wood table itself has a discreet floral section at each four-seat group that can hold a ring; and Fehling will come out personally if asked. The experience already carries the gravity that only a three-Michelin-star room delivers.