Chef of the Year 2027: Gault&Millau Austria names Rachinger
The Ois chef in Neufelden, Upper Austria, wins the guide's renamed top title as much for reopening village inns as for his 12-course menu. The Obauer brothers get the lifetime award.
Gault&Millau Austria has named Philip Rachinger, of the restaurant Ois at the Mühltalhof in Neufelden, its Chef of the Year 2027. The award was presented on 19 October at the Hilton Vienna Park.
Rachinger serves a 12-course menu in the house on the Große Mühl river where his family has lived and worked for generations; he is the sixth. Before returning to the Mühlviertel he trained at Steirereck in Vienna and with Pierre Gagnaire at Sketch in London. Ois holds four toques and 18.5 of 20 points in the new guide, plus two Michelin stars.
Gault&Millau has replaced "Koch des Jahres" with the English "Chef of the Year", Austrian trade titles reported. In Switzerland, the same guide made headlines this autumn with Dominik Hartmann as its first vegetarian chef of the year.
In Neufelden the award goes as much to the reopened inns as to the plate.
Why Rachinger is Chef of the Year 2027
The citation leans as much on the village as on the plate. Through his Wirtshausroas project, Rachinger reopens empty buildings in Neufelden every year and brings in chefs and winemakers from abroad. He opened the Braugasthof Hopfen und Schmalz because the local brewery had no room for guests, and for the ORF series "Aufsperren statt Zusperren!" he toured abandoned inns with Kira Schinko and staged a mock funeral, wake included, for the village inn.
"That is exactly what we want from a Chef of the Year," the guide wrote, adding that the winner needs enough reach to take such causes on. Rachinger also plays in the Healthy Boy Band with the chefs Lukas Mraz and Felix Schellhorn, which helps with the reach.
The other Gault&Millau Austria 2027 winners
Karl and Rudi Obauer received the lifetime award; their restaurant in Werfen closes on 26 October. Toni Mörwald is restaurateur of the year, and St. Peter Stiftskulinarium in Salzburg is the year's climber, up from 13 to 15.5 points and three toques.
The individual titles went to Nina Fink of Gasthaus Haberl & Fink's Delikatessen in Styria (sommelière), Janina Trogisch of the Tannenhof in St. Anton am Arlberg (pâtissière), Larissa Andres of Jola and Lara in Vienna (service) and Noemi Zagoni (newcomer). Landgasthaus Reif in Alkoven is inn of the year, Heunisch & Erben in Vienna has the best wine list and Dorli Muhr's estate is winery of the year.
At the top, the guide shrinks. Eight restaurants hold five toques, down from nine because of the Obauer closure: Amador, Konstantin Filippou, Silvio Nickol and Steirereck in Vienna, Döllerer in Golling, Ikarus in Salzburg, Landhaus Bacher in Mautern and Stüva in Ischgl. The four-toque tier moves the other way, from 82 to 97 restaurants. France hands out its own trophies after naming 28 nominees for 2027.
