There are some values which, when shared between different disciplines, cultivate a genuine sense of connection: deep respect for heritage and meticulous technique reveal the common ground between Blancpain Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie and the Sühring brother-chefs.
Twin brothers Thomas and Mathias Sühring grew up in the former East Germany, alternating between Berlin and their grandparents’ farm. In the countryside, they honed their sense of taste in harmony with the rhythm of the seasons. The young chefs-to-be tended to the chickens and pigs, picked fruits and vegetables and learned the secrets of fermentation, salting, smoking and brining.
This happy childhood left them with many poignant–and highly sensorial–memories that now serve as springboards to their culinary creations. Thomas shares one: “I’ll always remember the fall of the Berlin Wall, when we finally had the chance to visit West Berlin by train. We tasted our first Hanuta wafer and it was incredible.”
Today, the chefs pay tribute to this evocative memory, in Restaurant Sühring in Bangkok, Thailand, with their own version of the Ferrero classic, replacing the hazelnut cream filling with duck liver, packaging it individually, and christening it ‘Enleta’. This revamped snack, consumed with apricot vinegar, channels the power of their early sensory epiphany.
Family heritage flows through them, providing an inexhaustible source of nostalgic creativity. The smell of freshly baked bread reminds the Sührings of meals when they were kids. In their restaurant, the chefs give this a creative twist with a starter called ‘Toast Hawaii’, inspired by an afternoon snack their mother used to make: ham, cheese, and baked bread. “We wanted to create traditional dishes from our childhood and turn them into contemporary cuisine,” the brothers explain.
In the modern era of street food, they also give a nod to traditional German fast food by serving ‘Curry 36’, named for the legendary Berlin snack. Here, currywurst (curry sausage) is presented in a small cardboard box decorated with a version of the original logo and identifying the key ingredient–liebe (love).
Respect for heritage and traditional craftsmanship without being prisoners of the past is an approach that Thomas and Mathias Sühring share with the Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie Blancpain–also a quintessential family business. The Villeret collection, named for founder Jehan-Jacques Blancpain’s home village, takes form in countless reinterpretations, from the first ultra-thin watches in 1815 to the designs of today.
The Sühring brothers were invited to visit the Blancpain manufacture and were fascinated by the craftsmanship of its timepieces, not least the manual delicacy and dexterity, aided only by tweezers and a loupe magnification lens. They voiced their recognition of the clear relationship between their own savoir-faire and the perfectionism of the master watchmakers: “There’s definitely that same rigorous discipline and a strong connection with the way we work in our kitchen, creating a perfect dish from top-quality ingredients, the preparatory techniques used for ingredient assembly, then adding the finishing touch to the plate.”
The chefs also experienced a sense of community in the Blancpain workshops that they are familiar with in the kitchen. “There was the feeling that everyone was working toward a common goal, the achievement of something greater,” says Thomas. “At Sühring, we also treat our team like family and call our diners ‘guests’ rather than ‘customers’ or ‘clients’.” Could the secret of hospitality and ever-greater excellence be, in fact, humility?
The master watchmakers at Blancpain’s Le Brassus home are the heirs to nearly three centuries of tradition–one that is continually evolving as human ingenuity progresses. But what is the source of the Sühring brothers’ humility? Twinship, perhaps, according to Thomas: “We each have our own strengths and weaknesses, and these complement each other and help us grow and improve.”
Each day, as they participate in a Buddhist ritual before their restaurant altar, there is a palpable feeling of appreciation, of recognizing the importance of perpetuating their family memories. For perhaps that is the meaning to be found in the work of artisans, whether working in watchmaking or gastronomy: that there is an element of eternity in everything they make.
