Restaurants
The chopsticks in his shirt pocket reveal a lot: this man loves Chinese cuisine. When he then arranges an oyster mushroom with fermented soybeans as a small work of plate art, this proves true.
The Bavarian cream, however, made from goat's milk with sea salt and olive oil, makes us wonder. It reveals another side of Wenbao Lin. This man also loves European cuisine. On the plate, he brings the two together - in a very special role: as a private chef who cooks in three special locations and at guests' homes.
When you come from a family of top chefs and have cooked in top restaurants in Shanghai with international cuisine concepts, you are passionate about looking beyond your culinary plate.
"I grew up near the sea, so I love seafood," says the 35-year-old with Cantonese roots, who transfers that affinity to, say, a tiger shrimp with wasabi and strawberry.
He came to Berlin three and a half years ago, worked in top restaurants such as the China Club, and from there adopted and perfected one of his signature dishes, the shrimp with wasabi mayonnaise that his guests keep asking for.
At some point, the kitchen as a workplace was no longer enough for Wenbao Lin. Even in Shanghai, he had cooked for private parties from time to time. Because, as he says, he loves the contact with the guests and enjoys interacting with them face to face.
Long walks around the city during lockdowns made the idea of taking off as a private chef with Bao Private Fine Dining a reality. At the chic KPM Hotel & Residences not far from Tiergarten, he discovered the elegant Community Kitchen on the fifth floor, a room with a long dining table for twelve and an open kitchen.
Together with the cool event location Kyffhäuser21 not far from Schöneberg's Winterfeldtplatz or the roof terrace of Grimm's Hotel at Potsdamer Platz, he now offers his culinary and hospitality services as a private dining chef to all gourmets and epicures.
From eight to ten small courses Wenbao Lin creates European-Chinese pleasure journeys for private dinner evenings after individual arrangement. On the surface, pork belly, truffles and chanterelles may be continental, but beneath the private chef brings in an unexpected twist from his homeland. Bamboo shoots, chili, ginger - it sounds familiar. With his culinary signature, Wenbao Lin turns it into a new taste experience.
To keep an evening with the private chef exclusive and special, even in his own four walls, the table parties are small. A circle of eight to twelve people at KPM or in Schöneberg, 15 to 20 guests in summer on the Grimm's roof terrace. There he serves a flying buffet, which, like his menus, is also fine dining in terms of level, but relaxed casual dining in terms of atmosphere.
