Restaurant in Aachen, Germany
Back-to-back Michelin stars. Book early.
Sankt Benedikt holds back-to-back Michelin stars (2024 and 2025) under chef Mike Schiller, making it Aachen's clearest case for creative fine dining at the €€€€ tier. The kitchen earns its price point through sustained technical consistency, not occasion hype. Book well ahead — demand is high and tables fill fast.
Sankt Benedikt is the strongest argument for booking a fine dining table in Aachen. With back-to-back Michelin stars in 2024 and 2025, chef Mike Schiller has built a kitchen that consistently executes at a level that justifies the €€€€ price point. If you are travelling to the region for serious food, this is your first call. If you are already in Aachen and wondering whether to push the budget, the answer is yes — provided the creative tasting format suits you. Booking difficulty is high; plan well ahead.
Sankt Benedikt sits on Benediktusplatz 12 in Aachen, a city better known as a gateway between Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands than as a fine dining destination. That context matters, because Schiller's kitchen is operating at a level that punches well above what the city's dining reputation might lead you to expect. Two consecutive Michelin stars signal sustained technical consistency, not a one-year fluke, and a Google rating of 4.8 across 243 reviews confirms that the experience is landing with guests across multiple visits and occasions.
The cuisine classification is Creative, which in this context means the kitchen is not anchored to a single regional or classical tradition. What that demands, technically, is a high degree of control: when you are not working within an inherited grammar of dishes, every plate has to justify its own logic. The kitchens that earn Michelin recognition in the Creative category tend to win on precision and coherence rather than on novelty alone. Based on the sustained star recognition, Schiller's kitchen is doing exactly that. For a food-focused traveller who seeks depth and context rather than a fixed regional experience, this is the format that rewards attention.
For comparison within Germany's creative fine dining tier, the reference points are useful. JAN in Munich and ES:SENZ in Grassau operate in a similar creative register with Michelin recognition. Further up the star count, Schwarzwaldstube in Baiersbronn and Aqua in Wolfsburg represent where the creative category reaches at three-star level. Sankt Benedikt is not at that tier yet, but within the one-star creative bracket across Germany it is holding a position that makes Aachen worth a dedicated trip rather than just a stopover. If you are building a broader German fine dining itinerary, Vendôme in Bergisch Gladbach and Victor's Fine Dining by Christian Bau in Perl are the logical regional companions for a multi-stop route.
Internationally, the creative format Schiller is working in sits in a tradition that includes Quique Dacosta in Dénia and Arpège in Paris — kitchens where the creative category means something specific and demanding. Sankt Benedikt is a smaller, less internationally profiled operation, but the structural ambition is comparable. For a food traveller mapping creative kitchens across Europe, it belongs on the list alongside destinations like CODA Dessert Dining in Berlin, which takes the creative label in an entirely different direction and makes a useful contrast.
Timing matters at a restaurant of this type. A weekday dinner booking typically offers a more composed service experience than peak weekend slots, when demand is highest and front-of-house pressure increases. For a kitchen running a creative tasting format, the full experience requires time: do not plan a hard finish time. If you are visiting Aachen for the first time and building an itinerary around the meal, the city's compact centre means you can orient the day around Sankt Benedikt without logistical strain. For broader Aachen planning, see our full Aachen restaurants guide, our full Aachen hotels guide, our full Aachen bars guide, our full Aachen wineries guide, and our full Aachen experiences guide.
The Michelin star retention from 2024 to 2025 is the clearest signal available. Michelin assessors revisit, and a second consecutive award in the Creative category means the kitchen is not coasting on an initial impression. Technical consistency at this price tier requires a team that executes the same standard across multiple services, with sourcing and preparation discipline that holds up under scrutiny. That is the specific thing Sankt Benedikt has demonstrated. For a guest who values craft and precision over spectacle, this is the kitchen to choose in Aachen.
Reservations: Book as far ahead as possible; Michelin-starred tables in smaller German cities fill quickly and booking difficulty is rated high. Budget: €€€€ , expect this to be a full-commitment dinner spend. Address: Benediktuspl. 12, 52076 Aachen. Cuisine: Creative tasting format. Leading timing: Weekday dinner for the most composed experience; avoid weekend slots if you want more relaxed pacing. Group size: Works for two or small groups; confirm larger group arrangements at the time of booking.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sankt Benedikt | €€€€ | Hard | — |
| La Bécasse | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Bistro | €€ | Unknown | — |
| plaisir by Hamid Heidarzadeh | €€€ | Unknown | — |
| dario& | €€€ | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Aachen for this tier.
Solo diners at a Michelin-starred creative kitchen like Sankt Benedikt are generally well served by a tasting menu format, which removes the pressure of ordering and lets the kitchen control the pace. At €€€€ pricing, the per-head spend is fixed regardless of party size, so solo dining here is financially comparable to going with a partner. Call ahead to confirm counter or single-seat availability, as smaller rooms in Michelin-starred German restaurants sometimes prioritise couples or groups.
Yes — this is one of the clearest cases for booking Sankt Benedikt. Back-to-back Michelin stars in 2024 and 2025 under chef Mike Schiller signal consistent kitchen ambition, which is exactly what you want when the occasion needs to deliver. Aachen has limited competition at this award level, so Sankt Benedikt is effectively the default answer for a serious celebration in the city.
Book as far ahead as possible — four to six weeks minimum is a reasonable baseline for a two-star-run Michelin table in a mid-sized German city. Aachen does not have the volume of fine dining seats that cities like Düsseldorf or Cologne offer, which means demand at this level concentrates fast. Friday and Saturday evenings will fill first; weekday slots may be easier to secure closer to your date.
The menu details are not publicly documented here, but at a Michelin-starred creative kitchen, the tasting menu is the format the kitchen is built around — ordering à la carte, if available, typically means missing the sequences where chef Mike Schiller's cooking makes the most sense. Let the kitchen set the pace and trust the progression rather than trying to construct your own selection.
At €€€€ pricing with consecutive Michelin stars in 2024 and 2025, Sankt Benedikt sits in a tier where the price is high but the credentialled output justifies it for diners who value creative fine dining. If you are comparing it to a similarly priced meal in Cologne or Düsseldorf, the Aachen dining scene around it is thinner, so the relative value of a meal that delivers at this level is arguably stronger here than in a larger city with more competition.
La Bécasse is the most direct alternative for serious dining in Aachen, with its own long-standing reputation in the city. Bistro and plaisir by Hamid Heidarzadeh offer lower price points if €€€€ is a stretch. dario& is worth considering if you want something less format-driven than a Michelin-starred tasting experience. None of these currently match Sankt Benedikt's consecutive Michelin star record based on available data.
For a kitchen that has held a Michelin star consecutively through 2024 and 2025 in the Creative cuisine category, the tasting menu is the point — this is how chef Mike Schiller's cooking is designed to be experienced. If tasting menus are not your format, or if you prefer à la carte flexibility, the spend-to-satisfaction ratio drops and a bistro alternative in Aachen will serve you better.
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