Restaurant in Südharz, Germany
Seasonal surprise menu, Michelin-recognised, below fine-dining prices.
20zwanzig holds a Michelin Plate (2025) and sits inside Hotel Freiwerk's modern extension in Südharz, offering a variable-course surprise menu built around seasonal, regional produce. At the €€€ tier, it delivers more ambition than its price suggests and is easier to book than comparable German fine-dining destinations. Book the surprise menu — the à la carte option is there for flexibility, not as the primary draw.
The variable-course surprise menu at 20zwanzig is the reason to make the trip to Südharz. It changes with the season, which means what's on the table right now reflects what's growing and available in the surrounding region — and it won't be the same next month. If contemporary farm-to-table cooking with a Michelin Plate credential is your target, this is the most credible option in the area. Book it before the menu turns over.
20zwanzig is the restaurant inside Hotel Freiwerk, a property anchored by a half-timbered villa dating from 1894. The restaurant itself is not the heritage building — it occupies a modern extension completed in 2020, which gives it a genuinely chic interior rather than the faded grandeur you sometimes get when kitchens are retrofitted into historic houses. The large window frontage opens the dining room to a view of the surrounding greenery, which matters more than it sounds: in a town the size of Südharz, that connection to the landscape is part of what makes the farm-to-table premise feel earned rather than marketed.
The Michelin Plate awarded in 2025 confirms the kitchen is operating at a level worth travelling for, even if it hasn't yet reached star territory. For a restaurant in a quiet Harz region location, that credential is a meaningful signal. Michelin Plates are not given for potential , they mark consistent, quality cooking. The Google score of 5.0 across 18 reviews supports the same conclusion: a small but uniformly positive sample from diners who sought the place out.
20zwanzig offers two formats. The surprise menu , a variable number of courses, determined by the kitchen , is the higher-commitment, higher-reward option. It's the format where the chef's point of view comes through most clearly, and where the farm-to-table philosophy is expressed course by course rather than dish by dish. The à la carte option gives you more control, which is useful if you have dietary constraints or if your group has diverging appetites for a long meal. Both routes use contemporary seasonal cuisine as their foundation.
The pricing sits at €€€, which places 20zwanzig above the casual bracket but below the full fine-dining tier of €€€€ venues. For a Michelin-recognised restaurant with this level of kitchen ambition in a rural setting, that's a reasonable entry point. It's not a budget dinner, but it's not a special-occasion splurge in the way that a three-course meal at Aqua in Wolfsburg or Vendôme in Bergisch Gladbach would be.
The editorial angle here is worth addressing directly: the room at 20zwanzig is set up for a specific kind of experience. The large window front is not incidental , it frames the meal against the greenery outside, reinforcing the farm-to-table identity in a way that a conventional restaurant interior would not. If you're eating the surprise menu in the evening, the light coming through that window changes the atmosphere as the meal progresses. This is the kind of design decision that rewards arriving at the right time rather than rushing through a meal. The waitstaff, noted by Michelin as friendly and well-trained, will read the pace of your table rather than push you toward the door.
There is no confirmed bar counter in the database record, so the specific counter-dining question , whether you can eat the full menu at the bar , cannot be answered definitively here. What is confirmed is that the modern extension has a chic, well-considered interior, and the dual-format menu (surprise and à la carte) suggests the kitchen is set up to serve different table configurations. Contact the hotel directly to confirm seating arrangements before you book.
The restaurant is at Thyrahöhe 24, 06536 Südharz. It's a hotel restaurant, which typically means reservations are handled through the hotel's own booking system rather than a third-party platform. With a 5.0 Google rating and Michelin recognition, and only 18 reviews suggesting a smaller, quieter dining room, availability is likely easier here than at a city restaurant with comparable credentials. That said, the surprise menu format and seasonal rotation mean some dates will be fuller than others , particularly weekend evenings and periods when the Harz region draws visitors for outdoor activity. Booking a week or two ahead is a reasonable buffer; same-week availability is plausible outside peak periods.
For more options in the region, see our full Südharz restaurants guide, our full Südharz hotels guide, and our full Südharz bars guide. If you're planning a broader trip around the Harz, our full Südharz experiences guide and our full Südharz wineries guide are worth checking before you finalise dates.
| Venue | Price | Format | Michelin Status | Booking Lead Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20zwanzig (Südharz) | €€€ | À la carte + surprise menu | Michelin Plate 2025 | 1–2 weeks typical |
| Silberstreif (Südharz) | , | Regional cuisine | , | , |
| Aqua (Wolfsburg) | €€€€ | Tasting menus | 3 Stars | Months ahead |
| JAN (Munich) | €€€€ | Tasting menus | 1 Star | 3–4 weeks |
| Wein- und Tafelhaus (Trittenheim) | , | Farm to table | , | , |
If farm-to-table cooking with a seasonal focus is your priority, two useful benchmarks elsewhere in Germany are ES:SENZ in Grassau and Schanz in Piesport. For a Belgian comparison at a similar conceptual level, Au Gré du Vent in Seneffe is worth knowing about. At the higher end of the German fine-dining register, Waldhotel Sonnora in Dreis, Victor's Fine Dining by Christian Bau in Perl, and The Table Kevin Fehling in Hamburg sit in a different tier but give useful context for where 20zwanzig positions itself in the national conversation.
Book 20zwanzig if you want a Michelin-recognised seasonal kitchen at a price point below the full fine-dining tier, in a setting that takes the farm-to-table premise seriously rather than using it as a marketing phrase. The surprise menu is the better choice for most visitors , it's what the kitchen is built around. The à la carte option is there for flexibility, not as the primary recommendation. If you're making a special trip, stay at Hotel Freiwerk and give yourself an evening unhurried by logistics.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20zwanzig | Farm to table | Michelin Plate (2025); Nestled in a quiet location on the outskirts of town, Hotel Freiwerk's core building is a spruce half-timbered villa dating from 1894. Its restaurant, 20zwanzig, is housed in the modern extension, built in 2020. The chic, trendy interior has a large window front that affords a splendid view of the surrounding greenery. You can order the contemporary seasonal cuisine à la carte or opt for a surprise menu comprising a variable number of courses. Friendly and well-trained waitstaff. | Easy | — |
| Schwarzwaldstube | French, Classic French | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Aqua | Contemporary German, Italian/Japanese, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Vendôme | Modern European, Creative | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| CODA Dessert Dining | Creative | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Tantris | Modern French, French Contemporary | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Südharz for this tier.
The venue data does not confirm a bar seating option at 20zwanzig. The restaurant is housed in the modern extension of Hotel Freiwerk, with a large window front as the focal point of the room. Your best approach is to check the venue's official channels when reserving to ask about seating flexibility, as hotel restaurants in this category often have informal options not listed publicly.
Book at least two to three weeks in advance, particularly if you want the surprise menu on a weekend. A Michelin Plate recognition in 2025 will have pushed demand at a hotel restaurant in a quieter region like Südharz — it no longer flies under the radar. Midweek slots are more available, but do not assume last-minute availability during school holidays in Saxony-Anhalt.
As a hotel restaurant inside Hotel Freiwerk, 20zwanzig is likely able to accommodate small groups, particularly if you book well ahead and coordinate directly with the property. The surprise menu format — variable number of courses set by the kitchen — suits groups happy to eat the same progression. For large private events, contact the hotel to ask about the room's capacity and whether a private arrangement is possible.
Yes, it works well for a special occasion at the €€€ price point. The combination of a Michelin Plate kitchen, a surprise menu format, and a dining room with a large window overlooking greenery gives it enough occasion weight without the formality or expense of a two- or three-star restaurant. It is a better fit for couples or small groups than for large celebratory parties.
Within the Harz region, options at a comparable Michelin-recognised level are thin. The nearest meaningful benchmarks in Germany for seasonal farm-to-table cooking are ES:SENZ in Grassau and Schanz in Piesport, both further afield. If you are willing to travel for the category, those are the reference points; if you want to stay in the Harz area, 20zwanzig is the clearest choice for this format.
The surprise menu is the right format to book here — it is the higher-reward option over the à la carte, and the Michelin Plate in 2025 confirms the kitchen is performing at a level that justifies the commitment. The variable number of courses means you are trusting the kitchen's judgment on the night, which suits guests who want a hands-off, season-driven meal. If you prefer control over your order, the à la carte option exists, but the surprise menu is the reason to make the trip to Südharz.
At €€€, 20zwanzig sits below the full fine-dining tier while delivering a Michelin Plate standard of seasonal, farm-to-table cooking with friendly, well-trained service. For the Südharz area, that combination is not easily replicated locally. Compared to Michelin-starred restaurants at €€€€ in Germany's major cities, this is a more accessible entry point for the same seasonal-kitchen format — which makes the price reasonable for what you get.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
