Brüdigams Wildwechsel in Kaaks. A country inn I recommend to friends.

There are people you keep in your life for the long run. Frank Brüdigam is one of them for me. We have known each other for more than thirty years, and every time I sit in his country inn in Kaaks I feel in every corner that someone is running this house and this kitchen with heart.

How I met Frank

I met Frank in the early nineties at the Saseler Weinstube in Hamburg. He was cooking there with Michael Wiegels, at the time the boyfriend of my sister Beatrix. What started as a kitchen and a few shared evenings has, over the years, become a friendship that has outlived many chapters.

Later Frank moved his own restaurant to Hamburg’s Eimsbüttel neighbourhood, the Brüdigams on Eppendorfer Weg. That is where we saw each other often. And then, during one of his quiet moments in front of the door, a neighbour asked him whether he could imagine taking over an old country inn in the Schleswig-Holstein village of Kaaks. That cigar break in 2016 turned into the Wildwechsel.

The place: A country inn between Itzehoe and Wacken

Kaaks lies in the district of Steinburg, about an hour northwest of Hamburg. For your navigation: Waidmannsweg 2, 25582 Kaaks. Outside, a red-brick house with white windows, a set of antlers over the balcony, a simple sign that reads „Landgasthof Zum Wildwechsel“, and two boxwood spheres in black planters flanking the door. Behind the house lies the beer garden with blue umbrellas and a view into the green.

Inside, the thing I love most about this place begins. A mix of furniture from many travels. Warm terracotta tiles at the front, wide wooden floorboards further back, a modern chandelier of slim candle arms above. On a black wall hangs a huge gilt-framed portrait of a gentleman. In front of it a glass round table with orange leather swivel chairs and a large cobalt-blue vase with roses.

A few steps further a tall bookshelf in dark metal, in front of it a turquoise Chesterfield bench and a large cobalt-blue floor vase with dried flowers. On another wall a print reads „Work Hard And Be Nice To People“, which happens to sum up rather precisely how Frank runs his house.

At our window table the wall is papered in a beige Toile-de-Jouy with stylised pheasants and branches, and from the ceiling hangs a red stained-glass hanging lamp in a black metal frame. I look around and feel instantly at home. Frank and Barbara collect what they love and combine it until it fits. That is exactly how I work at the Concept Store and at home.

Frank’s path: From Lady Di via the Médoc to Kaaks

Frank was born in Lübeck. He first learnt to cook from his grandmother and sharpened the craft as a chef in the German navy. As a young cook he went to the Kensington Park Hotel in London and cooked, among others, for Lady Di. A château in the Médoc followed, then back to Hamburg to the Weite Welt, the Deichgraf and the Casino auf Kampnagel. In 2011 he opened his first own restaurant, the Brüdigams on Eppendorfer Weg in Eimsbüttel.

He has become widely known through German TV formats such as „Achtung Kontrolle!“, „Mein Lokal, Dein Lokal“ and „Abenteuer Leben“ on channels like kabel eins. Der Feinschmecker lists the Wildwechsel in its restaurant guide.

And then came the cigar break in front of the door. A year later, in 2017, he took over the old country house in Kaaks with his wife Barbara Oechsle, the good soul of the house, and turned it into a country inn: with six boutique hotel rooms, a large event barn and the beer garden. He deliberately stayed away from the star-chef stage. What suits him is European country cooking, honest and seasonal.

Our lunch: From the amuse to dessert

We were there for lunch, and I want to tell you about it the way it happened, because in those few hours you see everything I love about the Wildwechsel. On the menu was the Schlemmer-Menü Sommer 2026 · Teil 1, a four-course menu at 89 euros for two.

To start, an amuse-gueule: a small teriyaki wrap filled with venison and wild boar, rolled in pastry and sprinkled with black and white sesame, on a hand-thrown stoneware plate. Beside it a piece of white bread with garlic dip. From the first bite you can tell that someone in this kitchen works with joy for the details.

Then comes the moment when the table falls silent: „Brüdigams Fischsuppe mit Garnele, Queller und Pastis“, Brüdigams’ fish soup with prawn, samphire and pastis, as it says on the menu. Two prawns and a sprig of herbs rest in the dark stoneware bowl, and then the tomato-red broth is poured over from a copper jug right at the table. I love a kitchen that turns serving into a moment.

Next came the Altländer Kopfsalat (round lettuce from the Altes Land) in lemon-yoghurt dressing with a fried risotto ball of ringelbete (candy-striped beetroot), garnished with pea shoots, wafer-thin cheese shavings and a pink slice of beetroot.

For the main course Chris and I chose differently. Chris took the Ossobuco of veal shank with Kalamata olives and courgette on a saffron marrow-bone risotto. The marrow bone came standing upright on the plate, the bright yellow saffron risotto on top, a sprig of thyme, next to it a dark red-wine reduction with olives and roasted purple-sprouting broccolini.

I went for the fish of the day on blueberry risotto with crispy chicken skin and wild broccoli. This risotto is deep violet, and violet happens to be my favourite colour. Anyone who knows my glasses could tell that day: I was wearing the Sorbetto from Doubleice, a model in exactly this shade, and we carry the brand at the Concept Store. On top of the risotto sat the pan-seared fish fillet, crowned with a chip of crispy chicken skin. The eye eats first.

I had a Mara-Cújaaaa spritzer to drink, because I still had to drive. At Frank’s the wines on the list are the ones he likes himself, sourced from France, Germany and Italy. You can taste who picked them out.

To close the meal: the baked corn-quark semolina slice with strawberry-rhubarb compote and salted caramel ice cream. It sounds simple, and it is exactly the kind of dessert you appreciate because the kitchen doesn’t need to show off.

A ritual for years: Martinmas goose, a night upstairs, Frank’s scrambled eggs

There is one date in the year that I keep firmly in the calendar with our friends: Martinmas goose at Frank’s. We arrive in the evening, we eat the goose, we drink a good red, we sit for a long time and we sleep in one of the hotel rooms above the restaurant. In the morning Frank makes us his scrambled eggs. Anyone who has eaten Frank’s scrambled eggs the morning after the goose knows why I don’t want to skip this year after year.

If you want to go

Brüdigams Wildwechsel, Waidmannsweg 2, 25582 Kaaks, Kreis Steinburg (Germany). Please check the opening hours in advance on bruedigams-wildwechsel.de or by phone, they change with the season. If you want to stay overnight, reserve a room at the same time. For a larger party, ask about the barn. And if you want to try Frank’s scrambled eggs, come for the Martinmas goose and stay until breakfast.

And since 2025: Brüdigams Bistro at the Golf-Club Schloss Breitenburg

Since April 2025 Frank and Barbara also run Brüdigams Bistro at the Golf-Club Schloss Breitenburg (Gut Osterholz 3, 25524 Breitenburg). The kitchen brings France and Germany together: Steak Frites, French onion soup, snails, plus a changing four-course menu. Lunch service from Wednesday to Saturday, with a beautiful terrace. Menu and opening hours on bruedigams-bistro.de.

If you enjoyed this piece, these might also be of interest: Alter Meierhof in Glücksburg, Landhaus am Stein at Lake Tegernsee and par ici in Eimsbüttel.

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Trixi Gronau has run her Concept Store in Hamburg with its own print atelier since 1995. In the nineties a regular at Susanne Otto (then the only Chanel address in Hamburg, Milchstraße), at Boutique Amica run by Ina Gärtner, and at Chippis Bazar run by Mary Burose. Invited to vernissages at Galerie Levy (Pop Art and Surrealism, Hamburg-Pöseldorf).

Warmly, from Hamburg

Trixi