Chef Lucas Huemer

Born in Linz, Austria 35 year old chef, Lucas Huemer became the 4th generation to be raised in the family bakery, bäckerei Huber whose legacy spanned 110 years.   His greatest inspiration was his great grandmother known to him as ‘Urli’.  Every day from Kindergarten onwards he would walk from school to the centrally located rural bakery and head straight for her kitchen.  In those days it was still commonplace to have whole animals delivered from neighbouring farmers and hunters.  Lucas would help her butcher and clean pheasants, roe deer and rabbit learning to honour each animal by wasting nothing.  For a young boy the responsibility of a sharp knife and the messy business of burning quills and skinning animals left him enthralled.  At this young age he witnessed the power of food.  He saw that when ‘Urli’ called for lunch, everything at the busy bakery stopped.  The table brought everyone together and became the stage for laughter and joy as well as for tears and conflict.  Lunch was a ritual of connection for this busy bakery that brought every generation together for a moment each day.  It was then that he knew he wanted to become a chef.  

After graduating from tourism school and a year and a half at a 5 star hotel near  Kitzbühel, he returned to the family bakery to pursue an apprenticeship as a baker.  Two years later the baker's guild diploma in hand he realised that a baker’s life wasn’t for him.  He missed cooking.  So he returned to fine dining working in various establishments across Austria before settling in Berlin where he has worked as the private chef to the Austrian Ambassador for the past five years.  

When asked to describe his cooking style, Lucas finds it difficult.  He loves to travel and learn about food and techniques from all over the world and finds it important to pay homage to the heritage and history of it’s creators; highlighting culinary similarities found through our cultural diversity.