Der Vierte König

In the springtime, the new growth of evergreens is brilliant green. This is harvest time for the chef and owner of the restaurant “Der vierte König” (The Fourth King), who uses these soft tips to make pesto and fir shoot liqueur for his guests. In his restaurant, a wide spectrum of flavours, spices and herbs are the focus of his culinary art.

Jaspreet Dhaliwal-Wilmes has also infused his restaurant with other elements from India, his country of origin. These include sustainability as well as the respectful use of the food we eat — and they are always taken into account as he prepares his exquisite French-Indian fusion cuisine.

An extraordinary restaurant in Cologne — and its menu

Jaspreet Dhaliwal-Wilmes’ origins and career have led to a cuisine that combines France and India with a sophistication that opens open up new culinary horizons and makes exotic flavours a familiar experience to his guests’ taste buds. Because the menu of Der vierte König changes regularly and is oriented toward regional and seasonal products, repeated visits to this restaurant will convince you that this is a concept that works.

Incidentally, Dhaliwal-Wilmes and his team gather herbs such as French spinach and meadowsweet, as well as fir shoots, for their dishes themselves in the countryside around Cologne, in the Rhine meadows and in the Bergisches Land region.

The taste of homemade curry 

One dish you’re always likely to find as a fixed component of the menu is monkfish marinated in homemade curry and served with a salad of wild herbs. Jaspreet helped to prepare curry from a young age, and that’s why his experiences as a child and a teenager went into the recipe of his classic dish.

You can choose from various menus or order à la carte

You can either order your meal à la carte or choose from a menu with three, four or five courses. Vegetarian versions are also available. The Thali menu is a special feature that is not offered daily but already occupies a fixed position on the restaurant’s bill of fare. It consists of small portions of nine selected dishes that Der vierte König brings to your table as a three-course meal. If you’d like to get to know the spectrum of flavours that characterizes French-Indian cuisine, the Thali menu is definitely an excellent choice.

A short definition: In India, “Thali” refers to a tray on which various dishes are served in small bowls or simply ladled out. Sometimes a large banana leaf is used as the tray.

About the fourth king who set out to find his destiny

The name of the restaurant goes back to an occasion when none other than Jean-Marie Dumaine, the chef de cuisine and operator of the gourmet restaurant Vieux Sinzig, called Jaspreet Dhaliwal-Wilmes “the fourth king”. As the legend tells of the Three Kings bringing frankincense and myrrh to Cologne, Jaspreet brought along the knowledge of special flavours and spices from his homeland when he left India for the wide world many years ago. He eventually settled in the town of Sinzig an der Ahr, where he was to enrich our local spectrum of flavours.

Jaspreet’s destiny led him to the Vieux Sinzig restaurant, where he started out as an intern and then became a trainee. But before that he had already travelled a long way. He had left his homeland India to study electrical engineering in Canada, but on the way he was stranded in Moscow. After many months, he finally reached Cologne on foot.

His traineeship at Vieux Sinzig was followed by years during which he gathered experience as a chef at the Capricorn [i] Aries and Zur Tant in Porz-Langel. After that, he returned to Vieux Sinzig — this time as the chef de cuisine. Jaspreet opened his own restaurant at Gottesweg 165 in 2017.

Dining at Der vierte König: The atmosphere

High ceilings, a pistachio-green bar counter, Art Nouveau elements, colour-coordinated decoration and a light, warm atmosphere — Der vierte König welcomes you with careful attentiveness and a love of detail. In the summer months you can also dine outdoors on the terrace.

Fine Food Days Cologne and dinner cruises

You can enjoy the fusion cuisine of Der vierte König at events and festivals such as the Fine Food Days Cologne — or during some of the dinner cruises featuring various top chefs that are regularly held on board the Köln-Düsseldorfer cruise ships. Because these cruises are very popular, we recommend reserving your table well ahead of time.