Restaurant Villa Rothschild is the gastronomic centrepiece at the five-star Hotel Villa Rothschild Kempinski in the heart of the idyllic Taunus. Under head chef Christoph Rainer, the 38-cover gourmet restaurant in the light-flooded pavilion offers a heavenly culinary experience. The Michelin Guide rates it as one of the best in Hessen.

This half-timbered property, which is over 300 years old, has been owned by the Laufer family since the Second World War, and has since been run as a wine tavern, hotel and restaurant. Guests can now choose between a traditional room in the Weinhaus zum Krug and a modern, themed room in the former town hall. The restaurant serves meticulously prepared, home-spun cuisine that combines regional and seasonal ingredients with great imagination.

Head chef and culinary artiste at Tiger Restaurant in the heart of Frankfurt is Alfred Friedrich. The restaurant atmosphere is inviting – chic but informal – and positively oozes good taste. Friedrich's grande cuisine des saisons is known for its sophisticated interplay of flavours and quality ingredients. Impeccable service under the watchful eye of restaurant manager Miguel Martin together with an excellent selection of 1,000 wines make for a perfect gastronomic experience.

Michelin-starred chef Matthias Schmidt and maître d' Thierry Felden are both passionate about great food and pass on this passion, through their team, to their guests. Schmidt believes in a style of cuisine that uses almost one hundred per cent regional, seasonal produce, focuses on the essentials and elegantly inspires sensory experiences. Working with ingredients such as Japanese rose, spruce buds, beechnuts and wheatgrass oil, his interpretations are bold but well thought through.

Michelin-starred chef Patrik Kimpel presides over the gourmet restaurant at the luxurious Landhotel Kronenschlösschen in the Rheingau. Set between vineyards and the Rhine, very close to the Cistercian abbey at Eberbach, the hotel offers a number of rooms and suites, a bistro and a garden terrace in the grounds. The Kronenschlösschen also runs its own cookery school and hosts a variety of events including tastings of rare wines.

For many years, Restaurant Hotel Bistro Hessler on the outskirts of Frankfurt has been offering a combination of high-end, award-winning cuisine and warm hospitality. Since taking over this traditional establishment in 2008, Markus Medler has continued with this philosophy whilst adding some new, young accents of his own. His style focuses on fresh, flavourful creations which exploit regional, seasonal ingredients to the full. The menu covers a wide range of delicious food, from classic to mediterranean and Asian-inspired dishes.

Restaurant Drei Birken in Birkenau is the gastronomic destination at the gateway to the Odenwald forest. Although the culinary standard is high, Drei Birken still feels like a well-kept secret. Karl Gassen cooks in a light, refined style with mediterranean elements and occasional echoes of Asian cuisine. Imaginative fish dishes are menu fixtures, and seasonal produce is always the focal point of the creations.

The Krone in Hetschbach, in the heart of the charming Odenwald forest, combines the relaxed feel of a family-run hotel with the excellent service of an award-winning restaurant. Here, Karl L. Wölfelschneider, whose inspirations are the New World and French/mediterranean cuisine, offers creative dishes made with regionally sourced ingredients. Sommelier Iris Wölfelschneider-Daab serves matching wines and fruit brandies from the orchard.

Award-winning cuisine in the truest sense – Patrick Bittner, a distinguished gourmet chef and master of his art, is chef de cuisine at the Français at Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof. He specialises in fine French cuisine, new interpretations of local specialities and fish dishes that are highly prized by the international clientele. Another highlight is the Français terrace, the perfect place to enjoy a meal and while away the hours with a view of the Frankfurt skyline.

The Silk Bed Restaurant is a culinary, visual and musical union of modern eclectic cuisine, visionary interior design, atmospheric lighting and soft, mellow music. In the Asian and Roman manner, diners sit and lounge on soft leather upholstery. Chef de cuisine Mario Lohninger serves an eleven-course menu, which packs plenty of surprises with its playful combinations and diverse flavour and taste sensations.