Stories Before Jargon
Larissa Andres is co-founder, managing director and host of JOLA. After working as restaurant manager at The Green Garden and TIAN Bistro am Spittelberg, where she met Jonathan, she opened JOLA with him in 2022 and later lara in 2025. She leads the service, drinks programme and business, with a style built on rhythm, stories and personal contact rather than formal wine language. Early on, she gave the non-alcoholic pairing a serious role, at a time when this was still rare in fine dining. She also speaks actively for more women in leadership roles in gastronomy.
“Fine dining has to become more sustainable: in the products, in the use of resources and in the working conditions for the people behind it.”
Jola
JOLA in Vienna is the Michelin-starred restaurant of Jonathan Wittenbrink and Larissa Andres, named after them both. Since opening in March 2022, it has focused fully on vegetable cuisine, with eight tables, an open kitchen and a relaxed atmosphere at Salzgries. Vegetables are not treated as a side element, but as the starting point for new flavour structures. Roots, leaves, mushrooms, herbs and grains are transformed into precise, surprising dishes. Awarded a Michelin star, a Green Star and three toques, JOLA shows how much range and depth plant-based cooking can have.
