Through a swirl of steam rising from the pasta-cooker, a chef asks Mirko Silz if he would like his Asian-style pasta with extra chilli or extra garlic. He declines both, but asks for parmesan, a combination the cook says is unusual – even as he theatrically sprinkles flakes on Mr Silz’s tacchino piccante – spicy turkey – and logs the order in a computer.

The chief executive of Vapiano, Germany’s fastest-growing restaurant chain, smiles as he walks from the long counter, where pasta, pizza and salads are made. He takes a seat at one of the high, oak tables that furnish the cool eatery, fitted out with leather and wood on the ground floor of the chain’s Bonn headquarters.