CôCô - bánh mì deli, Mitte
November 13, 2010 12 Comments
I’ve been to Vietnam twice, to Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. There is some serious good eating to be done in Vietnam. I’m on the same wave length as them as far as taste buds go. They appreciate texture like I do. And have a deft hand at juggling and mingling salty, sour, sweet and heat.
One of the most delicious things I ever ate in Vietnam was sweet pineapple and pomelo dipped in chilli salt. Simple - yet it totally rocked my world!
As with Mediterranean food, it’s hard to get really good Vietnamese food out of Vietnam because so much of it relies on fresh ingredients and varieties which are not available in Europe.
Bánh mì doesn’t have those ingredient constraints. As long as you have a good source for the baguette (which is usually made using a combination of wheat and rice flour), are confident with a mandolin to get those carrots and daikon cut into the matchstick julienne - well then, you can make a pretty good bánh mì. So I was very pleased to hear that CôCô had opened in Mitte.
It’s a slick shop, fitted out in grey, brass and lemon - the colour and the fruit. There is a faux chalk board menu over the open self-service kitchen and neatly printed menus in English by the till.
I had the “Classic” sandwich. It was filled with pâte, pork, vegetables, chili and a dressing that was squirted into the bun. The size of the baguette looked unwieldly but was soft and squashed down to a more manageable size when I pushed down on it.
I am not sure why the word “deli” is in the shop title. As far as I could see, CoCo is a fast food joint that does sandwiches and a small selection of salads. Maybe there are plans to expand it into a deli later? For now, this is a good spot for a quick cheap lunch.
And all those lemons…? Apparently they are going to be turned into a summer drink, when they are ready.
I leave you with this funny picture I took of an art installation in the window of a gallery on Linienstrasse.
CôCô
Rosenthalerstr. 2
10119 Berlin
T: +49.30.24630595
www.co-co.net
Mon – Thurs, Sun 11:00 – 22:00
Fri – Sat 11:00 – 24:00
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Very nice review in English which finally help me understand better than German
In America, “deli” contains fast, take in, take out. If the store is one of the centers of quick break lunch in Berlin, so I guess “deli” means it. However, the good thing about this store is they have spaces like some coffee shop for people staying and discussing during their break or anytime stop by, which is better than some “deli” stores here for just buy, go and they don’t focus much in decoration to impress customers
Thanks for the reviews and picture, I’m looking forward to come to Berlin and enjoy this!
CoCo is located in a very central part of Berlin so it is easy to find if you are visiting from abroad and don’t really know your way around Berlin.
I wish their were more open deli’s in Japan…. if I want GOOD lunch meats, I have to order them = )
I don’t think you can buy the lunch meats without the sandwich at CoCo. That is why I find the “deli” bit confusing. Unless there are plans to do that in the future.
You’ve been to Vietnam twice? Cool! I went only once but years ago when I still knew everything ;P I’d so love to go again…Glad you found a little piece of it in Berlin and glad you liked the interview idea x
As a school boy in Saigon many years ago I ate this “Bánh mì kẹp thịt” quite often and I still love it.
Here in Stuttgart there is no way to get it.
It´s great that people in Berlin can try “Bánh mì kẹp thịt” now. They might love it.
I am lucky, I would be so depressed if all I could get here was standard German fare!
Hey, does anybody know if the baguettea are glutenfree? I read it’s made of ‘reismehl’ (rice flour), but also that it’s often a combination of wheat and rice flour. I would love to try it, so I hope it’s only made of riceflour Thanks!
I don’t know for a fact but the bread is very soft so it could very well be.
Thanks for your reply To be honest, I dont see any correlation between bread being very soft and glutenfree (does there exist any relationship?). I did some further research on the internet and it seems that they use 80% rice flour and 20% wheat to bake the bread. The wheat is necessary to make a good dough. So, it’s not glutenfree unfortunately. Keep up the good work!
Sure. My thinking was that the gluten in traditional bread flour makes the bread chewy & sometimes hard, something rice flour probably wouldn’t do.