Fischers Fritz, 2* Michelin Food, Mitte

In anticipation of dinner at Fischer Fritz: I gave myself a manicure, bought myself a new dress and dusted off my vintage Chanel shoes.

I need not have bothered.

And I will tell you why.

My perception of restaurant dining is an equation that goes roughly something like this price + food + interior design + cutlery + service.  Price point is the first and key determinator because it sets up expectations.  If you are being charged €4 for a sandwich or €65 for lobster two ways, it’s safe to say, your satisfaction threshold will be vastly lower for the first option.  (A few weeks ago, a friend and I donated some cakes to an event here in Berlin and everyone swore up and down that they were the best cakes they had ever eaten; nothing tastes quite as delicious as a freebie!)

Expensive lobster, a €110 4 course tasting menu (€150 for 6 courses) add to that 8+ waiters, heavy silver cutlery and a water menu and I was anticipating some superlative food.

But the food turned out to be much like the dining room itself which featured grand chandeliers, wood-paneled walls, plush carpeting and table flower arrangements of large red roses with their stems cut off in bronze coloured bowls, in a word: old-fashioned.

It was mostly classical french cooking.  My chestnut soup was thin. The crispy baked onsen egg (referring to the Japanese method of cooking eggs in hot springs at a low and constant temperature) was fine, but the chanterelle mushrooms were overly salty, the pea soup was just warm and salty and the luke warm foie gras smeared on the bottom of the plate was an unpleasant surprise. My cod was accompanied by a sauce choron(remember that one? I had to look it up in my Leiths Bible).  The black mushrooms that came with it were salty in the extreme and even me, the human vacuum cleaner, left them on my plate.

When some ‘crazy’ combinations were tried, they were along the lines of adding coriander shoots to the blueberry salad served for dessert (no thank you) or the star anise ice cream that came with the passion fruit panna cotta (blech).

A lot of the dishes came with the sauces in heavy silver sauce boats and the waiter would spoon it onto our plates for us.

Our waiter (conceivably just graduated from a hotel school) was young and very grave. Like he was the bearer of some bad news. It turned out he was, the bill.  Maybe they weren’t used to waiting on such young people (mid thirties since you ask) since everyone else dining that night was considerably older and had much better jewellery (the women all sported enormous diamonds). 

I am eating my way through Berlin, so Fischers Fritz was a destination I had to get to.  And maybe it was an incredible place, once upon a time when Berlin had less to offer.  Today though, if you are going to splurge, treat your sweetheart or eat something you would never be able to make at home: go to Reinstoff (€78 for 5 courses) or if your purse stretches a little more, Tim Raue (€138 for 6 courses).

My husband told me about  a 3 Michelin star restaurant in Wolfsburg (1 hour on the high-speed train) called Aqua.  It’s in the Best Restaurants of the World listing. The pastry chef: Nadja Hartl was named Pastry Chef of the Year 2011, by Gault Millau.  So when my finances recover, that is where I will be going next. That and Margaux, Vau, Facil, the list is long and I accept donations (no, of course not!).

Fischers Fritz
at The Regent Hotel
Charlottenstrasse 49
10117 Berlin-Mitte
030 2033 6363
www.fischersfritzberlin.com

12 Responses to Fischers Fritz, 2* Michelin Food, Mitte

  1. LDN Eats NYC says:

    Sounds very disappointing…..nice shoes though…..so while you were dining on michelin stars i did my first shift on the line last night……I was dreaming pizzas……

  2. Despite your disappointment in their dishes, the presentations are very nice. On two of the photos, there is a little, dusty trail leading off the plate edge. What is that?
    And I love your shoes. What did your dress look like?

    Kathleen

  3. Marguerite says:

    THE SHOES! Seriously!

  4. Giulia says:

    you get a bunch of foodies together and they’ll talk about shoes. Too funny.

  5. Wow. The picture of the room set the tone. How terribly terrible. Not even old fashioned. More like 3-star Italian hotel. And the food! I probably would have put a more optimistic spin on it, but then again the foie gras surprise sounds disgusting. So maybe not. Are they nuts? I hate to be mean, but it sounds like it was not. so. great. The shoes are sweet. After all the drama was also hoping for a hanger mannequin dress shot.

    • You know the food was more or less fine, but I was expecting exciting. I like foie gras but chilled (it is 83% fat after all) with some sharp flavours to cut through its richness.
      The dress, I do have a picture of me in the dress but somehow (must have been the angle or something) it makes me look rather…large. : ) Nothing at all to do with eating as hobby, I’m sure.

  6. Neill Seeto says:

    Dear Suzy,
    my name is Neill Seeto and I am an Australian who has been living in Berlin for a little over 12 months. I recently discovered your blog and absolutely love it - everything from your witty writing style and repartee, to your wonderful pictures and astute recommendations. I agree that Fischers Fritz is a bit like walking into a very chintzy nursing home. You are right on the money in suggestng Tim Raue as an alternate fine dining option. I would also recommend Vau as the setting is lovely, the service a little stuffy and reserved, but the food definitely offers some highlights. I also have a blog http://www.inoubliablemodelarmy.blogspot.com that you may be interested in judging by your lovely vintage Chanel shoes.
    Kind regards,
    Neill.

    • HI Neill,
      Thank you for your comments and for stopping by.
      I do have to go to Vau, absolutely.
      Another restaurant I think is great in Berlin and now has 2 Michelin stars is Reinstoff. (tp://www.reinstoff.eu/willkommen.html) And prices have no relation to Fischers Fritz.

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