District Môt, Saigon Street Food, Mitte

May 16, 2013 2 Comments

District MotSo District Môt.  On the former site of Chi Sing and from the people who brought us Si An Trà Café and Chén Chè Tea House.  The design is like being whacked in the face with a bag of obvious.  District Mot

It’s street food – so the whole place is meant to emulate that.  I’ve eaten street food in Vietnam and the experience is really not complete without the stench of Durian, a table of expired canines piled high with an oblivious boisterous puppy frolicking happily next to it (which makes me think the Universe is not a nice guy).  Oh and your eyelids should be stuck firmly open with sweat, so that to blink means to exert super human power.  For good measure, there should be a street urchin circling around you trying to sell you a) a bottle of tap water, its seal deceptively but meticulously glued back together, b) what looks like the Rough Guide but inside contains blank pages (actually fell for this), c) a tour.District Mot

You’re not going to get authentic and that’s fine.  If you can still get good.

But can you?

There were some dishes I liked at Chi Sing.  Enough that I took some friends from London the winter before last.  But the food was bland at best and plain old bad in other cases.  And the service was obnoxious.  That’s how it was with Chi Sing, I never knew which side of the coin I was going to get.

What to expect with District Mot?  More of the same I believe.

Mango saladI went for lunch, ordered three small dishes (€4 each).  The green mango salad was in fact ripe mango salad with what looked like Mickey Mouse ears, delicious all the same – although fish sauce and lime juice could probably make styrofoam taste good. Read more of this post

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Sayuri, Japanese Food, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf

May 1, 2013 2 Comments

SayuriI can always think of somewhere to go to in Mitte.  Or even Kreuzberg or Neukölln because someone or other has written about where to eat.

In fact, the other day I was thinking that were I not otherwise occupied with the twins and Layla, Berlin is ripe for opening something up.  Especially if you are an expat and you can tap into the mostly tame social community.  You don’t even have to spend money on a website since a Facebook page is more appealing to most – stating “we are a small enterprise that only spends money on stuff that matters”.Salmon But what about the other Berlin, one that is not aware about the “Rant” article the Exberliner wrote and the subsequent storm in a teacup (see comments in überlin) reaction it produced?

They eat just fine.  At places like Sayuri.  Where you can get grilled mackerel with skin so crispy it audibly shatters.  Where the rice is plump, resistant and shimmering with just enough vinegar dressing. Read more of this post

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Cocoro, Japanese Cafe, Kreuzberg

April 25, 2013 1 Comment

CocoroI feel like we are starting to have real choice in Berlin.  Gone are the days where lunch options were limited to schnitzel, ungainly maultaschen or the abiding curry wurst.  We have a street food market, how San Francisco of us!  We’ve got so many pop ups it’s like that video game with the moles or rabbits or whatever.  On Sunday I went to Gourmandise 3rd pop up at the Beta House where there were at least a hundred people queing with their Tupperware (as requested by the organizers) to buy cake.  I can’t afford to throw away a half hour to line up for cake when I’ve got a babysitter on the clock at home.  Instead,  I went round the corner to the adorable Ganz Wien and had coffee on a silver tray and found the lopsided home-made Sacher Torte endearing.
Ganz Wien, KreuzbergSomething else is happening. The bubble tea shops are closing en masse, leaving plenty of well-appointed store fronts for rent. On Mehringdamm strasse a Japanese Kitchen named Cocoro has opened. I nipped in on that first sunny Sunday to grab coffees on the way to our maiden visit to Tempelhof Freiheit (I know! It’s taken me 3 years to visit!).Salad at CocoroI was dubious about the extensive menu of beverages on the wall. Listing everything from coffees, to matcha soya latte (€3.60 -had it, not for me) or that David Rio Chai brand I would sooner associate with the Balzac chain then someplace I might want to eat. I saw cakes from Nazuna, organic power bars from Foodloose and macarons from Makrönchen.  IMG_2081
I’m suspicious of too much choice. Often, the more choice there is, the poorer the quality is. This is true for fashion and for food.  But then I saw a copy of Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss and that made me decide on the spot to have lunch there. Read more of this post

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Opening of Sra Bua by Tim Raue, Pan Asian Food, Mitte

April 14, 2013 4 Comments

Opening of Sra Bua BerlinI have no idea how I got on the Sra Bua opening party mailing list. But somehow I did.

It’s conceivable that somewhere on the invitation it said ‘black tie’ but I was too busy marvelling at the mysteries of PR lists.  I put on my pink corduroy trousers, (my favorite pair of orange jeans from Comptoir des Cotonniers being in the wash).  I paired them with a blue t-shirt and a blue and white striped sweater.
The red carpet at Tim Raue opening The extensive red carpet was my first clue that I might have gotten it wrong. The wall of big men, in black overcoats, earpieces and walkie talkies that closed in on me with a look on their face that said “The Brandenburg Gate is that way honey.” was the second one.  Some Sra Bua tastersInside, I find that they have kept the interior of former Uma intact, minus the central point of the horse which has been replaced by another sculpture.The red carpet from the insideAs I have arrived at 7:30, I initially have good access to the miniature signature dishes being passed around. Half an hour in though, it’s become a free for all. Tim Raue, himself is being jostled around by elegant guests with feral eyes shoving past him to get at the food.  If he’s here, who is in the kitchen, I wonder?  The kitchen at Sra BuaDaniel Lengsfeld, I find out.  (A former Tim Raue sous chef that went on to cook at a place called “Katz Orange“.)  Because Sra Bua (a Kempinski brand restaurant of which there are already 3 in existence  around the world) is merely interpreted by Tim Raue.  On most days you will find him on the pass at his 2 Michelin star Restaurant Tim Raue.Salmon with grapefruit Sra Bua Read more of this post

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Mogg & Melzer, Delicatessen, Mitte

April 11, 2013 6 Comments

The hallway outside Mogg & MelzerI once attended a wedding where I was thoughtfully placed next to another woman with whom I had a lot in common. The two of us should have had a convivial evening. Instead we were like two positively charged magnets, repelling each other no matter how hard we  tried.

Equally confounding was my experience with Mogg & Melzer. A delicatessen in a former Jewish girls school, the hallway dressed in emerald-green tiles that go positively Wizard of Oz in hue when they catch the sun.  A place that serves a chicken liver creme brûlée.  What’s not to love?The space at Mogg & MelzerExcept I found the pastrami sandwich dry and didn’t touch the bland coleslaw.  The volume of the music was better suited to “I’m home alone packing up the flat” than a public space where people were trying to socialize.

That was 3 months ago.  I went back again this week.  And although I was irked that the solitary waitress was asking about my drink order before I had even taken off my coat (for the rest of the meal she would be mostly MIA) the two women in the corner were sharing a shakshuka that appeared to be delicious.Caesar salad, Mogg & MelzerThe menu reads really well.  I was torn between the golden beet & goats cheese salad (€6.50) and the Balsamic lentils, baked Crottin de Chavignol & wild herbs (€11).  (I’ll readily admit that when I read the descriptions, I imagined La Fromagerie calibre salads.) The menu at Mogg & MelzerI went for the lentils with the crottin. I received a plate with a stingy ladleful of lentils, doused in too much balsamic vinegar served on a papadum (?) . The wild herbs turned out to be a few leaves of bagged salad so generic they hardly needed a special mention on the menu. I forgot the lentils came with a crottin until I started to prod what looked like a mummified egg yolk perched on top.Lentils with goats cheese
That was the crottin? This crottin? And if it was the famous Crottin de Chavignol of the Loire Valley, how had its mottled exterior turned smooth and why exactly was it orange – instead of white or even white with blue?

Can I chalk up my lukewarm experience to a dud dish? Read more of this post

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Big Stuff Smoked BBQ, Arte Sucre (Macarons) & More, Markthalle Neun, Kreuzberg

April 7, 2013 4 Comments

Big Stuff Smoked BBQSylee suggested we meet at Markthalle Neun on Saturday.  ”I’m obsessed with the place!” she enthused.

It’s evolved considerably since my last visit.  The USP’s of the stands are distinct from one another and reel the Markthalle Neun consumer mercilessly hook, line and sinker.The pulled pork sandwich At Big Stuff Smoked BBQ, there is a line of hungry punters wrapped around the corrugated shack, as tinny Charleston music blares from speakers located somewhere behind the chicken wire that makes up a big part of the shop.  The Italian girl at the cashier is wearing a flat cap, her sweater sleeves are pushed to the elbows exposing a full arms worth of shirt sleeves – she looks like she should be hitching a ride on the back of a Ford Model T truck circa 1920.  I inch ever closer to the guy with the black latex gloves pulling pork apart for the sandwiches.

Sadly for me, Big Stuff has had a good day and they have sold out of everything except the pulled pork sandwich, so I miss out on the matt aluminum tray loaded with mounds of sauerkraut and squirts of bbq sauce (€12 for the regular, €16 for the large).  I get the pulled pork sandwich (€5.50) and a side of smoked potato (€1).  It’s good.  Not shredded to the point of resembling candy floss the way I experienced at Pitt Cue in London but delicious in a less complicated way.  My mother has her sandwich with a glass of ale from Heiden Peters. A beer from HeidenpetersI appreciate that the brains behind Markethalle Neun have been considerate enough to provide ample seating, with feisty coloured plastic chairs so I don’t have to scan the hall long before finding somewhere to sit.Mini macarons from Arte SucreLayla choses to get her sugar fix from Arte Sucre in the form of mini macarons (heaven preserve us from trending sweets: whoopie pies, cake pops, marshmallows – I mean you!). As I try to identify and retrieve the perennial coffee flavoured one, the French woman selling them begins to rattle off flavours: lemon, cassis, chocolate, mandarin mint…

Mandarin with mint? I think, intrigued as I immediately commandeer that flavour and take half a bite.  The other half I hand to Sylee.  ”These are good right?”.

Her eyes grow round. “Really good.” she agrees. I turn on my heel and return to Arte Sucre, this time to buy a pretty box of choux buns (6 for €7.80) to go with our excellent coffees from Kantine 9.

Choux pastry buns Read more of this post

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Steckerlfisch & Co, At markets around Berlin

March 31, 2013 7 Comments

Steckerlfisch & CoThe chorizo sandwich at Brorough Market is something my husband and I used to regularly queue for.  The paprika laced smoke that wafted over our way stoked our appetites.  Waiting for my grilled mackerel to come off the grill at Steckerlfisch easily replicates and possibly even surmounts that happy anticipation. Knitted column hats

Put it this way; it’s the thing I was most looking forward to eating upon my return to Berlin.Mise en place at Steckerlfisch

There is trout, char and squid but it’s the mackerel I’m here for.  It’s flavourful flesh stands up effortlessly to strong flavours and it takes to any number of combinations as long as they too are robust.  It can take the smoke raising up from the coals, until its silver fresh turns to copper riddled with black blisters.  The guys at Steckerlfisch are generous with the salt and there is a shower of paprika besides.  When the fish is ready, it is ‘plated’ on some thick white paper.  With a sploge of seaweed by its tail, some coarsely chopped red onion, another blob of dill mayonnaise underneath the gills, horseradish, lemon wedges and a white semmel roll sporting smoky grill marks and making even me (not a lover of the semmel) to devour them hungrily.  The composition is one I might find in Layla’s drawings and that adds to the appeal.  Steckerlfisch mackerel
Read more of this post

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Goodbye Dubai!

March 25, 2013 2 Comments

Goodbye Dubai

It’s been grand. Really it has.

When I left Berlin, post babies, in the middle of  winter (which I hear is still going on despite it being Spring now) and bout after bout of sickness – I was feeling low. I blamed it on motherhood. I blamed it on hormones. I blamed it on the weather. I blamed it on Berlin. I blamed it on whoever was in my line of vision at the time of blame attribution.Lunch at our favorite LebaneseTwo months of sun, help with the babies and friendly locals have done wonders. This morning I was speaking to someone about opening a shop with adorable baby clothing handmade in Burma.  A  little while later I sent an email off to a friend about travel plans. Anything seems possible, again.

I don’t know who those guys are by the way.  They simply walked up to us and asked to be photographed with the twins.

This is what the Middle East does so well.  Friendliness.  Hospitality.  Fun.  Irreverence.  Lots of silliness. The Lime Tree CafeIt’s why they can have places like Scoozi, a restaurant that serves Italian and Sushi.  Neither are particularly good-by the way but sometimes food is just food.  I eat the avocado maki and complain that the tempura is all uncooked carrots and onions until my husband tells me to pipe down because I am giving him indigestion.  He’s right sometimes it’s about having a good time, somewhere close to home, where the twins can sqwuak and flap like baby birds and liter the floor with breadsticks.Arabic breakfast at The Lime Tree Cafe Read more of this post

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Peshwa, Maharastrian food, Karama – Dubai

March 20, 2013 1 Comment

Peshwa“Yemeni, Maharastrian or Malwani for lunch?” Arva asks me.
All of it! I want to say. Despite my palette being unable to conjure impressions of what any of that food will taste like. 1 hour of googling later and I still have no idea.
“I’ll leave it to you.” I answer.
She choses Maharastrian, a South Indian kitchen with an emphasis on vegetables and fish.

Kothimbir WadiWe are here specifically to try the Bombay duck, which is actually a fish that also goes by the name bummalo- you wouldn’t want to meet this fish walking home at night.  They don’t have it that day, Arva discoveres after chatting with the waiter in Urdu.  She orders the Kingfish instead, which comes in thin steaks, battered and fried with a coating of notascrunchyasitshouldbe semolina batter.  A small ceramic tub of tamarind sauce accompanies it.  And we can help ourselves to the tins of sliced onions, cheeks of the miniature lemons they eat here and a chutney.  I take a spoonful of the chutney and shove the whole thing in my mouth. And visibly recoil from the pungent pickle.

“Ah – you are just supposed to dip into it.” Arva explains.

I deploy a more cautious approach for the remainder of the dishes.

Pithla, bharli wangi, jack fruit 'salad'

The neatly lined up squares of gram flour fritters or Kothimbir Wadi are crunchy and hard to stop eating.

My favourite dish is Pithla; bright yellow, coloured by turmeric and chickpea flour and cooked to the consistency of smooth porridge. It’s riddled with mustard seeds – an indication, Arva tells me, that we are moving further South in Indian cooking. As it sits on the table and cools, a skin begins to form. I’m a big lover of skins be they on Romanian ciulama, cornflour thickened Spanish hot chocolate, custard and now Pithla.  I eat and eat – sigh (from pleasure and exertion) and eat some more.

“This is a kind of comfort food.” Avra smiles.

It certainly makes me feel better. Read more of this post

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Frying Pan Adventures, Food Tour, Dubai

March 10, 2013 5 Comments

Avra serving Egyptian falafelI hesitate before booking Arva’s North African Food Safari because it’s in the evening and I can’t justify disrupting 3 children’s night-time routine just so I can eat for curiosity’s sake. Luckily for me, my husband has no such qualms and books the tour for me. (That’s one of the reasons I picked him- he may not be a house husband and he’s probably only changed 30 diapers in the 4 years and three children we’ve had together but he has a knack of recognizing that critical point where I need to be given a nudge or more likely a shove).

Delivery from Al AmoorI meet the group in the bachelor section of Deira. An odd collection of restaurants with garish signs which are interspersed at regular intervals by bustling barber shops. I feel like the only woman on earth, circling the restaurant waiting for the group to appear.

Arva counting down the top 10 spices in Moroccan foodThen I see the blur of movement that are Arva’s arms as she excitedly explains something to the two women in sensible walking shoes flanking her, oblivious to their surroundings as she draws them in with countless anecdotes.

We settle down to our first tasting. Crunchy brik stuffed with tuna and an egg, its yolk oozing out brightly as we cut into it. While we eat, she hands out her iPad so we can watch a video of a woman making warka pastry.

IMG_1729The tour is 350 AED (€73) for 4 hours.  I was expecting an informal evening, where Arva would show us her places and we would chat.  Instead it’s an extremely well-organized tour.  We are given a branded Frying Pan Adventures bottle cooler, wet wipes and a pamphlet of illustrated vocabulary words that we encounter during our eating adventure.  It doesn’t stop there, Arva peppers all her explanations of food with relevant historical facts.

At the Egyptian restaurant Al Amoor over a plate of fava falafel and koshari one of the women in the tour turns around and asks me if I am ok because I am very quiet.  I get even quieter.  Normally you can’t shut me up, I interrupt frequently and rarely realize in time to apologise but around Arva there is so much to learn that I even – wait for it – take out a pen and paper to jot down some notes.

IMG_1719At Tajeen Alfassi she asks to smell the Ras El Hanout and the men that work there start smiling. “They will always smile when you say Ras El Hanout because it used to contain Spanish Fly.” There is a murmur of laughter from the group. I open up my notebook and jot down Spanish Fly?.  (It’s an aphrodisiac)

IMG_1738We try Omani Halwa which is a rose scented sweet not unlike the gunge that sticks to your teeth after eating Jelly Beans.  At first I think, “No.” but it’s surprisingly moreish.  ”They eat it for weddings and funerals.” Arva tells us.  I eat it for dessert the next day with yogurt and the contrast of sweet room temperature stickiness with the cold sour yogurt – heaven – two better bedfellows never existed. Read more of this post

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