Facil, Restaurant, Berlin

7 points

As I wrote: Weinbar Rutz is my favorite restaurant in Berlin. This is because of its very special concept of a wine bar and a restaurant. If you ran a real competition between the two very exciting chefs, Micheal Kempf’s style is of course different than Marco Müller’s, but both would deserve two Michelin stars (although only Michael Kempf has two (!)).I really see parallels between the two. Like Marco Müller, Michael Kempf uses mostly regional products but is able to combine those with global and modern flavors. Perhaps Michael isn’t so experimental (any more) and less risky but therefore you are on a safer side with him. His cooking creations are remarkable and just wonderful! I’ve never had a really strange culinary experience there, which I actually have had once a while elsewhere.

As much as I like and enjoy food at Facil (http://www.facil.de/) the location is great for lunch but perhaps a bit too modern conservative – if I can say this – for an evening event. It lacks the cozy intimacy which would entice one to spend a whole evening there.

Again, food is fantastic, wine probably as well. But so far I haven’t come across a more restrained sommelier in Berlin. He likely has an amazing amount of experience (otherwise he probably wouldn’t work there), but wine is something emotional. This polite gentleman has no emotions! I guess even if you ordered one of the really best wines of Germany it would be presented as “really solid”.

I recently had lunch there and ate maybe the best dessert ever! It’s named exactly as it tastes and looks: WOOD FLAVOURS – CRANBERRY, CEP and ROSEMARY.

Assembled like a mellow and magical ground of a forest, it smells – unbelievable but true – like everything you would imagine of late summer in a forest. It’s an odor of moss, mushrooms together with vanilla and berries. This dish doesn’t smell like a dish, it smells like a children’s memory or a sweet image of being very close with yourself deep in a woodland. Perhaps the most confusing thing about it is the smell of raw cep / porcino in connection with a dessert.  This is outstanding, remarkable and absolutely amazing.