Wine and Food

Restaurant, Il Pane e le Rose or as everyone in Berlin knows it: Brot und Rosen, Berlin, Germany

4 points

Every third guest of this place probably is patron and from the direct neighborhood. Located along a street which is the border between a lovely park (Friedrichshainer Volkspark) and Berlin sub-district Bötzowviertel this restaurant faces a lot of competition as mentioned “Viertel” – area – is rich of different restaurants, bars and inns.

It is not a top cuisine or high-end restaurant. It is rather like a nice living room of the neighborhood with very decent and sometimes even surprising food. The interior is simple but very likeable styled, wooden floor, wooden table with white blankets out of paper (wonderful for all kids!) – a little bit like a trattoria rather than a restaurant.

Consequently referring to the name cuisine is Italian, Il Pane e le Rose is owed by an Italian who lives in Berlin probably even longer than in his home country.  He sometimes sulks through the tables, oversees the service, helps out but is in distance to his costumers.  The staff is always very friendly and hasn’t changed for very long – another good signal for me in regard to a commendable restaurant.

Doubtless food is good quality. Selected dishes are sometimes surprisingly inspirational. Many ingredients are homemade. Southern Italian and even sometimes oriental flavors are a refreshing difference to comparable restaurants like Il Pane e le Rose. Offers are changing according to the seasons except of course pizza.

There are always three to five appetizers, some rather classic as Vitello tomato or more fancy as a asparagus salad with strawberries.  Primi piatti: of course pasta – aside of my favored simply tagliatelle with truffle you can find some real Mediterranean preparation with fish or mussels. As Secondi piatti you usually can choose among one vegetarian dish and two each with fish and two each with meat. It is nice to see that they prepare a lot of chicken.

The wine selection is appropriate to this place! No actually it isn’t bad. There are some delicious wines which aren’t too often offered like a Greco di Tufo.

Interestingly there is no webpage! This is the phone-number if you like to make a reservation which I would recommend for Friday and Saturday night: +49304231916.