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Alexander van Dülmen

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Skykitchen, Restaurant, Berlin

Skykitchen, Restaurant, Berlin, Germany

7 points

Alexander Hoppe has Richard’s deer. Which is funny because a few days before I finally made it to Skykitchen Berlin, I visited Richard, another Michelin star restaurant in Berlin, and there was no deer there – see here my review about Richard Richard, Restaurant, Berlin

Not that you should get the impression that I go exclusively to starred restaurants, but Berlin makes it quite easy, given that there are a total of 21 restaurants with altogether 28 stars – more than any other city in Germany and currently in 12th place in the world, and in Europe coming in right after Paris, London, and Brussels at number four! This said, I do not think that restaurants are necessarily better just because they have a star. There are many I’ve visited in past years they would easily get one from me, if I were a tester. But there are many cities and places in world that Michelin does not even test. And since I’m not ruining the career of a chef or a winemaker because I may not like what I’m served, with my recommendations you can take them or leave them. A friend from Los Angeles recently visited Brawn in London (Brawn, Restaurant, London) and enjoyed it very much. It is not listed among the almost 80 restaurants with a star there. And it’s certainly interesting to see how different all of the Berlin Michelin star restaurants are – or what makes them similarly unique on the other hand. This kind of field research is best done in my current hometown.

Skykitche view

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Layla, Restaurant, Berlin

Layla, Restaurant, Berlin, Germany

6,5 points

6 by Alexander van Dülmen

Already the third time: another review by best friend Elisabeth Burghardt – this time about a new hot-spot restaurant in Berlin

It’s been a few years now that Israeli chefs have been leaving their mark on the international culinary scene, especially with their imaginative use of traditional oriental ingredients, spices and herbs. Foodies across the world have become devoted disciples of stars like Yotam Ottolenghi, Gal Ben Moshe or Meir Adoni. The latter, well-known for his hugely popular restaurants in Tel Aviv and New York, has just recently opened Layla, a new hotspot smack in the middle of Berlin.

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Richard, Restaurant, Berlin

Richard, Restaurant, Berlin, Germany

Point 6,5

Having already heard several times about Richard, at some point it got through to me and I wondered why these mentions had actually intensified in the past few months. Perhaps it has to do with the innovations of the chef: Christian Schagerl has been cooking there since mid-2017 and changed (as it is described in some articles) the type of cuisine, and therefore the direction of the restaurant. Obviously very successfully, as he managed to avoid disappointing his audience while meanwhile the restaurant has steadily become more popular.

The best proof for this introduction is my friend Susanne Wuest (her main profession is acting). Popular restaurateur Sarah Wiener (from Austria, like Susanne) once told her that she was anorexic, which was really a remarkable insult, knowing Susanne’s sense of good food and the reliable joy she takes in sending me an sms once in a while with tips for good restaurants in London, Berlin or anywhere else she may be. Just two days before I finally went to Richard, she recommended it to me.

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To The Bone, Restaurant & Bar, Berlin

To The Bone, Restaurant & Bar, Berlin, Germany

6 points

4 points by Alexander van Dülmen

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I am very pleased to have Till Schmerbeck writing a review of one of our last dinners – this one at one of Berlin’s newest hot-spots called ToTheBone. Not only that he is a “to be on the go” producer – his latest success was German Horror “Heilstätten”, he is also someone who really enjoys food and wine. Here his review: 

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Today we meet in Berlin’s trendy Mitte district. Anyone who opens a restaurant here should have a clear idea that the audience in the tough selection of culinary options in this area may honor. TO THE BONE at Torstr. 96 stands fancy in red neon above the entrance. The room concept and interior are similar to the successful localities such as CORDOBAR and TORBAR, where an opulent counter hits in the middle and the dining tables are around or in the back. Here, too, a sense of community should arise and almost everyone is allowed to examine your plate. A flirt with the most international guests can be tried even from the table.

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Kreuzberger Himmel, Restaurant, Berlin

Kreuzberger Himmel, Restaurant, Berlin, Germany

6 points

Kreuzberger Himmel: not only a commendable but also honorable dining experience, because this is not a classic restaurant, but a special refugee and integration project in Berlin. Getting to know each other and listening is certainly the basic requirement for understanding other cultures and thus not only tolerating other cultures, but also the basis for learning from other cultures. Those who are unwilling to learn will wither away, as we unfortunately must experience today, even to the extent that it becomes frightening and anxious. Even the AFD, a party of the mentally stunted, has moved into our parliament: the German Bundestag. Usually I only write here about the most beautiful and good things in our lives: wine and food. That’s how it will continue to be. Just as I once wrote a derogatory word about Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, I will not let it change my mind about another experience in Hungary (https://avdwineandfood.net/2017/10/13/magnus-merlot-2011-villa-tolnay/#more-6484).

The integration of more than one million refugees who came to Germany two years ago is undoubtedly one of the greatest social challenges of recent German history. There are certainly many ways that integration can work, but a few things are undeniably true: firstly, it does not happen as quickly as many might have wished or imagined. (I mean, one does not learn a foreign language in a few weeks.) Second, integration costs money, because all the measures that lead to integration cannot be provided by volunteers, in a number of areas of course professionals are needed.

It is all the more beautiful to see that there are many successful projects and initiatives that the irresponsible reporters and editors of the Bild newspaper seem never to have heard of. These kind of yellow press papers would rather report on the problematic cases among the millions of refugees, on individuals who’ve committed serious crimes or gone into criminality. In these papers I haven’t read  about any good projects, such as the Kreuzberger Himmel!

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It is a Syrian restaurant in Berlin’s district called Kreuzberg (https://www.kreuzberger-himmel.de/) and it is run by refugees from Syria: the chef and his team, the waiters, all have their own escape history and today present part of the culture of their homeland: Syrian food. This initiative is supported by a cooperative association with the fabulous name Be An Angel e.V., behind which is a selection of more or less prominent honorary volunteers (https://beanangel.direct/) .  Continue reading “Kreuzberger Himmel, Restaurant, Berlin” →

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Jägerklause, Berlin

Jägerklause, Biergarten and Pub, Berlin, Germany

very bad

If you are good-looking and wearing a white shirt and you go to a beer garden with a wonderful female director in Berlin Friedrichshain, do not go into Jägerklausel.

If, however you want to meet frustrated pseudo-left arnachos whose latest self-discovery is a full-body tattoo and a whole toolbox of piercings in their face to distract from their fake, bad skin in her face or between her chin and dropping bosoms and who consider everyone useless except for themselves,

so, basically, if you want to experience embarrassing characters who serve lukewarm Löwenbräu and sell a lousy piece of meat as pork steak, who make fun of women, because they are stupid and don’t know that Berliner Pils is bitter and Heineken, the worst beer in the world, is sweet,

if you want to experience a Nazi war dog accompanied by an alleged anti-fascist puffing,

if you want to experience the escalation of Berlin BVG rudeness, if you want to observe seehoferische self-gloriousness in black hooded sweaters,

Then this is your place!

A self-proclaimed scenster place, but very embarrassing in real life. This is not a beer garden. Neither is it an animal garden, because zoo keepers treat their animals better than the egocentric Stalinist clique of the Jägerklausel treats their guests.

This is the most fucked-up place I have visited in Berlin in a very, very long!

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Jägerheim Ützdorf – Hotel & Restaurant Liepnitzsee, Ützdorf

Jägerheim Ützdorf – Hotel & Restaurant Liepnitzsee, Ützdorf, Germany

3,5 points

Berlin is surrounded by a region called Brandenburg. I wrote about it once already, please see this post: Philippsthal, Restaurant, Philippsthal. Brandenburg boasts beautiful nature but from a culinary perspective, it is somewhat barren. Because of the beauty of the land, it is certainly worth leaving Berlin once in a while to enjoy pure nature.

After a recent walk around the Liepnitzsee (a lake to the north of Berlin) I passed an inn with a very simply but plausible name: Hotel & Restaurant Liepnitzsee.

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Omoni, Restaurant, Berlin

Omoni, Japanese Restaurant, Berlin, Germany

5,5 points

It’s not exactly news that one can always discover a great new place in Berlin — if one only searches. The press and the internet often outdo each other in reviewing the latest restaurants and bars, so I should probably refrain from writing about Berlin’s restaurants if I’m looking to get any attention with this blog. But since this is not my motivation in writing, I of course will continue to write about what I want, including interesting or less interesting places, also those in Berlin. And if I look at the stats of my blog, it always surprises me to see which articles are read more and which less. I don’t really see any particular logic behind it, since there aren’t subjects that would seem to connect the interest of the readers. So, it isn’t that the reports about wine necessarily have more readers than reviews about restaurants. If the place is rather unknown or not many people wrote about it before or posted about it on any social network, then it happens that my review appears among top 5 in google or other search engines. But again, this doesn’t mean so much, since my handful of reviews of Bordeaux wines are all pretty popular, although many reviewers have written about these same wines. The good thing about this realization is that you can just write about anything and if you do that — and make it entertaining enough, hopefully — you will find one reader or another. As said, I’d like to continue writing only about my personal and, thus, of course, subjective experiences and insights. Continue reading “Omoni, Restaurant, Berlin” →

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Jungbluth, Restaurant, Berlin

Jungbluth, Restaurant, Berlin, Germany

5,5 points

You won’t find all of Berlin’s best restaurants in the city’s center or only in trendy areas. The diversity and, in a certain sense, the attractiveness of particular parts of the city is reflected in their culinary possibilities, and this of course goes beyond Mitte and the West. I’ve already reviewed a few of these restaurants, for example „Bieberbau“ in Wilmersdorf (Bieberbau, Restaurant, Berlin).

Michelin bestows not only stars but also the Bib Gourmand Award disctinction. This happens to be a really good thing, and is given to restaurants whose culinary offering is solid and high quality, although not on the level of Michelin-starred places.

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And this is what brought the Michelin testers to try Jungblut, a restaurant located in Berlin-Steglitz. The fact that I was willing to go all the way to Steglitz for a restaurant should demonstrate the faith I have in their recommendations. I mean, no one really wants to go to Steglitz, though of course there are some lovely spots there, as in every other part of Berlin.  Excluding, of course, Spandau!

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Weinbar Rutz, Restaurant, Berlin (3rd review)

Weinbar Rutz, Restaurant, Berlin, Germany

8 points

There’s really not much more for me write about Marco Müller and his restaurant Weinbar Rutz in Berlin? Or is there?

Last November, Rutz joined the very exclusive circle of Michelin two-star restaurants in Berlin – and with that, Marco is to be counted among the best chefs in Germany. I recently tasted his current menu and am, once again, as enthusiastic about his culinary artistry as I am impressed by his enthralling creations. He certainly engages with the “regional” trend, while managing to avoid the excessive dogmatism of some others in Berlin, such as Einsunternull (Einsunternull, Restaurant, Berlin) – right around the corner.

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Panama, Restaurant, Berlin

Panama, Restaurant, Berlin, Germany

6,5 points

6 points by Alexander van Dülmen

IMG-20170509-WA0001I am pleased that my friend and acclaimed script-writer Elisabeth Bartel accepted my invitation not only for a dinner at Panama but also to write her first review on my blog. 

Working on a screenplay with the word “Panama” in the title, it was kind of obvious that “Panama”, a fairly new restaurant in Berlin’s center, would be the ideal fit for dinner. Already when you enter the enchanted back yard, off a busy stretch of Potsdamer Straße, you feel you have come to a special place. We were lead to the second floor, which houses the main part of the mid-size restaurant with the half-open kitchen behind large glass windows. The atmosphere is bright and easy going but also quite loud, catering to a younger, international crowd.

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Brunello di Montalcino – Madonna del Piano, 1993

Brunello di Montalcino – Madonna del Piano, Valdicava da Vincenzo Abbruzzese, 1993, red wine from Italy

7 points

Drinking wine, enjoying wine is so often also an emotional experience. Particularly if it’s a good wine! There are these special moments in life when you know afterwards why life is so beautiful, sometimes so grandiose …. Berlin, one of “the” towns of the world, Friday night, finishing work late, hungry for a “platform” for the transition from a heavy working week to a weekend! Relaxation is needed, but you cannot simply decree this to yourself. Too hyper to sleep, but also too tired to sleep.

Music is another element of emotional cognition. Friendship, too. On a recent Friday night, I rang the bell of Nobelhart & Schmutzig after midnight – a nice welcome, without any attitude like “hey, we are just cleaning up, almost closed, it’s “nice” to see you, but…”. Crossed the cleaned public kitchen area, seated at the bar next to Billy, who asked what I would like. Red. I got Adrianna Occhipinti. Sicilian wine. Wine experts among readers know it, and probably also know that this is a very good wine. I need to write about it, as this is also one of my favorite Italian winemakers. More importantly, someone tries to describe your sentiment, combines it with their own, the wine is in the bottle, and it smells delicious – although you already know it, or is it because you know it?

The restaurant is almost shut down for the night, the rest of the staff leaving, saying good night. Reduced light, the blue reflection of the screen of your friend’s laptop and – excellent music! A conversation among friends is never something about only one subject but so many at the time. A mixture of private, professional, daily, but also long-term things, all at once, slowed down by every sip of wine.

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