Tim Raue
Some friends had been to Berlin a few weeks before me and Tim Raue was their favorite dinner of the trip.  While I was visiting for a much shorter period of time and could only fit in 2 of Berlin’s 2* restaurants, I was certainly looking forward to this one and it exceeded my expectations.  I love encountering things I haven’t seen in other restaurants, such as the very cool tables with inlaid linen tablecloths – the perfect way to make a white table cloth completely modern.  Beautiful plates and plating and an overall absolutely delicious dinner.  I could go into much more detail, but suffice it to say this will be my first stop on any future trips.

Unfortunately I did not write down descriptions of all of the initial courses.

Green asparagus
violet | coriander
boiled green asparagus, butter & green thai chili, coriander coconut cream, mango

Pikeperch
kamebishi soy 10y | leek & ginger
steamed pikeperch, butter, spring leek & young pickled finer, stock of 10 year aged kamebishi soy sauce


Langoustine
wasabi | caantonese style
stock made from fish sauce, mango & carrot, langoustine turned over in starch flour and deep fried in wok, marinated with wasabi mayonnaise & deep fried green rice

Pork chin
papaya | nuac mam
smoked pork chin, jus from smoked paprika, nuoc mam jelly, carrot raw & cream, pickled papaya, sour tomato, trevisano salad, basil

Manny’s beef
beetroot | morel
manny’s dry aged beef shoulder, morel stock, braised beetroot, as jelly & meringue with morel mash, pearl onion pickled in port vinegar, green thai pepper

Strawberries
pondicherry pepper | basil
raw gariguettes strawberries, woodruff jelly & woodruff meringue, rhubarb-strawberry stock, ice-cream, pondicherry pepper oil


  
And my favorite wine of the evening

 
NENI
I’ve switched the order of lunch and dinner here because I just couldn’t start this post looking at this meal. Its rare that I have a meal that I would describe as horrid and leave hungry. NEHI is located on the top floor of the Hotel Bikini and was close to my hotel (and appeared on a recent Eater heatmap) so I decided to check it out for lunch. When I got on the elevator and it was full of tourists, I should have been tipped off that this would not be good. Ufortunately the only thing NEHI has going for itself is the gorgeous view. For the only time on this trip I felt like I was being ignored by waitstaff as I was alone. I received most of my food before I had even received my drink which is an immediate indicator that nothing is prepared to order. The salads were so horribly overdressed that they were literally swimming in liquid and one of my dishes was entirely forgotten but appeared on my bill. I left here starving, and went back to my hotel where I had some absolutely amazing hummus.