15 – Dachgarten and Horvath

Posted in Berlin, Germany by Mary Lynne Kupchella

Dachgarten
I booked lunch at Dachgarten as it affords entry into the Reichstag building and certainly seemed easier than trying to figure out how to register to visit otherwise. It is quite the production to get through security and into the building but certainly worth it as the dome is stunning. Lunch was quite good although the prices a bit steep. But consider it the price of admission!

Green rooftop salad – smoked ricotta, cucumber, green asparagus, peas, avocado, wid herbs
Unfortunately I don’t recall all of the ingredients to this dish!

Horvath
I admittedly ended up at Horvath by default as it is the only Michelin starred restaurant in Berlin open on Sundays. Whatever the reason I’m quite glad to have visited. It was a bit of a hike from public transportation and sits along a canal on a slightly difficult to find street. The space was quite cozy and almost felt sort of tavern-ish which was the perfect atmosphere for such a chilly evening. Every course was accompanied by a small card listing the name of the dish and ingredients. I’m actually not sure if these were provided to all tables, or only to me as an English speaker. Either way it was a cute touch and I’m happy to have the detailed description as I am writing this.

broccoli | mustard seeds | garlic
steamed broccoli from the “keltenhof”, white chocolate cream with camelina oil, roasted garlic, sprouted mustard seeds

mushrooms | celery | malt
bread cream, well-hung sour cream, burnt celery root, king oyster mushroom cooked and baked, poppy-seed oil, reduced celery root juice

trout | eggplant | pork chin
raw “lunenburger hiade” trout filet, grilled eggplant with ham-caramel sauce, pork chin and mustard pickle compote, cucumber-yoghurt emulsion, grated iceberg lettuce, cress, smoked greaves

parsley | egg yolk | radish
duck lard emulsion, poached egg yolk, juice and oil from the garden parsley, in beer marinated black radish, frozen radish, wild herbs

veal | root vegetable | chervil
roasted veal “tafelspitz”, root vegetable with meat aspic, pickled flamed yellow carrot, beaten egg bouillon with chervil

hazelnut | molasses | brown butter
salty hazelnut cream, roasted hazelnuts, molasses aspic, sweet hazelnuts and root vegetables, hazelnut oil, fluffy chocolate, nut butter ice cream

22Jun2015

Berlin – 5/9/15 – Tim Raue and NENI

Posted in Berlin, Germany by Mary Lynne Kupchella

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.

15Jun2015

Berlin – 5/8/15 – Reinstoff

Posted in Berlin, Germany by Mary Lynne Kupchella

I never thought I would publish this post after almost losing 2 months worth of photos on my iPhone. An expensive lesson learned….back up frequently. Actually this dinner almost didn’t happen due to a delayed flight and crazy traffic. Then when I finally arrived at Reinstoff horribly late, I discovered that the restaurant had cancelled my reservation after supposedly not being able to reach me to confirm. By some miracle there was an empty table in this relatively small dining room on a friday night. While the overall vibe was quite casual and friendly (and I felt a bit overdressed) service was impeccable. So glad that I did not miss out on this one!

Onion tartlet
Brown trout jerky
Chioggia beet and Mochi
Venison sausage

Black morel in stock, mushroom noodle and fermented shallots

Artichokes, hop sprouts and baby artichokes in beer

Fried veal sweetbreads, peas, young lettuce, apple and liquorice
Quail – leg, mirepoix and gravy

Quail – breast, vegetables in red wine and Mangalitza pork ham

Refresher – Medlar sorbet, fir shoots and orange wine
Goats cheese from fresh to mature with roasted celeriac and pickled strawberries

Asparagus and mocca caramel

Tiramisu, Andraschko coffee and ice cream

10Jun2015

Munich – 5/5/15 – Tantris

Posted in Munich by Mary Lynne Kupchella

I wish I had dined at Tantris on my last trip to Munich, and was kicking myself for not doing so after being fairly disappointed in the places I did visit. I vaguely remember looking at some photos and thinking that the decor may be a bit over the top then rushed to judgement and bypassed it on my to-do list. Not that it doesn’t photograph well, but what I thought was ‘too much’ in photos is just really really cool in person. Such a completely unique dining room that you would think wouldn’t work, but totally does. And despite its very large size manages to feel quite cozy. An overall lovely spring menu! I seem to spend all of my time in Germany trying to avoid spargel, but here I had the first preparation that I actually enjoyed. Fantastic wine pairings including perhaps my favorite riesling in memory.

Variation of tuna with mackerel tatar with white asparagus and yuzu

Red mullet with oak choy, yellow curry-lentil puree and sauce mignonette

Medallion of veal fillet with cabbage, carrots, fresh morels and potato gnocchi

Mousse of brilliant savarin in olive cracker with braised rhubarb

Chocolate dumpling with pineapple-papaya-mango ragout and passion fruit ice cream

19May2014

Munich – 5/19/14 – Ratskeller

Posted in Munich by Mary Lynne Kupchella

The trip is nearing an end and I had yet to eat a sausage. I figured I couldn’t go home and admit to that so it was time to let a colleague take me out for some. For a huge, what I would consider ‘touristy’ place (aka something I would normally avoid at all costs) the food was quite good and the ambience something to be experienced at least once. I skipped the photo of the giant salad which I had just to make myself feel better about all of the meat.

Ratskeller

18May2014

Munich – 5/18/14 – Theresa

Posted in Munich by Mary Lynne Kupchella

If I was here for a bit longer I think I might actually be able to find some decent places (or at least ones better than my initial impressions). I got lucky coming across Theresa inadvertently in some web search for something else. A very cute space, rustic and homey yet slightly industrial and white tablecloths working perfectly with wooden communal tables. I think Germany is probably a few years behind in a proper bloody steak as the menu said all were prepared medium. I was able to request medium rare, which it wasn’t, but very tasty nonetheless and I do appreciate good homemade steak sauce.

Theresa Restaurant

Hugo (prosecco, sparkling water, elderflower syrup, mint, lime)
Baked sheeps cheese – marinated beefsteak tomato, artichoke, olive
Dry aged Black Holstein rib eye from Germany
Caesar salad

13May2014

Munich – 5/13/14 – Spezlwirtschaft

Posted in Germany, Munich by Mary Lynne Kupchella

The ‘business’ portion of this trip began today which limited my dining adventures dramatically. I will say I have a new appreciation for our hated cafeteria at home as if I worked here I would quickly lose weight. I finally gave in to a traditional German meal and my first beers in 3 days.

@Spezlwirtschaft
Rahmfleckerl
Veal schnitzel

11May2014

Munich – 5/12/14 – Bar Gabanyi

Posted in Germany, Munich by Mary Lynne Kupchella

So I guess Munich isn’t the foodie capital of the world. A very late lunch at a super cute place that I wanted to be great. The slushy aperol sour was….a perfect summer drink. The quinoa salad was fine. But the odd steak tartare with burrata I couldn’t even make myself eat. I can’t even let myself think about it while writing this or I may gag.

I had two proper cocktails at Bar Gabanyi which was adorable but I was the only patron for over an hour. I wish it had stayed that way as a group of guys came in, from Chicago, LA and UK and I had to fight off the advances of the LA guy until I could finish my drink and escape. The bartender tried to save me, kudos to him as you don’t see that in NY. I will be back next week.

And as much as it goes against my traveling meal planning, I am now enjoying a quite good shrimp Caesar salad at the hotel bar.

10May2014

Munich – 5/11/14 – Les Deux, Schumanns Bar, Dallmayr

Posted in Germany, Munich by Mary Lynne Kupchella

It’s very hard to believe it’s been about 20 years since I have been here. Day 1 down and I am proud to say I didn’t have a beer or anything from the sausage family. Not that I don’t love both of those things but I want to prove to myself that there is more to this city.

Lunch – Les Deux
Thank you NYT for this one.

Drinks- Schumanns Bar
Where it is a bit odd to see Pegu Club cocktails on the menu.

Dinner – Dallmayr
The only things I will note are (1) in all of my solo dining adventures I have never had the restaurant provide magazines…on the purse stool…I love the idea but didn’t read them as I got 1/2 way through the new Ruth Reichl book and (2) I really don’t like the huge Bavarian white asparagus.