Berlin – 5/10/15 – Dachgarten and Horvath

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

Berlin – 5/9/15 – Tim Raue and NENI

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.
   
  
    

Berlin – 5/8/15 – Reinstoff

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