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Berlin Eats Max And Moritz

Donny — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:04:15 +0000

My friend’s friend that lives in Berlin recommended Max and Moritz for a real Deutsch meal. It’s name after a very popular illustrated story that was published in 1865 about Max and Moritz playing pranks on people. So how good is a restaurant that named itself after two pranksters? Well…..

After what seem like forever walking around Kreuzberg trying to find this place because T’s friend gave her the wrong address it didn’t matter where we ate anymore but we pushed on. After a good 30mins of wandering around we finally found the damn place. Once I walked in I felt like I was transported to another place. Kreuzberg was quite a trendy hood but Max and Moritz felt more like a homey sort of place. Wooden floors, a grand wooden bar, tall ceilings, warm, people sitting around enjoying the atmosphere, food and each other. We were told that our table will be ready in 15mins or so so we grabbed a drink at the bar. While at the bar we were flipping through the menu. Each page contained illustrations from the original story, it was like I was flipping through the story but with descriptions of their entrees and soups. Finally we got a table. We were seated in the middle of the room which I was able to see the front and the back of the place. This place definitely was made to accommodate big groups because well there were loads of big groups in the restaurant.
But after more than 30mins none of the waitress came by to take our order while most of the people around us were enjoying their food. Everything looked so good. A plate of meatballs strolled by me and I was like….oh gawd! FINALLY after another 10mins (I know we should’ve done this waaaay earlier) we got a waitress to stop to take our orders but just went we were about to say something she was stopped by another waitress. APPARENTLY the kitchen had said to not take any orders yet because they’re backed up. HUH? WHAT?!?! WAAAAAAYYYYYY THE….HUH?! That’s not normal. It’s the first time I heard such things! AAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHH it was freakin 10pm or something. I was tired and not hungry anymore. BUT! My friends and I decided to stay. After 10mins or so the waitress that showed us to our table took our orders.

They could’ve served us these bread while we were waiting for them to take our orders. I just don’t get it but after taking a bite of the bread I quickly forgot all the bad things. The bread was so fluffy and warm in the inside with a crunchy skin on the outside. They served it with sour cream and oohhhh so good. We ordered 3 salads and I ordered a potato soup, those came to our table within minutes. The 3 salads were tomatoes, beets and cucumber and all 3 especially the beets were soooo good! I never had beets before and after this salad I loooooove them. All 3 salads were simple with just garlic and olive oil. They were fantastic! Fresh fresh fresh.
My friend J ordered the Schweinefilet in Champignonrahm, pork filet served on a creamy mushroom sauce with dumpling noodles (they ran out so he got potato dumplings instead) and salad, my friend T got the wiener schnitzel and I got the Königsberger Klopse, braised highly seasoned meatballs served with a light cream caper sauce, boiled potatoes and side-salad. Yes the same meatballs that walked by me. Funny thing all our orders came with a side salad! Oooohhhh so much salad. The side salads also had beets, cucumbers, and tomatoes hahahaha.

I took a bite of my friend’s wiener schnitzel even though I promised myself not to eat veal. *Shrugs, I didn’t find anything special about it it tasted just like pork katsu and I rather eat pork katsu over a bed of curry rice. Boy was I glad I got the HIGHLY seasoned meatballs. The meatballs were light and juicy, I mean what can go wrong with meat, cream sauce and potatoes?! Nothing! Like everything on the table, it was a simple dish but done so well. Only if we weren’t so dead tired I think we would’ve stayed longer and finished our food. I still recommend this restaurant, just beware of the crazy kitchen staff.

KaDeWe A Foodie Heaven

Donny — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:31:35 +0000

Calling a place foodie heaven is a bold statement but when a department store dedicates the top two floors just for food I think most people will agree that it’s a heaven for foodies. The top floor, the seventh floor, was like a buffet you would find in Vegas. Everything was self-served. Grab a tray, utensils, plates and go around to each station to pick what you want to eat. Beware though, each station had their own cost so you can’t mix all your food onto one plate. They charge you by weight.

Here is what I ended up getting. Still remembering the mushrooms and potatoes from Potsdam I got some of those, some cucumber salad, some cauliflowers, and head cheese. Yes head cheese, I saw these on No Reservations when Anthony Bourdain went to Berlin and I was glad to get a chance to try some. I didn’t do any research on head cheese beforehand so the slight sourness surprised me but it was a good sour. Really went great with the rest of the food on my plate. Can I find head cheese in NYC?

The sixth floor of KaDeWe was like a giant maze, a maze that I wouldn’t mind getting lost in. Before you get hit by the wonderful smell of just everything you’ll get hit by the sights and sounds of everything. I was getting dizzy and lost just trying to navigate my way around. So here’s the deal with the sixth floor. They sell fresh produce, meat, seafood, nuts, bread, fresh and dried pasta, sweets, coffee, tea, beer, wine……etc and etc. Pretty much what you want from a supermarket you’ll find at KaDeWe. What made this place amazing besides being a supermarket, it was also a street fair and it was also a hi-end food court with restaurants and cafes.

You’ll find, for example, on your right a counter that sold meat or cheese and on your left will be a counter top with chairs and a team of people cooking Italian or French food. Or you can sit down have a Thai meal or Chinese or Italian or German then jump over to the sandwich counter for a raw herring sandwich (I tried it and it was goooood) then walk over to the chocolate station for a free sample theeeeeeennn sit down for a cup of tea or coffee (if you can find an open stool, people there were like hawks hovering over trying to get a stool) then walk around to look or to buy stuff like beer, wine, nuts, cocoa, candy, herbs, fruits, veggies, cheese, sausages, fish, clams, bread, cakes and while at the cake counter pick up a pastry filled with apples THEN over to the smoothie station for a mango-pineapple smoothie!!!! *Phew….that was a long sentence. I know there are grammar problems in that sentence but I don’t care I’m that excited about the sixth floor of KaDeWe! It’s just one super duper amazing place.

It was definitely a one-stop shop for, well, EVERYTHING! I really wished I sat down at one of those counters and ordered food.

Best Wurst Trip Ever

Donny — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:32:07 +0000

When in Berlin, eat wurst. I knew the Germans were big on their wursts but I didn’t know they were THAT crazy about them. First of all I have never seen so many sausages in one place nor have I seen so many varieties. Everywhere I went I would see people eating one or two. Standing outside in the freezing cold by these tall round tables near the sausage place. One guy was so serious about sausages, he carried his own deep fryer on his lap cooking sausages while in a wheelchair!!!! Like WOW!!

My first currywurst of the trip was at Wurst(with a smiley face) near the Reichstag. My friend said that it wouldn’t be as good since it’s in a touristy area. She also warned me about the bread that comes with the wurst being very dense. The only time I ever had a currywurst was at a German theme restaurant/bar in the West Village and I don’t really remember how it was like so in the end I had nothing to compare the currywurst from Wurst :). Being that it was my first official currywurst I thought it was quite tasty. Though I’m not sure if by adding a few dusting of curry powder makes it a currywurst. The wurst was cover in a ketchup-like sauce and the bread WAS SUPER dense. I ended up finishing everything since I was very hungry to begin with. I wish there was more curry flavor.

On my third day we took a trip to Potsdam. Got off the S-Bahn and took a tram into town. While there we walked through a Christmas street fair. There’s just something magical about street food and eating and walking.

Our first food item was a bowl of yummy sauted mushrooms with herbs and onion with a splash of cream sauce. Maybe it was the cold weather but the mushrooms were sooooo good. Should’ve gotten another bowl. Next, J and I both got a bratwurst (top left photo) and it came with one of those super dense bread. Anything grilled is good, especially meat. I knew the bratwurst was hot so took me a while to take the first bite but once I did, oohhh yeeeaah. It was damn good. After finishing the bratwurst and half of the bread, I threw the other half away. There wasn’t much point for the bread besides being the bratwurst holder. Next stop, we stopped at a stall with a giant circular grill in the center. On top of the grill was meat meat meat more meat sausages sausages pork chops meat meat meat.

While standing in line, I saw a guy buying a pork chop so I decided to get a pork chop instead of another wurst. My friend J got a different kind of wurst, it looked like a dodger dog but he didn’t like it. Didn’t say why and I think he didn’t finish it. Good thing I got the pork chop because it was good. Not too dry, very flavorful and they used a different kind of bread. My friends each took a bite and both agreed. Our final food item at the street fair was a simple plate of fried slices of potatoes. Oh I just love potatoes especially when they’re fried.

On my last full day in Berlin, we went to KaDeWe a super giant high-end department store. Before walking in we stopped at Imbiss, the more famous currywurst place. Now that I had one at Wurst :), I can compare the two. Unlike Wurst(with a smiley face), Imbiss fried their wursts (top right photo). Even though both had the same amount of ketchupy sauce and about the same amount of curry powder, Imbiss by frying their wursts was able to give that extra crispy texture. Anything fried is better.

Berlin Eats Rote Harfe

Donny — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:47:57 +0000

For Thanksgiving, I took a trip to Berlin. My friend T lives there so I decided to visit her and since Berlin has always been on my “places to visit” list I took the chance.

I arrived to a gloomy Wednesday afternoon after a 15 hour plane ride + waiting at airports. My friend had class around 6pm and 3 papers to write. So while she was out I decided to walk around Alexanderplatz, super close to where she lives and home of the famous tv tower. Near the tv tower there was a Christmas fair, since the Europeans don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas celebration starts early. As I was walking through the fair I got hungrier and hungrier because all I saw were stalls of food food food food!! There were bratwursts, currywursts, other different kinds of wursts, crepes, grilled pork chop, pan fried potatoes, MORE WURSTS!, mysterious fried dough things, warm wine, and other stuff. In the end I didn’t get anything since I was heading out to dinner soon and it’s not that fun to eat food at festivals alone.
Once my friend came back from her class we were off to Kreuzburg, a few stops on the U-bahn. There wasn’t a solid plan for dinner. We just decided to walk around and see what looked good. As always these sort of non-planning, go-with-the-flow idea tends to result in spending hours of walking around trying decide what to eat. There’s always the “oh lets go look at this one”, after a short moment of looking at the menu, turns around and “oh what about that one over there?” This went on for a bit but finally FINALLY we came upon Rote Harfe or Red Harp. There was an English menu posted outside near the door. We looked and my friend said for Berlin the prices were a bit on the expensive side but since we were starving by then we walked in and grabbed a table towards the back of the room. Looking through the specials menu (sorry I don’t remember what was in the regular menu) I narrowed it down to the farfalle with dried pumpkin or the roasted wild boar with a mushroom cream sauce. Then my friend pointed out the roasted half duck….oooohhHHHHHHHHH I do love duck. HHHHHMMMMMM everything sounded so good.

I ended getting the duck and T got the pan fried filets of altantic fishes (there were 3 filets).

The roasted duck came with a honey and thyme sauce served with red cabbage and 2 potato dumplings. Ahh….an entire half a duck for me! I picked up my knife and fork and started to cut the duck. The skin was perfectly crispy, I can hear it crack as I cut into the duck, aaahhhh the sound of deliciousness. I tore a big piece of skin (felt so guilty but I’m on vacation!), ohhhh so good. Then I cut a chunk of meat and ate it with some red cabbage. I ate some of the potato dumplings and it was not what I was expecting. The texture was very gummy like boiled rice balls, I thought they were rice balls! There weren’t a whole lot of flavors in the dumplings but that was good because I used them to soak up all the yummy sauce. Everything on that plate was just perfect, it was a perfect combination of fatty yummie meat with the light vegetables and potatoes to soak in the sauce.
Rote Harfe is very causal. We were not rushed or anything and lots of people were there to just drink and hang with friends. The restaurant was brightly lit which I prefer. I hate places with dim lights make me sleepy.

- Rote Harfe Oranienstr. 13 Berlin, Germany