Eat a lot: Das Lokal, Mitte

Some restaurants deserve a visit based on their reputation alone. Lokal is one of those restaurants. It opened in 2012 so it's hardly new, and has been reviewed by everyone and their cousin. My friend sends all her Dutch visitors there so I reckon half of my countrymen have been there before me. I could have easily skipped it and pretended to have 'been there, done that'. But I hadn't, so I didn't.

 

The menu was the sort of minimalist affair you see a lot nowadays, showcasing just a list of ingredients. The focus is on what's in your dish, rather than the way it will be prepared for you. This may be great if you have an allergy, but if you'd like to know whether your chosen food will be served raw or boiled, pureed or jellied, you're lost.

All the 'now' ingredients were there though: offal, game, bitter leaves, funky new grains and various artichokes and root vegetables.

I went for the buttermilk pancake (€16), which came with a promise of emmer wheat, rote bete, knollenziest, rotkohl and chicoree. The actual plate was stacked high with food and seemed to contain loads more than was listed. It made for a tasty, large, nutritious meal that lacked a little in finesse and looks, but made up for it in flavour and adventure. It was certainly innovative for a vegetarian main.

Not quite what I was expecting when I ordered the buttermilk pancake

The choice of desserts was also a simplistic one: two sweet options, one cheese and no chocolate. No chocolate? I was so discombobulated I went for the cheese (€10), which I then had to pick & mix from a list on a school blackboard: blue cheese, bergkäse, Gouda, a sheep's brie and goat's cheese among them.

The pick & mix cheese board

So now I've been there, done that. I'll happily send visitors to Lokal knowing that it will fill stomachs and make for a great Berliner experience. And if they put some chocolate on the menu, I may even come back.


Das Lokal, Linienstraße 160, 10115 Berlin, 03028449500, website, open Mon - Sun from 5.30pm

Eat a lot: RisOtto, Mitte

I'm feeling kind of special today.

It turns out I'm living in the city that houses the very first risotto restaurant in the world. Who knew?

I wonder if it's true. (It seems highly unlikely. The first ever risotto restaurant, well, ever?)

I wonder if it's any good. (Though risotto in the average restaurant is almost never a total disaster, it's usually not particularly good either. Ever since I discovered even celebrity chefs can't get it right on the night (yes, Tom Aikens, I am talking about you and your undercooked attempt), I've stuck to the homemade variety where I can be sure the timing is just so.)

I wonder if the world has gone off risotto, seeing as there was not a single person inside.

If you don't mind, I'll leave it to other people to answer the above questions for me.

RisOtto, Friedrichstraße 115, 10117 Berlin, 0173 7171626, ros-otto.de, open Mon-Fri 11 am - 9pm, Sat 12pm - 6pm

Eat a lot: Kaffee Mitte, Mitte

The old adagio: when in Berlin, do as the Berliners do, doesn't do in Kaffee Mitte.

I have passed this place many times but I never managed to make it inside until now. Sometimes it was too busy, sometimes I was too busy, sometimes it just wasn't the right time for a Kaffee mit Kuchen.

But I was wrong there. This is not a Kaffee mit Kuchen kind of place. It's a mediterranean hangout, where Italian seems to be the language of choice, the sandwiches are made by a tattooed, pierced barman wearing a blond wig and most of the guests seem to be best friends - of each other, the staff or the resident dog at least.

The sandwiches they serve for lunch are a tad pricy. Four euro for what essentially is a piece of bread with a drizzle of oil, some rocket and a sparing scattering of cheese seems a bit far-fetched, even when in Mitte. But oh, how good that sandwich was. Crunchy yet chewy, salty and oily in just the right amounts, with a perfect little salad to polish it all off.

It made me forget about the fairly silly self service system where you order at the bar, get an electronic device that lights up when your order is done (we didn't get our device, but luckily our order found its way to us thanks to one of the many hanger outers at the bar) and you even have to put away your own dishes.

What I liked most of all is the proper Italian breakfast they serve in the morning: a cappuccino with a cornetto (€3,80). Next time I am in Berlin Mitte at breakfast time, I will do as the Romans do, and head to Kaffee Mitte for my fill.

Kaffee Mitte, Weinsmeisterstraße 9A, 10178 Berlin, 030 24038204, website, open Mon-Fri 8am - 8pm, Sat 9am - 8pm, Sun 10am - 8pm

Eat a lot: Oliv, Mitte

Yesterday I met my friend Anna for lunch at Oliv. Rumour had it that Oliv's quite good, and Google Reviews confirmed those rumours, giving the place a 4.2 out of 5 stars.

Promises promises.

The venue, both outside and in, has a déjà vu feeling about it. The olive trees and plants near the door reminded me of a London flower shop. The 'no prams' sign and steep coffee prices (€3 for a flat white) made me wonder if I had wandered into a newly opened The Barn by mistake. The whole of it suggested a certain worldly sophistication that seems harder and harder to get away from, in Mitte or elsewhere in the city.

(Anna and I wondered whether the 'no prams' thing is a clever way to keep babies out rather than prams. We brought one in (a baby, not a pram) and weren't sent away or looked at funny, so maybe in the case of Oliv, it is a space issue, after all.)

Wooden blocks serve as seats, the kitchen is open for all to see staff doing their thing (or in our case, dropping their wares on several occasions). The menu, in German and English, was minimalist and non-specific. Sure, you pay €10,40 for a plate of lettuce and cold vegetables, but no details on the kinds of vegetables or the types of lettuce leaves were given. When I asked what kinds of quiche they had, the answer was brief too: tomato, broccoli or courgette. 

 

Call me old-fashioned, but with prices like that, I like to know what I am getting.

When peeking inside the kitchen, I realised the minimalist description wasn't actually far off. They were making quiches (a tomato and an aubergine one) and indeed, the base and filling looked identical, with a simple topping of a single veg on top. Minimalist indeed. But then, why tinker with a good quiche?

The quiche tasted fine. A buttery base, a nicely seasoned filling and some broccoli on top. Nothing more, nothing less. For dessert we had more flat whites, a German crumbly Blechkuchen with plum and an apple crumble in a little glass pot. They were fine too, though not above the level of an average Backshop. I didn't ask how much they cost, just to make sure it wouldn't spoil my appetite for something sweet.

It's hard to rate places like Oliv. They're nice enough and clearly appeal to the Google crowd, hence the 4.2 stars online. But they are so familiar, in every way, that you forget what you had and how it tasted as soon as you walk out the door. Actually, I am sure I have been to the exact same place before, but cannot remember if it was called Oliv then. What I will remember, this time, is the bill. There is much better food to be had for that price in this great town. All you have to do is ignore the obvious.

Oliv, Münzstraße 8, 10178 Berlin, 030 89206540, website, open Mon-Fri 8.30am-7pm, Sat 9.30am-7pm, Sun 10am-6pm, cash only

Eat a lot: Clärchens Ballhaus, Mitte

I know it's supposed to be an institution not to be messed with. Berliners are proud of their Ballhaus and it's very easy to see why. A beautiful building in the middle of the middle (Mitte), a large lush garden with pebbled paths, leafy trees to sit under and lightbulb-sized fairy lights. Inside is the actual ballroom, where you invariably end up witnessing a tango dancing class, a wedding party practising waltzes, or, at the very least, a few cute little girls twirling around on the enormous dance floor pretending to be princesses at their debutante ball.