My apologies for being away for so long. Diet Girl has been missing in action and it has taken some time to track her down... All kidding aside, I have been traveling and it has been very difficult to find the time to post to Foodie during my trip so sorry for that.
The good news is that Foodie Favorites has officially gone global! Germany, not necessarily known for it's food and fine dining like some of it's more obvious European neighbors like Italy and France, definitely did not leave this Foodie hungry (hence Diet Girl being M.I.A)! I was in Berlin for the last 10 or so days and in fact, there was a pleasantly surprising number of delicious places to eat and drink. If your travels or business happen to take you there, you will be able to impress your friends and colleagues with your knowledge of many good restaurants.In no particular order, following is Part 1 of my German culinary tour (Part 2 to be posted within the week):
Note to Foodie Readers: In almost every case, one of my dinner companions ordered the wine which is why I have not been that specific with respect to what we had. (Plus, I rarely meet a glass of wine I don't like...)
My favorite restaurant in Berlin which I first went to during the Berlin Film Festival last year has to be "Grill Royal". It is trendy and "sceney", yet comfortable with good ambiance, located snugly next to the river with great food and equally great service. On this trip, we began with a nice glass of champagne and I had the tuna tartare to start and the halibut with risotto which were both prepared perfectly and were delicious. They also have a pretty extensive beef (or "grill") menu that I have ordered from previously and my friend had on this trip. We shared a lovely bottle of Italian red wine throughout the meal and nibbled on a cheese plate for dessert (one of my favorite dessert options as you know, and lucky for me, wildly popular in Europe!). If you are ever in Berlin, I highly recommend eating here and you MUST have a reservation!
Speaking of the cheese plate, one late afternoon around 6pm (dinner time by American standards), I was pretty hungry and knew I wouldn't be eating dinner for at least a few more hours so I stopped into "Lutter & Wegner" (L&W) for a snack. L&W is conveniently located across the street from The Ritz and close walking distance from The Marriot, The Grand Hyatt and The Mandala Hotel as well as various cinemas and shopping. They had a delicious cheese plate (quite large I might add) with 5 different types served with assorted breads. Other variations and interesting nibbles included a plate with cheeses and hams, mixed meats including prosciutto, etc. They also serve a full lunch and dinner menu. L&W also has a pretty substantial wine list by the glass and the bottle and it doubles as a wine shop. You can buy many German bottles to take away. It was definitely a warm cozy place to pass some time over a glass of wine and it was less than 20 Euros total.
Another night, a large group of us went to "Restaurant Refugium" which was fine dining complete with a delicious wine list and good service- even for a big group. We had German Riesling (of course!) and a French Bordeaux. I started with the thinnest slices of tuna carpaccio which was very enjoyable, but I must say that when I saw the 3 salmon appetizer which consisted of smoked salmon, salmon blinis and salmon tartare, I had orderer's remorse. I will definitely choose that next time. For my main course, I ordered one of the special menu pastas which was pretty similar to fettucine alfredo and very yummy. I hate to be boring, but a cheese plate is great to share among a large group and so we did... The menu was chock full of meat eater delights from pork to veal to calf's liver...you get the idea, but they did also offer several fish and pastas as well and from what I could tell everyone at our table enjoyed the meals and the company!
The last restaurant of Part 1, but not the least... "Cancun". A casual Mexican eatery with multiple locations throughout Berlin and Germany. It is super laid back, inexpensive, the portions are huge and the food is good. I shared a heaping plate of nachos to start and was already stuffed but still wanting more. I somehow also managed to shovel down chicken and beef tacos for the main course. To drink, what Mexican restaurant would be complete if they didn't offer all varieties of margaritas? As a whole, it is definitely a taste of something different among the "hoi polloi" restaurants especially if you just want to relax a little and so relax we did...
Stay tuned for Germany: Part 2 and don't forget that February 18 is National Drink Wine Day, followed by National Margarita Day on February 22.
Happy Speisesaal!
Foodie
Grill Royal GmbH
Friedrichstralse 105B
10117 Berlin
Phone +49 30 288 79 288
website www.grillroyal.com (mostly in German)
e-mail office@grillroyal.com
Lutter & Wegner
Bellevuestrasse 1
10785 Berlin-Mitte
Phone +49 30 263 90 372
website www.l-w-berlin.de
e-mail info@l-w-berlin.de
Restaurant Refugium
Gendarmenmarkt 5
10117 Berlin
Phone +49 30 2 29 16 61
website www.restaurant-refugium.de (mostly in German)
e-mail mail@restaurant-refugium.de
Cancun
Multiple Locations
Phone in Potsdamer Platz location +49 30 20 91 16 66
website www.cancun-restaurant.de
e-mail info@cancun-restaurant.de
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