Love Bites Abroad : Berlin

Adam and I took a 3 night trip to Berlin in between Christmas and New Years in 2013. We arrived early Boxing Day to an unexpectedly extremely quiet city. We were staying in the newer shopping district end of the Kurfürstendamm. Working in the retail industry myself, one would expect the biggest shopping street in Berlin to be a buzzing hive of activity on the busiest shopping day of the year, yet literally none of the shops were open nor were they showing signs that they were going to be open at all. 

We had stayed at my English family's house for Christmas and luckily enough one of my cousins had been to Berlin a couple of weeks before us and had kept a list of restaurant 'must-go-to's' provided by his hotel. We studied the list in anticipation and he suggested two in particular if we could get into them on short notice. These were The Grill Royal, an on-trend, upmarket seafood and steak house and Cantina, a pan-asian fusion, tapas style bar. We were lucky enough to get a reservation at both through our fantastic concierge at our hotel, for the second and third nights of our stay. He also recommended a restaurant called Keno for our first night which we happily took his advice for dinner that evening.

For lunch we strolled around the Christmas markets close to our hotel and our first taste of Germany happened to be traditional currywurst sausage. A kransky-style sausage with a spicy curry sauce and a sprinkling of curry powder. As we were rather hungry we devoured this fast but I can't say I would be rushing back to try another one as it tasted very processed and fake. We also treated ourselves to some deep fried garlic potato crisps which were so oily our fingers were smothered with grease instantly. They were also so garlicky after a couple of crisps our mouths were stained with the taste, let alone our breath, any lurking vampires would have been killed instantly.

Garlic Crisps

Currywurst Sausages

So Restaurant Keno was our dinner option for our first night - a traditional German restaurant which was close to our hotel.  As Boxing Day is still part of the Christmas celebrations in Germany they still had a Christmas set menu available as well as the a la carte. Feeling festive I chose the Christmas menu of mushroom soup, and roast duck with braised cabbage, potato dumplings and cranberry sauce, finished with a creme brûlée.  The mushroom soup was full of flavour and had a delicious garnish of parma ham. This infused the soup with flavour and melted in my mouth. Definitely something I will include when I next make a mushroom soup! The duck was delicious with the cabbage and the skin cooked to perfect crispiness, the potatoes were a bit stodgy for my liking. Adam devoured a vegetable soup, which was rather salty but had plenty of veges and a clear broth. He then ate veal meatballs with mashed potato in a white wine caper sauce. The sauce was really rich but complimented the meatballs well. We had great attentive service at Restaurant Keno and was a good way to kick off our Berlin trip.

Vegetable Soup

Mushroom Soup with Parma Ham

Veal Meatballs 

Roast Duck, Braised Cabbage and Potato Dumplings

Creme Brûlée

Our next dinner treat was Grill Royal. This high-end grill restaurant is located on the River Spree on Fredickstrzae. We we're greeted by the maitre'd and our coats were taken. My immediate thoughts were this is an refined chic grill restaurant with a vibrant atmosphere and high end diners. There were an odd mix of sculptures, artefacts and paintings adorning the dining room, surrounding the snug leather booths and mint condition white table cloths. The restaurant was oozing sophistication and encouraged people watching. We were initially seated next to a well dressed couple and their small child which seemed an odd mix with this type of restaurant. They left early and were replaced by two almost identical blonde barbie dolls who looked like they had never lifted a finger to work in their lives. 

The menu consisted of traditional grill style food, steaks and lobsters.  We settled for a starter each I had the a white fish soup, which consisted of a light frothy white wine broth with poached salmon and a white fish I can't quite remember, it was a sensational experience, the fish and the broth were delicate with a kick of white wine intensity. Adam devoured some snails, smothered in a thick garlic butter sauce which made the slimy experience of eating them much more appealing, they were some of the best snails I have eaten. For our mains I decided with a local Bavarian fillet, and Adam went for the American Entrecôte fillet. We shared four sides, which was quite a feast for two of us! We settled with fried broccoli and cauliflower in chilli and garlic, a smooth potato mash, coleslaw and something I wouldn't normally choose but must have been continuing with the festive spirit - some succulent sautéed brussels sprouts with bacon.

Fish Soup

Snails

I have to say my medium-rare Bavarian fillet was one of the best pieces of steak I have ever had. It was oozing tenderness, full of flavour and melted in my mouth. It was perfectly cooked and along with the mash and the red wine jus it was a masterpiece of a meal. Adams Entrecôte was not in the same league as mine, although his steak was larger than mine, it was not as tender and involved a few more chews. We settled on a sticky toffee pudding and a custard tart for dessert. Neither was anything to write home about and I'm even surprised we managed to fit it in! 

On our final night we made our way to Cantina in the trendy area of Mitte for some 'Fine Asian and Ibero-American cuisine.' Part of the experience is actually finding Cantina which is located at the bar of the trendy cocktail bar Tausend. Our taxi kindly dropped us outside a wooden door underneath what was a railway arch. We knocked politely, waited a couple of minutes and was greeted by the Maitre'd who asked if we had a reservation and under which name. We advised our details and then had the door shut on us, only to be greeted another minute later by the same lady who confirmed our booking with a big smile and invited us in. The bar had a very confident - trendy air to it, the decor was dark but lit with a huge circular eye-like sculpture at one end of the room. I had the feeling you kind of had to be in the know about this place, with the secret door, and sleek 'coolness' of the staff, it was almost a little intimidating. We were taken through the bar and led into a small tunnel into Cantina, a small room with limited seating. Our reservation was for 6pm and we could only get a seat at the bar, which actually turned out to be a fantastic experience as we were able to watch the chefs work straight in front of us.

The service was very suave, tight jeans and pony tails were the attire of most of the waiters. We drank cocktails and dined on some of the most delicious food, the whole experience of Cantina was a real treat!  The head chef was directly in front of us preparing sushi, sashimi, and ceviche. We spotted some male Latino-looking diners on the other side of the bar devouring the ceviche and asking for more of the sauce after they had finished, then smacking their lips in desire. This along with another female couple who asked to see the Head Chef to thank him for the ceviche thoroughly promoted our decision to get this immediately.  We started with some Spanish pimentos de pardons (grilled peppers) - one of my favourite Spanish tapas. These were not as good as expected, slightly overcooked and not enough flavour so we quickly moved on to our next dish satay chicken and lime skewers with a chilli, coriander and red onion garnish, these were moist and succulent pieces of meat with a a delightful kick. We devoured our ceviche in absolute pleasure, the tender calamari, squid, and raw fish pieces, enveloped in the juiciest sweet and sour sauce, and decorated with chilli, coriander, red onion and corn was a sensational seafood experience.

Pimentos de Padrons

Chicken Satay Skewers

Ceviche

The dining experience even got better after this, our main dish to share was a white tuna with foie gras on a spinach risotto. This main dish was heavenly. Drizzled in a pesto oil and garnished with fresh herbs every mouthful melted in your mouth and the spinach risotto was so delicious I have vowed to attempt to re-create this in the Love Bites Kitchen!  The tuna was a moist mouthful of goodness and complimented the dish well. We finished on sushi and sashimi that was prepared and handed to us by the Head Chef right in front of us. The small bites were so fresh and delicate it was the perfect end to our meal and by no way could we squeeze in dessert!

Tuna Foie Gras and Spinach Risotto

Sashimi

Sushi and Sashimi

Cantina was the perfect way to end our culinary Berlin experience. We had dined on traditional German food, the most delectable steaks, and a fresh and intriguing Asian-fusion food. We had spent a lot, feed ourselves to our hearts content and drank ourselves silly. Berlin was a wicked experience through and through. I can't wait to go back to try out even more of the culinary treasures this place has to offer!

Kiwi Crew Christmas and New Year 2012: Prague and Budapest

Over the Christmas and New Year period of 2012 a group of us Kiwi Expats descended upon Prague in the Czech Republic and Budapest, Hungary for the festive celebrations.

 

Amongst the excitement of embracing these two European cities for the magnificent architecture, culture and history, (and to be away from work for ten days!) I was certainly eager to see what each country's cuisines would have on offer.

Both countries cuisines involved a lot of pork, stews, sausages, dumplings, and cabbage. We devoured two traditional Czech meals when in Prague, plus various treats from the local Christmas markets. Our first meal consisted of plenty of meat and a varied range of potato / bread / doughy-like dumplings. These dumplings were much larger than I had experienced before (compared to those in Poland) and were very stodgy and did not come with a gravy or sauce much to Adam's disappointment. Others came with different fillings and looked more-so like cakes rather than traditional 'dumplings'.

As mentioned previously pork took up a lot of the menu.... Pork knuckles, pork schnitzel, pork tenderloins, pork stew and so forth. Three of our team members gorged into the pork knuckles which in each plateful there was enough for two or more. These knuckles came bone still in-tact and with assorted condiments, chili (which got the better of Newdick) gherkins, and cabbage and peppers. The first night we ate out in Prague I tried one of the weirdest flavour combinations I would have thought possible; pork tenderloins stuffed with smoked salmon on a bed of spinach in a blue cheese sauce. Whilst the waiters were too busy providing enough beers to cater for the table they managed to forget the blue cheese sauce for my meal. After almost finishing my plateful one of the waiter's finally realised what we were asking for and brought the sauce over. The interesting mix of flavours of this dish really worked well together. The salmon complimented the pork and the blue cheese sauce moistened each mouthful, it really was a surprisingly tasty dish!

 

The Czech food tended to be stodgy and very hearty. Washed down with numerous beers or beautiful Argentinian Malbec's we eagerly ate ourselves silly.  The Christmas Markets in the Prague town square enlightened our palettes even further with a mixture of sweet and savoury treats. We snacked on deep fried dough covered in a garlic and tomato sauce smothered in cheese, doughnut styled coils, spiralled around a stick covered in cinnamon sugar, and of course spicy hot dogs and lots of mulled wine.

 

Speaking of Christmas Markets this must bring me to discuss Budapest! They had hands down the best food options at the Markets in the Vörösmarty Square. This was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I love a market atmosphere, people wandering around, tasting what is on offer, lines of people waiting to get their hands on some of the best snacks cooked before your eyes, it just presents some of the fun of take away food. Especially when its crispy cold outside and you settle into a nice warm stew followed by some hot wine whilst you are bundled up in a woolly hat, scarf, gloves and embracing the winter air. We almost ate in these markets everyday because the options were so good! From slow cooked beef stew served in a soft wholemeal bowl of bread, to straight out of the oven pizza, to the mouthwatering hot dogs served with gherkins and cabbage which you had to wait at least twenty minutes to get. Even at 3am on the way home on New Years Day Adam and I tucked into a hot dog from a closing market stall, this place definitely rocked!

Apart from gorging on the Christmas Markets every day we also experienced some other goodies that Budapest had to offer, Ring Burger being one of them. Whist burgers aren't a traditional Hungarian food the burgers at this place do deserve a proper mention. They were slightly smaller than expected but with a good variety of options all served with a side of fries and the juiciest meat pattie on offer I would definitely recommend this place to others.  We also dined out on other non traditional feasts, the Hummus Bar which was extremely tasty and felt a lot healthier than what we had been eating that we almost went twice! And on our last night Eataliano also hit the nail on the head with a brilliant Italian pizza and pasta menu.

 Whilst the Central European adventure had to come to a close at some point, I have to say I was ready to get back to a meal of lots of vegetables and less stodge.  The food experience of these two beautiful cities was definitely going to be missed but I fear the size of my waistline would not be so forgiving if I lived on these cuisines all year round! I will however definitely be dreaming of those delicious treats that the Budapest Christmas Markets had to offer until I can get back there again!

 

Christmas Lunch in Prague

A group of 15 of us recently embarked on a Christmas Trip to Prague in the Czech Republic. My job was to choose a spot for the 15 of us for Christmas lunch.  After much research and days of deliberating, the only place I could find not serving carp (fish) which is the traditional Czech Christmas Meal was in fact the CzecHouse Grill & Rotisserie at the Hilton Hotel. As an all you can eat, drink and desire buffet there is no doubt that we happily splurged out on the numerous types of food on offer. From oysters (fail as two of us got sick), mini individual hors d'oeuvres, roast beef, turkey, rack of lamb, roast veges, soup, and numerous desserts, oh and carp! Needless to say we all piled our plates till we were as full as bulls. The CzecHouse Grill & Rotisserie provided great service and a great feed! Thank you Hilton Praha!

Here is a peak at what I served myself up....

 

Befores!

 

 

Desserts