Kai Röger was allowed to eat his way through the Berlin gastronomy for the city magazine zitty. He has been working for Tagesspiegel for almost ten years, where he is responsible for the “More Enjoyment” pages. For the series “Lockdown Darlings” he is allowed to interview himself for the first time.
My order area?
Prenzlauer Berg around Helmholtzplatz
The rescue after a long day in the home office
Cook. Thanks to our quick kitchen column, I’ve been cooking practically every day since the first lockdown began. Not everything is published, some things don’t stand up to the judgment of my nine-year-old critic. He criticizes harshly, sometimes almost unfairly. I threatened him with being banned from the house and with a lawyer, but that didn’t help.
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I allowed myself that
The Mexico menu from Gordo. Cooking with bags by numbers and video, plus a Spotify playlist and great drinks. The dishes were great: surprising but flavorful, easy to prepare and very entertaining. The drink accompaniment (mezcal cocktail for an aperitif, afterwards it was funny …) and the crazy playlist developed a momentum of their own, which is why the menu, with many dance interludes and breaks, lasted a good five hours.
The box from was also exciting Bernhard Moser’s taste buds: A large plant from Robert Weil, pickles from Tim Raue and the potato soup from the “Nobelhart & Dirty“- a very cool mixture and the best wild boar goulash by Markus Herbicht. Fun fact: I really liked the potato soup with matured, smoked raw milk butter, the nine-year-old despotic critic thought it was” very strange “and shook himself.
Because of the almost daily cooking, I was not able to order much, but I discovered a really serious Indian-Pakistani restaurant in my neighborhood that “Sadhu ”, which delivers good Chicken Vindaloo and Palak Paneer really hot.
Also good: The excellent chicken stew (in organic quality for 6.50 euros!) From the “Lorch & Sons“At Danziger Strasse 25 saved us from the cold and the bread dumplings from the tiny Tilda coffee At Helmholtzplatz, which began with the lockdown to offer stews, dishes in a jar and homemade side dishes, the wild boar goulash by Markus Herbicht tastes even better.
Best snack on hand
The fact that chefs from the fine dining league are turning into sandwich artists is one of the rare highlights of the lockdown. What for example in the “Mrs Robinson’s“Placed between two slices of brioche is sustainable sandwich art at star level.
Here goes to seven recipe ideas for sandwich classics from all over the world (subscription).
A favorite in my neighborhood
I was really excited about that Silom: Landlord Si An Truong has created an offer that brought Bangkok’s street food cuisine into my kitchen with good products and authentic seasoning. The laab ped was excellent and the satay skewers in a class of their own. That has its price, but it’s worth it.
I really want to try that out soon
Arne Anker’s menu from the “Brikz“, The chicken sandwich from the bar, the Indian delivery offer of “Tiffin“And the Chirashi Bowl from the”Shiori“.
I was enthusiastic about this idea
The For me, Kochu Karu is one of the restaurants that is most creatively and passionately opposed to the crisis: During the first lockdown, the menu was still very fragmented and not available anywhere in the city. With the second lockdown, the “NimmMahl” boxes are already available for pick-up in many wine shops across the city.
The most impressive thing, however, is how the contents have changed: Instead of filigree, particle-sized cuisine in bags, the Kochu Karu now serves more compact, but no less delicious dishes in mason jars with a reasonable deposit system. That’s what I call a steep learning curve!
Arrives just as requested: Here are even more lockdown favorites from six Berlin foodies (subscription). Here you will find Eva Biringer’s recommendations for Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain; here Michael Hetzinger’s tips for the northern center; here Ursula Heinzelmann’s favorites in Mitte, here Nina Trippel’s recommendations for Neukölln and Mitte, Bernhard Moser prefers to order here and Fritz Lloyd Blomeyer there.
This is where I’ll go when the lockdown is over
The “Prism” is high on my list. Gal Ben Moshe continues to develop and his fine dining style, which is rooted in the East Mediterranean, during the crisis he switched to take-away, but I think he used the time to develop many new dishes for his menu.
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