Yeah, way out in the outskirts. I think we’re safe where we are 
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That looks so good!!
The quality level of the fish was outstanding. As it should be, given the price tag!
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Absolutely delish, melt-in-yo-mouth spinach & cheese khinkali at one of the Georgian places we returned to with a friend. They came with a yogurt dipping sauce and a somewhat sweet vinegar (pomegranate?). We also split the “balls & pickles” plate, which consisted of 5 different ‘salati:’ broccoli, spinach, beets, string bean, carrot & wonderful dill pickles. I could eat an entire plate of those pickles, whereas we thought the salati were better at the other Georgian place closer to us (although TBH I’m just happy about the fact that there is more than one Georgian restaurant available to us), and I would love to return to try their other khinkali, and maybe have some room for that fab looking walnut honey cake, which again we didn’t get to taste.
The khachapuri was nice, but my PIC also prefers the one at Tsomi.
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My bestie was in town for a couple of days on a surprise work trip <3
She wanted food she can’t get in Portsmouth, so dinner last night was at a German brewpub/restaurant that offers a 3-course prix fixe for 30 € and generally has an eclectic selection of appetizers, salads, pasta dishes and assorted mains.
We tried the Silver (a very good pilsner-style beer), and my PIC and my bestie got the prix fixe – gazpacho, Wiener Schnitz with potato salad, and a dessert plate with fresh strawberries; I got a whipped feta appetizer with salad and grilled veg, followed by pappardelle with chanterelles.
The gazpacho wasn’t all that great, tasted more like cold tomato sauce, but the schnitz was one of the better renditions we’ve had in town – crispy, flavorful panade, and a veal cutlet that was maybe just a little too thick for a true Wiener. The potato salad was unfortunately a tad undercooked 
The pappardelle were nice, but I would’ve done a far better job myself for less money. The dessert plate consisted of very good chocolate mousse and fresh strawberries.
Meeting up with a fellow academic at the French bistro tonight. I see steak frites in our future…
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Did I say I don’t patronize chains? Well, I’ll gladly make an exception for Sticks n Sushi, a chain based in Kopenhagen with branches in London & Berlin. We’d dined at another location in town before, but chose a newly opened branch near our hood for a belated anniversary dinner.
We were greeted with two glasses of bublé on the house, after which we continued with a Yuzu Zoo (gin, umeshu, yuzu, lemon bitter) for him, and a Shojito (shochu, blackberry, lime) for me – loved both of them 
We split the Sushi Sister – a variety of sashimi & ceviche dishes, almost all of them successful. They sadly ruined very good quality yellowtail with truffle oil, which overpowered the fish & all the other elements of the dish. Meh.
We also ordered a side of rice with spicy sauce & the cold spinach with soy sesame and goma dressing. The spinach was so good we got another order.
Went to a favorite gin bar in walking distance, Botanical Affairs where we were hoping to have a drink or two. There were two tables seated outside, nobody inside. The bartender was busy chatting with her friend and presumably making drinks for the table(s) outside. We’ll never know, bc after 10 minutes of being ignored completely, we got up and left.
Enjoyed an absolutely fabulous martini my PIC made us back home instead <3
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We were kinda stumped about where to dine tonight, so we took the lazy route and revisited Lao Xiang, the dim sum just around the corner from us. Out of 3 dishes ordered, only one (double-cooked pork that was supposed to be spicy) was a major disappointment. It was lightly battered and in a brown sauce that was very reminiscent of the Chinese food I grew up with - Germanized and not very interesting, and also the only dish that showed up at first. I will say the place was hopping, and there was exactly one poor waiter doing all the work.
Eventually, the water spinach we’d ordered again showed up, and it was just as good as the first/last time we went. The absolute star of the evening - perhaps not surprisingly, was the har gow. While they look like every other har gow we’ve had, these were spectacular: the filling was incredibly flavorful, but the skin was the silkiest, most tender texture either of us have ever had. Honestly could’ve made an entire meal just with these 
Lesson learned. We’ll go back for a proper dim sum meal before we leave town.
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Truffles are great. Truffle oil is a killer.
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Look like great pies. But what’s that filmy stuff on the top in the first pic?
Neapolitan is definitely my favorite pizza style and so hard to find done right in my USA Midwest. I need to travel 30 miles to the ONE place closer than Chicago to find it.
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Filmy stuff? Do you mean the prosciutto di Parma slices?
Must be that. On my monitor, it looks very shear indeed. But what else could it be?
Great to see your posts! I fondly recall meeting you and yours with my son in Berlin’s Preussenpark years ago. (Thaiwiese!)
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I remember that afternoon well!
If you can believe it, we have YET to go! The weather was initially hot as hell - too hot for camping out on a lawn while enjoying hot noodle soup 
, and now it’s chilly & rainy with winds up to 45mph…
Thankfully (and as you see in this thread), there is very good Thai food to be had in the nabe we’re staying this year.
Persian at Noosh, a new’sh place in Charlottenburg where we met up with a few friends. They’d already ordered some koobideh & jujeh kababs and tadiç, but that didn’t stop my PIC and me from ordering another koobideh kabab platter and lavash with 3 dips (kashke bademjan, very creamy hummus, and garlic dip). I had housemade Ayran with dried mint (fresh woulda been better TBH), my PIC a tiny coke.
I’ve always preferred meat chonks over ground meats, but I’ve had so many excellent ground meat skewers lately I might be a convert. Then again - why choose?
Total cost of the meal for my PIC and me: 15 Euro, about $16 (no tip as you order and pick up your food at the counter).
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We’re just under 3 weeks away from our departure 
, so we’re trying to squeeze in more of the types of foods we can’t get back home (which, TBH, is a LOT of things).
Tonight we scooted down to the border of Kreuzberg/Neukölln aka Kreuzkölln to get some fabulous Turkish food. We discovered this particular place last summer bc they have a stand at a farmers market near us where they pimp out midye on Saturdays - tomato rice-stuffed mussels served with half a fresh lemon for squeezing… a perfect light lunch for two, but of course they also have a full menu of kebabs, salatim, and platters heavy with meats, predominantly lamb & chicken. It’s always hopping and popular with the Turkish crowd
We split 10 midye, their baba ganoush which has yogurt added & is nice, smokey and light, and the star of the night: their special Mardin chopped not ground lamb kebab with pistachios and a cheese from their region. Really spectacular, and plenty of food for two. They also have lovely homemade ayran that I did without today cuz I find it a bit filling.
That lamb, tho 
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My bestie was in town, so it was a weekend of eatings & drankings. We went to a mozzarella bar with the best caponata in town & were hoping to share the grande degustazione of mozzarella & a few other primi, but they were unfortunately out of 2 kinds of mozza, so we shared the 300g figliata, grilled veg, the amazing caponata & braised beans in spicy tomato sauce. Everything was quite good, and it’s a cute lil place in a lively and hip nabe.
Nice, if a little boring vegetables.
We’d not expected this dish to be hot (on a 30˚C night), and they were advertised as pan-fried, which may have just been a bad translation. They were quite clearly braised in a tomato broth that had a slight kick to it & was perfect for soppin’ up with the grilled bread provided.
The figliata is the Alien on Steroids version of a burrata, a ginormous ball of a luscious creaminess and many ciliegine inside. Stupendous.
The caponata is just as good as I remember it from 20+ years ago, even if the rest of the menu has changed significantly.
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Another night, another Turkish meal. We’ve got less than 2 weeks left here and are trying to soak up all the goodness we can only get here (I will have to do some sleuthing re: Turkish food in Philly or Pittsburgh).
This place has been around for many years as well, and is very popular with the Turkish & Vietnamese population. We’ve learned from previous visits to under-order bc the portions are very generous, and split a mezze platter “for one” 
,
and the lamb platter with grilled lamb ribs, chops, loin, and adana kebab. Those ribs are the lambiest, laced with charred bits of fat. We need to go back once more before we leave.
Total per person with beers about 20 Euro.
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Our final week
Started it off with a newish Greek restaurant that is supposed to be the best in town. We were curious, to say the least, as it’s highly popular with the beautiful people, haute volée, and C-list celebrities. It is located in the beautiful courtyard of a historical post office that won an award for excellence in architectural design, and incidentally is also just down the road from where David Bowie and Iggy Pop resided briefly in the mid 70s. The outdoor tables were packed with groups large and small, presumably not just for its popularity, but also bc the owners had just returned from a 2-week vacation. Imagine THAT in the US 
We ordered a perfectly balanced Hugo that I often find too sweet, and an Athenian vermouth tonic for me. Delightfully refreshing.
We shared the pikilia for one bc that’s how you get to try most of the things that are considered “standard” – in this case, it included tzatziki, spanakopita, taramasalata, kolokithokefte, loukanino, fava, patzaria me skordalia, spanakokefte,kefte.
My tzatziki is better, but the fava & the skordalia were by far the best I’d ever eaten (at least outside of Greece proper). Everything else was also quite flavorful. We made the stupid mistake to order a meat platter “for one” (I see a theme here) – stupid bc I was pretty much full after the mezedes, and also bc we’ve had better meats, which may not be their forte.
The pork souvlaki was a bit overdone & not as flavorful as mine, the lamb loin was also slightly overdone, though the chop was perfectly cooked, and the bifteki was def the most interesting. I’m more and more in the ground meat camp than chonks. There was also more of that scrumptious loukanino I had none of bc I simply couldn’t eat another bite. Needless to say that about half of Meat Mountain came home with us. And thus, zero room for loukoumades AGAIN… SAD.
We’d def go back next summer to try more of their less traditional mezes, and see how they fare with xtapodi, calamarakia, etc.
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A midweek / last-days-in-Berlin splurge at the Japanese brasserie. We got the crispy oyster mushrooms again,
then split the chef’s sashimi & sushi selection:
clockwise from the bottom: sea bream nigiri and Scottish salmon nigiri with salmon roe, sea bream sashimi, royal red shrimp, toro with lime zest, Scottish salmon, bluefin tuna akami, hamachi with lime zest & sea salt, Canadian scallop with salmon roe.
All washed down with this lovely rioja.
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Our penultimate meal last night. Met up with my oldest friend in town and his GF at our beloved French bistro, Les Valseuses. What followed was a meat & potato orgy that left us sated and happy.
Their filet au poivre is simply fantastic, and the tallow fries are faceplant-worthy. The salade au vinaigrette was a lil oil-heavy this time around, but who’s complaining? Not I.
One more meat meal tonight at the Turkish place <3
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