Kumami Köpenick, a restaurant review

Linda’s 60th Birthday Present (belated) and my early 70^th

We had decided a while ago when Janice and Martin had said that Linda’s birthday present would be a Japanese meal in Berlin. They had discovered a new small Japanese restaurant in the middle of old Köpenick just a short tram ride from their new house. We looked after Aidan on the Friday and then on Saturday Tante Mohrle done a bit of babysitting while we went Asian.

The Restaurant is situated not far from the Rathaus made famous by Wilhelm Voigt (alias Heinz Rühmann) in the Hauptmann von Köpenick.

For you that don't know Köpenick, I would just say you should get yourself out there, it is situated on the shore of the Muggelsee in the south of Berlin (it didn't become part of Berlin until the 1920s). It is here that the short river the Dahme joins the Spree. The total length is only 95km in length and it rises in the Spreewald (also worth a visit) at a small town called strangely enough Dahme. (I think it is a place to visit in the spring when I have the camper on the road again)

The restaurant is quite small with only one table, though this does seat about 12, the table is actually a pair of polished timber planks (Walnut) with a burlap middle filled with wine corks. The walls are plain brick where the plaster has been hacked off, simple but effective. There is some of the original ceiling architrave remaining, crying back to a bygone era of luxury prior to the DDR.

Daughter had booked well in advance and as we were the only ones eating this early our places were immediately evident, there were four places all neatly laid out.

We divested (it was bloody cold out so we were well clad) and took our places at the wonderful table.

The waitress (also one of the owners) came and handed out the menu card and drinks list. The menu is a take it or leave it one, there is only one set menu, and a few add ones if you wish. The menu was to all our tastes and looked wonderful.

The menu was as follows:

1)       Sea Bass poached in a Dashi broth, decorated with pea shoots and finely sliced radishes  

2

22)      Obanzi – A selection of small starters (differs each day)

33)      Salmon Tartar on a bed of rice, topped with trout caviar and of course wasabi

44)      Trout Ponzu- Tranche of trout, wrapped in vine leaves and baked in a salt crust. The chef actually presented it at the table and broke it open serving each parcel separately.

55)      Scallop baked in the shell with a white miso sauce and mushrooms

66)      Finally there (main course wise) Roe deer leg filet, served with shredded dashi, red cabbage and         kale.

        

That was it for me, though the rest had deserts, martin a roasted green tea brûlée with a vanilla ice      cream. 

Janice and Linda both had the chocolate selection of the day.

        Martin and I both had beer served in small metal tumblers (I was a little surprised that they didn’t     have a Japanese beer, but you can’t have everything) Janice and Linda shared a carafe of rose.

I     I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food, all perfectly cooked and served with aplomb and courtesy. The waitress and cook are married and this is a wonderful innovative restaurant venture.

     

      The name of the restaurant is made up of parts of their first names Kum and Ami. I do wish this venture well and will pop in again, when the weather gets a bit warmer. One splendid addition is the toilet seats they are as is usual in Japan a warm water bidet type, a nice touch, if you get the slant of my draw.   

October 3 In Berlin

Dear friends, I have returned, I shall start at the present and then add some of the rest of the stuff going back to Vietnam ( a sort of retro Blog).
So without further ado lets get this ball rolling.(again)

A Long Berlin Weekend and a hairy pig to boot.

We had decided quite a few weeks ago that we would spend the 25^th Anniversary of theTag Der Deutsche Einheit in Berlin. I was working in Berlin when that momentous event took place so I thought what better way to spend this long weekend than in the reunified capital of Germany.

I picked Linda up from work and had quite an uneventful run to Berlin (well uneventful if you discount a mysterious heavy vibration that occurredat the front end of the car after about 30 minutes, but I couldn’t find anything wrong and we continued without any reoccurrence of the cars strange behaviour.

We travelled South and in the area just around Wittstock I saw a lot of Cranes ( Grus grus not the building site sort) in the fields. I pointed this out to Linda (she just does not have the eyes for these things) a little further on the sky became quite full with them as they gathered for the pending migration, and as I said it was otherwise uneventful.

We arrived at my daughters; she had been able to get a resident parking permit for me for the weekend, thus saving the horrendous parking fees. She had got lots of meze stuff in so we ate, chatted, drank wine and went to bed.

Janice had announced that on the Friday we could go to the Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg, it is one of the few remaining original market halls in Berlin, the rest having succumbed to Allied Bombs or developers hammers. She told us that the streets around were also full with a food festival, so without further ado it was off we went

.

The market hall is situated on the opposite bank of the spree in what was originally Kieze which was where the original workers lived in tenement housing and small workshop area. A lot have been turned into very desirable shicki micki developments (alas) thus some areas have now lost their original attraction, though they have attracted a lot of diversified restaurants, cafes and bars.

We arrived at the venue and decided to have a look round the streets as it was still quite early there was not too much business going on so we decided to start outside and wander a bit (we had, had breakfast but there is always space for a second one).

There was a Pie Stall selling the normal as well as the abnormal pies (Currywurst pie), sausage, flower and mushrooms stalls and many others to boot. We then decided to pop into the newly renovated market hall, just in time to see some of the workshops, the first was the fish fileting the next was sausage making, they have done it very well and if in the area well worth a visit. I had a Portuguese egg custard with a nice cup of coffee. We next went outside and wandered through the streets again stopping off to visit the cheese workshop and sample a few artisanal cheeses, goats, sheep and raw cow’s milk, quite wonderful. They even had a stall selling Swiss Raclette.  It all looked so inviting.

We strolled a little further and happened upon a fish stall, not any old fish stall this one was grilling fish over charcoal, well I just couldn’t pass this one by, so I ordered a nice piece of Wels (catfish) in a roll, well worth the €5,- I can tell you. The rest of the team had also been tasting and sampling at various stalls. Janice went for veggie samosas and various other none meat grub (she has left the straight and narrow and is now becoming veggified, poor lass).

Because Berlin is truly becoming a cosmopolitan hub in Europe, most of the stalls had their displays signed posted up in English. Everything from pulled pork, Moroccan food, seafood, burgers, Indian, 

You name it there was something for everyone.

We next walked to Waschauer Allee U-bahn caught a train and hopped off at Mörkernenbrücke , the reason being was that we had planned to visit the Martin Gropius Bau  Museum, this was one of the first buildings to be renovated, it was in the west but almost touched the wall. I visited it often when studying at the HdK (I was a guest reader for 4 semesters), it is a very impressive building and an excellent job was done in renovating such a fantastic piece of architecture. At the moment they are presenting the Vikings and well worth a visit. We only wanted to see what the queues were like as we would be visiting the next day.

We then walked via Potsdammer Platz to the Brandenburg  via the Holocaust memorial and along Wilhelmstrasse passing the New British Embassy, a lot has changed in 25 years, I remember coming across this area when it was but wasteland and rubble and it contained the Polish/Russian market, but that is long, long gone, now it is the area containing the most sought after properties in Berlin.

The area between the Brandenburg gate and the Victory Column on the 17er Juni Strasse was full with food and drink stalls we did do a bit of sampling, I had my Currywurst and pommes fix ,real Berliner Currywurst none of your curried bratwurst that passes under the cloak of Currywurst in a lot of the rest of Germany a travesty I say, they should be hung drawn and quartered and turned into sausages.

We then headed back towards home and stopped off to have a bit of Sushi at a place just around the corner from Janice’s apartment. I have visited here before but it was a first for Linda, she was most impressed, the quality and the prices are really good.

We then headed back to Janice’s joint and drank a few bottles of wine looked at photos of their trip to Sri Lanka and our France/Ireland trip.

Next morning after breakfast (Linda went and got the fresh rolls) we had booked a table in a Sri Lankan restaurant near to Boxhagenerplatz, which was very handy as there is a very good street market around the square and we needed some stuff for home as the fridge was bare back in Stodo.

I love Boxhagenerplatz, this is another workers quarter in Friedrichshain it has still retained its wonderful original character while expanding into the modern Berlin, street cafes, bars and ethnic restaurants of every hue.

The stall holders come in from the villages and small towns in Brandenburg that surrounds Berlin, most are Oko farmers and small holders, you are able to get top notch quality produce, this has of course its price and they will be a couple of € more expensive than in the discounters, but if you want quality and taste, then it is well worth it.

I happened across a small stall, selling pork products, not any pork products, but those of the Hungarian Woolly Porker, crossed with the Wild Boar, he also sold farmed game (no interest in that), but the Mangalica to give its correct name was of great interest, we chatted about its characteristics, he explained that it was originally bred for its Ruckenfett (back lard) but had almost become extinct (the only other European woolly pig was the Lincolnshire curly coat, which is now extinct). The breeder now has crossed his with wild boar (the original breed had also been crossed with wild boar, so this was a double cross so as to speak). I decided to buy some to give it a go, not cheap at about €20,- kilo but the 500g I bought was affordable, I also bought some smoked Mangalica ham. We then plodded down the street to the Sri Lankan restaurant  for a really nice lunch, I had a very tasty Mutton and potato curry washed down with a couple of Cobra beers. I don’t know what the rest ate as if I am not eating it, it is of no great interest to me!

After lunch we headed to Martin Gropius Bau and the exhibition, of course the rest had a moan, now that I am a pensioner I got in for half price, not bad this pensioner lark.

The exhibition is well worth a visit, the main hall is filled with the remains of a long boat that was discovered and saved from Roskilde in Denmark, they have given the feeling of size and shape of it by adding steel ribbing and a massive square sail. The surrounding rooms are filled with artefacts, treasures and information about the lives and times of the Vikings, all very interesting.

After that it was case of hopping on the U-bahn  across the street and heading back to Friedrichshain. Janice had decided to make a squash and carrot soup for supper, and very nice it turned out as well. We then watched a very nice film called Boxhagener strasse (well worth a look if you get the chance)drank a few glasses of wine and it was not too late for bed.

Next day breakfast, packed the car and off we went to have lunch with my dear old friends Sigrid and Wille up in Lubars, he was BBQing entrecote and we ate and chatted about old times, it was time to head for home, unfortunately it was at a time that all the rest of the tourists and visitors to Berlin were also leaving, so after many detours dictated by our Sat Nav and the diversions it was after 21:00 when we left home. Just time for some beans of toast (thank goodness for part baked baguettes and vacuum packed Naan bread ). The Mangalica goulash into the fridge, that was to be tomorrows diner, the smoked ham was for breakfast. 

The Berliner buletten

The Berliner buletten is the grandfather of all frikadellen (though there are others that will say it is just the load mouthed Prussians making another unsubstantiated boast)


Here is my recipe, which varies each time I make it but this time it required

1kg of mixed mince (50% beef, 50% pork)

250g of Mett (Hackepeter) this is spiced minced pork that is often eaten raw for breakfast a sort of pork tartar but with a good smattering of fat, herbs and spices.

1 Schrippe (bread roll) from the day before.

100 ml of milk

1 fresh egg

1 dsp of marjoram

2 tsp. vegetable stock powder (I use marigold low salt)

2 tsp. tomato concentrate

2 medium onions or 1 large one diced quite fine

2 cloves of garlic chopped

2 heaped tsp of mustard, what type I shall leave up to you, but Dijon or mittelscharf is my preferred

A good grinding of black pepper (at least a tsp. worth)

Cut the Shrippe into 3 or 4 pieces (this gives it more surface area to absorb the milk) and put it into a bowl with the milk, allow it to soak up as much of the milk as possible. It should swell and become very soft, squeeze the Schrippe and place in a kitchen machine and buzz it until it is a paste,

put into a bowl with the mince etc.

Fry the onion and the garlic in a little oil

Place this in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix either with a hand mixer or do as I do use your hands, it is far better and also very therapeutic. When mixed taste, you can adjust the seasoning if needed (you can also fry a small patty to see if it is correct). Now form into balls of about 110g ( this will give 12 or 11 nice buletten)

Heat some oil in a pan (traditionally it would be pork dripping, but we are being healthy)

Here you don’t want it too hot, you should fry the buletten at a medium heat, turning when the bottom is brown and crisp.

Fry them and when done put them on a plate covered with kitchen paper to absorb the fat (again see that I am thinking about your health)

Berliner buletten are traditionally served with Salzkartoffeln (steamed potatoes and peas)

Or eaten with pommes (Chips) and Senf (mustard)

Or eaten with a curry sauce (curry buletten)

Or eaten straight out of the pan, but beware hot, this is why my dozen only has 11 in it

Berlin Monday and Kadewe

I went straight to Monday as Sunday was a family day we went out for a meal, very nice and well worth the money, Janice had an entrecote, Isolde ostrich and I had lamb filets, all asked for rare and all got ir served rare, not always the case. Meal for 3 including drinks and tip €45,-.

Janice and I went home, picked up a dvd on the way home popped into the locaöl sushi bar and picked up a wopping tray of mixed sushi and went home to watch one of the most diabolical films I have seen in a long time Arthur!

Monday

I had business to do, was finished before 11 so decided to pop into Kadewe for a spot of breakfast. What I had forgotten was that the main eateries on the 6th floor didn't open until 12 noon.

So I had a stroll around the stalls and was able to have a good look without the normal crush, of tourists (which I suppose I am now)


they had just started loading up the oysters on my favourite stall



The Zander, Carp and Pike

The monkfish, you can see why it is also called the angler fish



skate wings, parrot fish and some other exotics



Passing the tea stand with its 100s of different sorts



rabbits, ducks, Bresse chickens etc




T-bone, Entrecote and Feather steak



Bison, Roe and game goulash

  But I had come here for breakfast so I wandered to one of the stands:

some nice lobsters to take away, no I have had these many times before




 

What about a bit of the old black gold or a nice slice of fois gras?

 No I decided on a couple of legs of King crab

And all I can say it was fantastic, I will not tell you the price as it makes even me go red in the face.

Just to finish of you may have fancied a bottle of Brandy!

Or even a bottle of Macallam!!!

Or if you are really feeling flush a bottle of Johnnie Walker, I made a quick get away just in case I felt tempted.

I left my wonderland a little poorer but a great deal happier.

My Berlin weekend

Saturday

I had some business to do in Berlin so decided to mix business with pleasure and take a long weekend break.

It was quite a quiet drive along the A2 autobahn, setting of at 07:00 and not pushing it I made it into Berlin by 11:00, then starts the fun it took another 45 minutes to get to my daughters.

My daughter lives in the middle of what is called in Berlin, "Kietz", I don't think there is an English literal translation but it is the old workers quarters, that alas are now being renovated and turned into desirable  properties, I suppose some will call that progress.

After chatting we decided to go to the near by market and then go for lunch at one of the myriad of small restaurants that  have sprung up in this area of Berlin since the start of the 90's some bling and tinsel, others just making a buck but still others showing  the food of the Berlin melting pot. But first the market.

The Boxhagenerplatz Market

grilled trout, herring and mackerel

The market takes place around a very large square  there are stalls on all four sides forming a passage through the cultural and culinary complexity of Berlin. This is just 1 of about 50+ such "Wochen Markt" that take place every Saturday and in many cases on another day during the week (normally Wednesday or Thursday).

you don't have to shop but can sit in the sun and watch the kids  play on the swings

 I have been to Borough Market in London, it is also well victualled, but it is not a market in the true sense of a market that takes place on mainland Europe, people come and buy their weekly commodities, buy their weekend joint (I suppose there are those that still smoke?), buy their veg, that comes from the surrounding area outside of Berlin (Brandenburg) and is as fresh as if buying straight from the farms. Of course you have the exotics, (pineapples, mango's, avocado's, dried fruits and nuts etc.) but in the main it is local produce and very few tourists.

At one time you could also buy your chicken, goose or rabbit live, that, alas is no longer allowed, health, animal welfare or some other silly law, that stops you getting really fresh produce.

But none the less you can get all of your meat and fish stalls,the fish stalls selling many sorts that are not eaten  in the UK ,well at least on a regular basis by the Anglo-Saxons, this I find a little strange as considering where many of their roots lie (Northern Germany, Danish Peninsular and the North Sea Islands). But with influx of new British, from East of the Oder,  maybe the eels, carp, trench and pike will once again start gracing the English tables.

We then went to have lunch at a nice little Indian restaurant called Yogi-Ashram

 


Indian restaurants are becoming more and more prevalent in Berlin (when I lived in Berlin, there were only 2), we had been there last year so knew we wouldn't be served Deutsch/Indisches, which is terrible. Here they serve Cobra and Kingfisher.
  



I chose a Cobra and Janice  had a Lassi.

We settled for the mixed Karahi

This included a glass of  sherry, don't ask me why? it may be the remnants of the Raj.

Followed by the normal papadam with three sauces, mango, mint and yoghurt

Next we had a nice lentil soup, spicy and not thick like I make mine, far more delicate, alas that floating is not coriander.

This was followed by the main course of a mixed Kahari consisting of chicken, lamb and what I think is questionable duck. It was done in a very savoury dry sauce with lots of onions and peppers.

It was also served with a large side salad  with a Yoghurt dressing and yellow basmati rice

All in all it was a very nice meal, in no way comparable of your real Calcutta, Bombay, Nottingham or Bradford ethnic Indian food but for Germany very passable.




The dessert was lichee's,  peaches and out of a tin, sprinkled with dessicated coconut again don't ask me why, it was neither Indian nor added any thing to the meal, Janice ate mine.

On payment we got a free be of a mango liqueur.

Plus points, it is one of the better Indian restaurants in Berlin, the starters and main are quite authentic, the service was prompt and friendly. the meal was value for money, it cost us including drinks and tips €32,- for the two of us. This in the "Hauptstadt" is very reasonable, you would pay at least 50% more up in the centre of town.

Minus points, why the sherry, why the lack of coriander (I realise it isn't everyone's cup of tea but it is INDIAN and I am a Coriander Junkie) The Kahari could have been a little spicier. I realise that I was in Berlin and this does not have a great Indian ethnic population so does not have the same eating ethos as in Britain.

In General

The restaurant must walk a fine line between authenticity and making ends meet, the German eating culture is not one of really hot spicy pungent food, they are slow to adapt to changing eating habits they have a saying "What the farmer doesn't know , he doesn't eat", though with ever increasing influx of the various far eastern and near eastern food cultures they are becoming more cosmopolitan than many of the older well established capital Cities of Europe. During the cold war with the exception of Turkish, Italian and Yugoslavian (Balkan) there was very little experimenting with foreign food, this was done on Holiday on Majorca, in Austria or Italy (the more adventurous went to Turkey or the Greek Islands).
The Berlin Germans are big eaters, they like a full plate even if it is just potatoes, sauerkraut and a leg of pork (with plenty of sauce "bitte") anything less is not a real meal and certainly not value for money.   Anyone ordering a Berliner Schlachterplatter will realise what I mean, one of these would have fed our whole house on a Sunday, here in Berlin you each get one!!! 

Evening we went to the cinema and had been aiming to go for a Sushi, we went to see Arthur, with Russell Brand and Helen Merram as his super nanny, there was some funny parts but all in all it was a load of rubbish, pity that Helen put her name alongside his. We where still full from lunch so decided to forego the Sushi and head back home and open a bottle of SA red and have a chat. and no we didn't watch the Euro-vision unsong contest, one, it is of no interest to either of us and two, my daughter is one of those small band of people that sees no use in a television set..