Bulgarien: Eine von Viele

As much as I've tried to keep this project orderly, the B countries refuse to get in line (alphabetically that is). I've got Bolivia and Bosnia in the works, but Bulgaria pushed it's way forward (Brazil is just behind it) and that's just how it is. Maybe the C countries will be less chaotic....

I was pleasantly surprised to find a good handful of Bulgarian restaurants in Berlin to choose from. As a matter of fact, for what it's worth, there appear to be more Bulgarian restaurants in Berlin than in New York City. Luckily, a friend with a Bulgarian boyfriend offered to take me to her favorite: Pri Maria (Bulgarian for Maria's Place) in Friedrichshain. Inflamatory as this statement may be to certain passport-holders, the flavors found in Bulgarian food are not dramatically different from those found in Turkish food (they do share a border after all), which means that a Bulgarian meal in Berlin (home to a bazillion Turkish restaurants) doesn't really provide a new and exciting palate to explore. That said, it's always interesting to explore regional or national variations and Pri Maria offers very good versions of these familiar dishes at very reasonable prices.

We shared a small mixed appetizer plate, a schopska (the Bulgarian version of the more familiar Greek salad), and an order of Sirene natur (Bulgarian sheeps' milk cheese (think feta)). The appetizer plate included a selection of speads: eggplant, red pepper, yogurt-cucumber, along with some marinated vegetables. While many places in Berlin offer a near-identical mixed appetizer plate, at Pri Maria they are clearly made in-house and taste notably fresher and more distinct than what you most often come across in this town. My chief complaint regarding the appetizer plate is that it doesn't include any feta, which we had to order separately. The feta is very good and not expensive (3.20 Euros for 6 or so slices), so it wasn't a huge problem in our case, but if I were dining alone or with a cheese-phobic companion, I might not want a whole plate of it. Seeing as it is listed under appetizers and the mixed appetizer plate is described as "a little of everything," it seems that a bite or two of feta wouldn't be out of place. Another issue is the bread. While it's perfectly edible white bread and provides a necessary vehicle for the many spreads, it's nothing special. Alas, I don't know enough about Bulgarian food to know if this is the sort of thing one might be served in a cafe in Sofia, but the very good spreads would have really been elevated had they been served with homemade pita (!) or even a purchased bread with some actual flavor. The schopska is an excellent example of how making a small change - in this case, grating the feta instead of cubing or crumbling it - can give a familiar dish a very different feel. My complaint regarding the schopska is a familiar one: the tomatoes in Berlin are almost always bad, particularly if you are buying cheap ones, which most inexpensive restaurants here do. Maybe in late August you can find a few good ones, but this year has been especially, depressingly bad. If you've ever eaten a Greek salad with tomatoes and cucumbers fresh from the garden, you know that one made from grocery store produce just isn't the same. Still, I liked the "concept" of the salad. If I ever get my hands on a tomato with any flavor, I just might make my own schopska, though I am craving a tomato sandwich on toasted bread with basil mayonaise so much these days, that would have to take precedence......but back to Bulgaria....The meal ended on a very good note: yogurt with honey and walnuts. This dish has so much potential to be blah, but Pri Maria's version was anything but. The yogurt (whole milk, of course) was thick and creamy with just the right amount of tang. There was just enough honey so that somehow you managed to get some in each bite without it being cloying. And the walnuts - they weren't just tossed on as an afterthought, but were caramelized, giving each spoonful the most delicious, toasty crunch.

Because Pri Maria is in Friedrichshain, they also serve crepes and gallettes (is there a neighborhood law that one cafe per block has to serve these?)and a few Russian dishes (there seems to be a Russian involved somewhere - married to the owner perhaps?), but at heart Pri Maria is a Bulgarian cafe with a complete Bulgarian wine list! My glass of red wine was pretty generic tasting, but still - it was Bulgarian! They also host wine tastings (and randomly, offer bike rental), so maybe there are some gems on the list. It would be nice if they pumped up the Bulgaria a little - the decor is pretty generic. The cheesy painting of a cappuccino and some oddly squid-like light fixtures didn't do much for me. Similarly, I was much happier listening to the Bulgarian music (which can only be described as raucous) than the forgettable pop that was playing when we first came in. I can imagine the owners might prefer a more modern look, but I'd like to think that proclaiming themselves as a place to have a distinctly Bulgarian experience would be a real selling point. Having said that, the place doesn't seem to be lacking for customers: the food is good and the price is right.

Pri Maria
Boxhagener Straße 26

Das Bermuda-Dreieck: Vermisst

I was mostly kidding about my ability to bring about a restaurant (or bar)'s demise, but I am here to report that the Bermuda Cocktailbar in Weissensee and the Bermuda-Dreieck in Kreuzberg have both closed and been replaced by shisha bars. I might as well also add here that until a year or so ago, there was a Burmese restaurant near Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz, that has also become a shisha bar. Not a good development in my opinion. The Burmese place was pretty bad -- I recall a plate of momos covered in red glop -- but I am pretty sure it was better, and definitely more interesting, than this shisha place. Sigh.

B für Belgien

I first discovered Liege waffles about 10 years ago when backpacking around Europe with my sister. I remember that we weren't very hungry, but bought one from a vendor in the subway in Brussels because it seemed that one should have a Belgian waffle when in Belgium. But the waffles one finds in Brussels (Liege) have little in common with the Belgian waffles found in diners in America. Liege waffles are made from a slightly sweet yeasted dough (also not to be confused with a yeasted batter a la Marion Cunningham)
that is sprinkled with pearl sugar before it hits the waffle iron - the sugar melts and forms a light glaze. I don't have anything against regular waffles, but if I never eat one again, it would basically be OK with me. Liege waffles, on the other hand, are something that I dream about.

Cassonade, a small Belgian cafe on busy Oranienstrasse in Kreuzberg sells both Liege and regular waffles. The bummer is that they make both kinds in advance, reheating them in the waffle iron. This is just nuts as both kinds of waffles benefit highly from being freshly made and neither takes very long to cook. In Brussels, the majority of vendors use thawed frozen dough with delicious success and I can't think of any reason Cassonade couldn't do this as well. That said, the waffle was pretty good and at only 1.60 Euros, a delicious and affordable snack. Still, it wasn't quite as doughy (in a good way) as it might have been had it been freshly griddled, and the glaze was somehow lacking. I'm not saying I didn't like it, but with with a very little effort, Cassonade could remedy these issues. I have to add that the cafe also lacks something in the ambiance department. Aside from a shelf with some different Belgian products (mostly beers) and a plastic table, there really isn't much to the interior. These days you can sit outside, but it's not like Oranienstrasse offers much charm. I say, go early and maybe you can catch them making the waffles fresh, get one to go (do not be distracted by the toppings, they only take away from the sweet doughyness, which is the beauty of a Liege waffle) and stroll down to the canal.

Cassonade
Oranienstrasse 199

Photo courtesy of the Taxi Gourmet

Bangladesch: Nachos und Mehr

I think Dayal Bhandar may be the world's only Bengali-Mexican restaurant. Alongside the traditional curries and fritters, you'll find many variations on nachos and fajitas (burgers, too). When asked, the jolly owner informed us that he had previously owned several Mexican restaurants and his regular customers asked him to keep their favorite dishes on the menu. While I get that from an economics perspective (we were the only customers at 7 on a Saturday evening), it doesn't quite jive with his professed desire to make Dayal Bhandar into a Bengali cultural center, serving authentic food that isn't dumbed down for the Germans (his sentiment, my words). While I was tempted to see if the Fajitas con Vaca came with a real cow, we stuck to the Bengali menu options. We shared Missron Kulipita, fried turnovers filled with beef or chicken served with a tamarind sauce and Bangla Labra, a sort of vegetable curry. I can't say that the food was amazing, but something about the place appealed to me. The fritters were fine; no better or worse than you would expect. The major flaw in the cooking was that the vegetable curry was made with frozen vegetables. I can't defend this (in July no less), but the sauce was good and it was spicy. In a city filled with odd cream-based curries that all taste exactly the same, this dish stood out despite the crinkle-cut carrots. My favorite part of the meal, though, was the beverages. Dayal Bhandar doesn't serve any alcohol, but they do have a few Bengali beverages. The owner's wife (co-owner?) had trouble explaining them to me, so I chose Burhani, which she could only describe as spicy. I liked it, but it was like drinking a glass of creamy, spicy (!) cilantro chutney. I do love me some cilantro chutney and while it might not become my new drink of choice, it's refreshing to be served something with real heat in this town. Spain and Germany have taken a real toll on my spiciness tolerance and between the curry and my drink, my ears were on fire. I was also intrigued by their traditional Bengali breakfast offerings - homemade flatbread with eggs, cilantro, onions, and chilies stood out in particular. Even though the food wasn't mind-blowing, it still seemed like they were cooking for us like they cook for themselves. I have a suspicion that with a little work and by showing some interest in Bengali cuisine, you might be able to eat really well there. Or maybe I'm just getting desperate to believe that about one of these places.

At the end of the day, Dayal Bhandar does have room for improvement. The restaurant's interior is fairly generic and sitting outside means you are essentially eating in a construction site (they can't be blamed for this, though, and in time it will be gone). Still, the food has real flavor and the jolly owner and his family (when we first walked in only the children were present) are charming. I hope that the fact that they only had one table on a Saturday night doesn't mean what I think it means. The off-the-path location will always be a challenge, but they do seem to get that cooking their food as they like to eat it is something special. And that counts for something in my book.

Dayal Bhandar
Goslarer Platz 5

Aserbaidschan: Fast Italien

Baku-Napoli is the classic combination Azerbaijani-Italian restaurant (they also serve Russian and German food). I have to give them credit for pointing to a link between Baku (the capital of Azerbaijan) and Naples on the website with a Maxim Gorki quote: "No streets in the world remind me more of Naples than those in Baku" (Baku being the capital of Azerbaijan for those of you not up on your Azerbaijani trivia). I'd so love to tell you that this is a hidden gem, that the restaurant's generic sign and unappealing location on ugly Potsdamer Strasse belie amazing homemade treasures, delights found nowhere else in Berlin. In all truth, on the inside the restaurant is a lot more charming than you would guess. The walls are decorated with murals of what I guessed to be Baku street life and in the back is a nice little Biergarten for outdoor dining in case summer weather ever returns to this city. You can get a good sense of the music they play a little too loudly from Baku's website: Russian pop and funny covers of American show tunes, etc. (we actually thought they had started doing karaoke in the main dining room at one point, but it was a CD). Some of the food at Baku-Napoli is pretty decent, but nothing was so good that I'm planning to go back. And importantly, the prices are way out of line with the portions, the neighborhood, and the quality of the food.

The menu offers a wide selection of Italian dishes: pizzas, pastas, various salads, along with a few German or Berlin standards, such as Chicken Schnitzel, Currywurst, and Eisbein (pork knuckle), but we stuck to the Azerbaijani/Russian section of the menu. The Pelmeni, little ravioli-style dumplings with a ground chicken filling (these are more Russian than Azerbaijani as far as I know) were served with sour cream and oddly with yellow rice and a little salad of a couple cucumber and tomato slices on a spoonful of sauerkraut. They were OK, but I'd guess they weren't homemade and they were quite bland. Also, I'm not going to claim to be an expert on Azerbaijani cuisine, I don't even have a cookbook, but I don't think rice is a traditional or logical accompaniment to dumplings. Especially such insipid rice. Whatever gave the rice it's yellow coloring (certainly not saffron as is traditional) had no flavor whatsoever. Our grilled veal kebab came with the same salad and tasteless rice, but the meat had very good flavor and was served with pomegranate molasses and a sort of plum-based smoky barbecue sauce. The quantity of food was certainly enough to fill up two diners, but was on the meager side by today's restaurant standards. It's not that we needed to eat more (although the menu does claim that all the grill dishes are served with grilled vegetables and all we got was a half a grilled tomato). It's just that for almost 14 Euros (especially in this town) one expects a little more. If the rice had been good and there had been some nice grilled vegetables .... Maybe if the bread they serve was homemade (Azerbaijani Tandoor bread is supposedly quite delicious)...then maybe I can see charging 14 Euros, but what they actually serve and how it's presented just doesn't justify that much money in this town. Sigh....

Baku-Napoli
Potsdamer Strasse 131

Österreich: Bleib bei dem Schnitzel

I thought about skipping over Austria. Schnitzel is easy to make and I am forced to make it fairly often at work (not that there isn't more to Austrian cuisine, but schnitzel does seem to be the focus at Austrian places here). I've also already been to several Austrian or Austrian-ish places here and one might argue that Austrian food is more of a regional thing, but that seemed to go against the spirit of my little project here. And so I made a reservation at Austria. (Why this place is called Austria, I do not know (Austria is Österreich in German -- alas, the waitstaff at Austria are not imports, but surly locals and our waiter did not seem interested in answering such questions.)

There are a decent number of Austrian places in Berlin and I don't have a very good reason for having picked Austria. Many people consider their schnitzel the best schnitzel in town and I have a nice memory of sharing a schnitzel at the bar with mein Mann a few years back. I don't know for sure if it's the best in town, but the schnitzel at Austria is quite good. (But if schnitzel is what you're after, get yourself some good-quality veal and make it at home - it's beyond easy.) Still, the bigger-than-plate-sized schnitzel at Austria has a light, crispy coating and comes with simple, but good potato salad and cucumber salad. If you are feeling lazy or don't want your kitchen to smell like grease or you have out-of-town visitors who want a "typical German" restaurant experience, you could definitely do worse. Because I had already sampled the schnitzel at Austria (and just made it at work), I decided to branch out and ordered the Tafelspitz (think brisket). At Austria, this means two large pieces of meat with a generous serving of fresh horseradish, creamed cabbage, smashed potatoes, some julienned vegetables (carrot, kholrabi and the like) that mostly added color to the plate. The potatoes and creamed cabbage were both excellent. The potatoes were perfectly seasoned with lots of caraway seeds and the occasional crunchy bit of Speck and let's just say that there should be more creamed cabbage in the world. But the meat didn't do much for me. It was a little too dry and didn't have much flavor. Also it was served (per tradition) in a little pool of wan cooking liquid that I really could have done without. I can, however, report that Austria has a full list of good Austrian beers and wines. As well they should.

Austria isn't the most beautiful restaurant in town. I don't mind the mountain hut look, but the ceiling is cheap office tiles and the place could really use a fresh paint job. For whatever reason, many of the paintings and plaques with antlers, etc. have been taken down leaving only dingy marks on the walls. If it was some amazing bargain hole-in-the-wall I could let it slide, but with entrees above 15 Euros, a decent paint job is in order. In the end, when in Austria: stick to the Schitzel. (For tafelspitz, head to Vienna and make a reservation at Plachutta - their Tafelspitz is worth the plane/train fare.)

Austria
Bergmanstr. 30

Not to be confused with the wannabe, copycat Felix Austria down the street at Bergmanstr. 26!

Australien: Ich habe es wirklich versucht

I am starting to think that this project may be something of a curse. Chraazan, the Afghan restaurant closed shortly after I visited it. I noticed that the Great Australian Bite had closed on my way to the Armenian Amberd. And try as I might, I wasn't able to make a reservation at Billabong (lame name, I know). The Billabong website states that they are closed for vacation from April 14. I initially assumed that they just hadn't gotten around to taking the message down - surely a restaurant doesn't go on vacation for two entire months? In the end, it seems that Billabong has closed as their phone is disconnected and they aren't responding to emails. You cant say I didn't try....

Lest you think I would let the closing of not one but two Australian restaurants deter me, I am here to report that Ululu Resort, "The Australian PUB in Berlin" is going strong. And while it is not all that Australian, the motto does seem to ring true. (Full disclosure: there are two branches of Restaurant Corroboree in Berlin, but this place looks so cheesey, so touristy, even the German-language reviews on Qype, etc. so bad .... I just couldn't subject myself to the croc tournedos or springbock steak. sorry.) I don't know that I would recommend Ululu in the winter because it really does reek of stale cigarette smoke, but on a warm June evening it was pleasant enough to sit at a table in front of the restaurant and sip a glass of Australian Chardonnay. Alas, the Chardonnay is the only Australian thing on the menu (there may be Bratwurst on the weekends, but the official menu is just drinks - with the exception of the unremarkable Chardonnay, it's the same beers and Erdbeer Bowle (strawberry wine cooler/punch) you find in any non-trendy Berlin bar). According to the friendly owner "the Australia part is really just a facade; it's basically a stammkneipe (local pub)." Well...at least he was being honest.

Ululu Resort
Rykestr. 17