....Courtesy of EDF and their compensation for a 36 hour power cut earlier last month, we decided to dine out on them. Liam and Doug had not been to Bistroteque yet, so it made sense as it is also just down the road.
We had a great meal, each going for the full 3 courses.
Liam chose the oysters to start, then pan fired halibut in a broad bean & parsley broth, with an espresso chocolate pot for dessert.
Doug ate mushroom soup, steak tartare & chips, with creme brulee for dessert.
I went for sardines with capers & cranberries to start, pan fried sea bream with cockles for main, then a lemon tart with creme fraiche for dessert.
We finished with an amaretto aperitif and a couple of drinks in the downstairs bar, before retiring home. A great night had.
....Veronika's flat is a lovely high ceilinged, large windowed one bedroom flat on the top floor. her natural taste and style means what little there is to adorn is done so wonderfully well. Her bedroom is tucked at the bag in the open plan space, meaning the morning sun flickers in your eyes to wake you up. Lovely.
....The last evening on our weekend in Berlin was spent here.
We aren't members, but lucked out as a friend of Kelly's writes for the magazine and got us entry.
We went straight to the top floor rooftop and spent the whole evening exclusively there.
I can't therefore speak for the rest of the hotel and facilities, (although I have already heard good things from afar), but we thought it fantastic. Aside from the amazing view, the first thing that struck us was the relative value.
Dinner, served from the rooftop kitchen and open BBQ grill was priced between £9-£18 for a main, whilst cocktails came in at about £6.50. I'm not saying that is cheap - but in a place that is billed as exclusive and with the scene that was set before us, I think it was well worth it.
There is a very small pool up there, almost a token pool really, but in the heat of the evening, people were using it and you can see its appeal. The bar from which the drinks were served, sat in the middle of the floor, covered, as was the kitchen. We chose to sit in seats there, rather than outside in the terrace / sun lounger territory.
Between cocktails I ate tomato gazpacho, vegetable terrine and then a lemon tart. Each dish got better and better. Kelly ate......well, I can't actually remember what she ate, (how selfish!), but I know it was enjoyed. As the sun went down, the candles came out and the moon rose. We didn't move.
The rooftop is certainly a place I would come back too - relaxing, great setting, good value, lovely service.
On the way out we even stopped for a game of table tennis in the foyer. Naturally I won! If you're in Berlin and you fancy a bit of fancy, then go to Soho Haus.
....Last weekend my birthday officially came to an end, nearly a month after it actually took place. That is because Kelly's present was a long weekend in Berlin. I already have a great affection for the city in which I spent 3 months during my St. Martins years.
The door to 59 Strelitzer Strasse, where I stayed years ago.
Berlin shaped my love of photography, architecture, art and a European way of life. So, as you can imagine, nearly 7 years later, this was a much welcome return. There wasn't necessarily anything specific on the agenda for our trip, but to have a good time. And that we did. We were fortunate to be able to stay at Veronika's flat, a friend of Kelly's, which was ideally located in Prenzlauer Berg.
Kelly, Veronika, Roy.
FRIDAY: We decided to hire bikes for the time we were away, which made it much more fun and easy to explore the city.
Typically, (certainly on my behalf), there was plenty of food on this trip too and our first port of call after arriving early on Friday was to Anna Blume, a lovely local cafe. The 3 tiered platter breakfast set us off on exactly the right foot.
Anna Blume breakfast
We spent the afternoon cycling between shops and visited the huge C|O photography gallery in a former Royal Post Office before wilting with an ice cream in the sun.
That evening we went to the final show of Veronika's college friends Lisa & Mao. Together they are the textile design collective, REMOTIL.
Lum! is the girls' studio, at which they had their show.
I was hugely impressed by the work on show - to the extent that I plan to follow up with Remotil in regards to buying a piece of furniture. I love the textile design, the colours and innovation but also the remaining practicalities of their pieces.
The show also reminded me of the wonderfully laid back atmosphere at a Berlin Private View. Whereas in London, people are largely there for the free drink and bustling to get one, here, flowers adorned an outside table with snacks and a genuine interest in the work came before the beer.
SATURDAY: Kelly popped out to buy food for our own breakfast in the flat, whilst still basking in the morning sun.
We jumped on our bikes with a loose plan of vintage shops in the morning and some culture on the menu too. We didn't have much luck at the former, so holed up for a brew in the incredible micro coffee roasters that is Bonanza Coffee Heroes. In this minute place they roast and grind their own beans and sell by the cup or the pack. Fortunately, they also sold cakes!
We then cycled over to the Reichstag on the edge of Tiergarten, but in the mid Saturday rush, it was simply too busy to go up. (Although both of us have done so on previous trips anyway).
We then retreated to the edge of the river for a little picnic in the sun.
Back to more culture, and the poignant Holocaust Memorial. It is one of the most impressive memorials I have ever seen. Initially, when viewing the sea of concrete blocks from afar, you are under the impression they are all the same size and you can walk through them at knee height.
But as you walk further in in to the memorial, you suddenly realise you are being submerged, the blocks soon towering over you. It is architecturally clever, but also makes it incredibly powerful and somewhat more moving.
That evening we decided to check out a relatively new restaurant Cookies Cream, which sits on top of long standing club, Cookies. It was an incredible place - billed as an inventive, modern vegetarian restaurant, it is accessed in obscurity. Off a main road, you have to walk through an industrial delivery depot, where a grand and very much out of place chandelier hangs to give a clue that you're nearby.
The door is made obvious by flickering light bulbs above it, before buzzing in and walking through a pitch black lobby to some stairs leading the venue.
Unfortunately I was unable to take photos once up there, but I can say that we had a fantastic meal. The space was quite industrial, but not as large as I imagined, whilst the food from the open kitchen was superb - click on the image below to enlarge the example menu.
After getting our fill, we stopped for an aperitif in the new King Size bar on Friedrichstrasse, before heading home to bed.
SUNDAY: Today we wanted to take advantage of the great flea markets in Berlin, so visited both the vast Flohmarkt am Mauerpark and the smaller Flohmarkt am Arkonaplatz.
Arkonaplatz
Mauerpark
We seemed to spend hours in the burning sun, strolling around, amongst the increasingly excitable Germans on World Cup day. We both did pretty well for ourselves in terms of purchases, from a man bag for me, (Dad you will be proud!) and beautiful vintage photo frames amongst others for Kel.
As it was getting nearer to KO time between England & Germany, we grabbed some food at a cafe that was also a trip down memory lane, Cafe Sauer Schwarz is where I ate regularly all those years ago.
Fortunately the food remains as colossal and as good, so we were both very happy to be there. We quickly jumped back on our bikes and cycled across to a beer garden nearer the flat, where we sloped in anonymously amongst 200 German fans.
We remained pretty silent throughout, (which wasn't all that hard to do given the result), and sloped back out again just before the end, dodging the celebratory fire crackers thrown in to the street on the way.
That night we went to the brand new Berlin branch of Soho House. Or Soho Haus if we're being totally correct!
We stayed up on the roof terrace for numerous cocktails and food, basking in the evening sun and then romanticising in the beautiful sunset. It was another beautiful rooftop location that Kelly & I seem to have been luckily afforded a lot of recently.
I will put more about the place in a separate post, but it was a perfect end to a brilliant weekend. Thank you for the present Kelly! x
