Every day this week, our foreign correspondents will accept the challenge of finding the best meal possible in their city for the equivalent of €120. Today, Derek Scally takes us to Berlin.
October – Oktober, even – is when German food has its chance to shine. Oktoberfest beer tents in Bavaria – and, increasingly, around the world – showcase popular pub grub fare like Bratwurst, Schnitzel, and roast pork knuckle. But there is a lot more to German food if you know where to look. Ask me about my best meal here in Germany and I would point to an unassuming restaurant in western Berlin called Weiss named after the its owner-operator couple, Ewald and Ilona Weiss.
For 15 years, the couple from Swabia in southwestern Germany have served up food that, like their restaurant, is spectacularly unspectacular. Weiss operates to an old-school principle that quality, in ingredients, preparation and presentation, speaks for itself.
It’s hard to pick just one good meal, but here is my most recent. To start, I had a house speciality: veal sausage, or Weisswurst, in breadcrumbs and baked in the oven, served with fresh sauerkraut with tangy vinegar and caraway seeds. It’s a deceptively simple dish, combining two kinds of crunch and a creamy meat consistency.
My partner went full Swabian with veal tongue, a cloud-like soft meat, on a bed of lentils in a juicy Madeira-based sauce. For the main course, we shared two dishes. One was the Weiss customer favourite: the juiciest, most tender breaded fried chicken you will ever taste (I could tell you the secret but Ewald would be mad), combined with the house potato salad, creamy yet light. The Weiss Backhendl is my definition of happiness on a plate, something that never disappoints.
The other dish was new to us: roast deboned quail with poultry stuffing, morel mushrooms, creamy mash and crunchy carrots. The stuffing is key here, as it enriches the quail with herby flavour while ensuring the bird stays moist and keeps its volume. The vegetable sides are mouth-poppingly flavourful; my partner is delighted at how ”the carrots taste so carroty”. Both mains showcase the modest Weiss superpower: high-end Swabian country house cooking with the occasional detour to neighbouring France.
With that in mind, for dessert, we shared a light Crêpes Suzette with vanilla ice cream on a bed of triple sec sauce. To complete things, we each had a glass of home-made cherry schnapps. Accompanying us through our meal was a spectacular Chardonnay from Germany’s Pfalz region, rich and elegant from oak barrique barrels. If you think German whites are all zingy Rieslings, this Petri vineyard wine will force you to think again.
The Weisses run the entire restaurant themselves, with Ewald in the kitchen and Ilona front-of-house. No corners are cut here: crisp tablecloths, fresh flowers and, on the walls, new art from local artist-customers. It’s a little off the tourist track, on a busy street in Berlin’s western Charlottenburg neighbourhood. But Weiss is well worth the visit. The three-course dinner-for-two menu – €44.50 each – with a bottle of white wine at €35, came to €124. You could add €15 to the menu price for accompanying wine with each course. restaurantweiss.de
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