Omnia Mutantur

I can’t get used to how most supermarkets are closed on Sundays.

Something else I’ve noticed is that groups seem in the habit of waiting outside a place until all their friends arrive, and then go inside once they’re together, instead of the Costa Rican way of waiting inside and the group growing as people arrive. Why a culture that has to withstand such weather would develop a habit of waiting outside in the cold is beyond me, unless it’s to encourage punctuality so that their friends don’t freeze to death.

Ricardo Travel Berlin, cold, Germany

We have an expression in Costa Rica, vergüenza ajena. It comes to mind when you’re sitting in a theater, and two german women begin calling excitedly konnichiwa! konnichiwa! after the young director and actress of Miao Miao, a Taiwanese film.

Ricardo Books, music and film Berlin, Berlinale

While off on Berlinerstrasse today looking for an asian supermarket, I found a small restaurant advertising itself as specializing in croatian food. I’d never had croatian food, and I was unlikely to be in the area again (nothing to see there), so I dove right in even though I’d planned to start eating lighter and go for some falafel. The croatian lady there did not speak English, but we managed with my smattering of German and a lot of grunting, menu pointing and chest pounding.

That’s the wiesse bohnensuppe, a soup with large white beans that was very good, and came with an excellent bread. The main course was called räuberplatte, which apparently translates to robber’s plate (In Sprachtools we Trust).

That’s three sausages, a lot of pork, some french fries, rice and chopped onions. Yes, the onion on top is on fire. And of course, the inevitable half-liter of local beer.

It was very good overall, if a bit heavy, and an indecently large amount of food for 16 euros. It actually reminded me a lot of Romanian cuisine, in that they share the same we’re-going-to-kill-you-of-a-heart-attack approach to nutrition. I remember now my mom mentioned that her serb uncle uses to prepare something similar to the Romanian sarmale, and the two countries are pretty close, so I wonder how much culinary cross-pollination there was.

That’s it right there – Adria Grill, Berlinerstrasse 141.

Ricardo Restaurants and bars, Travel Berlin, food

As in, they actually have an interest here.

Couldn’t get tickets for Orpheus Und Eurydike, they’re absolutely sold out. Not only tonight, all the remaining shows.

Ricardo Travel Berlin, opera

Movies be damned, it seems I’m here mostly to do culinary tourism (which is a very fancy way of saying Ricardo’s eating himself into either the poorhouse or an early grave), I’ve had the Brauhaus Lemke recommended on the Rough Guide To Berlin. The Guide seems to know only of the one in Charlottenburgh, which is way on the other side of town, but fortunately I decided to Scroogle before going – they have not only a website but a spanking new location in Hackescher Markt, not only closer to where I am but in an area I wanted to check out.

Mind the location of the photos, by the way, it’s not exactly within Hackescher Markt but a bit to the site.

The online menu looks very appealing, but when I got there they had a buffet lunch for 6.8 euros – very good goulash, vegetable soup, cheeses, paella (which was more arroz con mariscos than anything else), and some mushrooms in cream, as well as desserts. The start of the day were the beers:

I had the house beer (above) and a wheat beer. The latter was good but not impressive, and very close to an Oettinger (OK, so it was good beer, and I’m fucking spoiled); but the house beer really impressed me.

Good strong flavor without being overpowering – kind of like a middle ground between an Oettinger and a Guinness. Can’t wait to go back.

But since en la variedad está el gusto, I stopped by Lindenbräu at the Sony Center today after picking up my Berlinale tickets for the next few days. It’s a pretty good place, with an excellent goulash and a wheat house beer that is a bit better than Lemke’s wheat beer, even if it lags significatly behind Lemke’s own house brew. Also, while very nicely furnished, it had more of a mall feel, but I guess that’s to be expected of the area.

I guess I should start finding things other than drinking and eating to keep me entertained. Fortunately I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I want to do tomorrow night.

Ricardo Restaurants and bars, Travel beer, Berlin, food

Shock! Horror! The sun was out today – and visible at that! I didn’t even need my gloves, nor did I zip up my jacket once.

Ricardo Travel Berlin

I should say more about Tadschikische Teestube, the russian tea room I had dinner at last Monday.

It’s located in the Unter der Linden area inside the Theater im Palais, a small but opulent theater. The lady I’m renting the place from had recommended it, as did the Rough Guide to Berlin. I spent some time walking around the area, unable to find an entrance – it’s neither on Dorotheenstrasse nor on Unter den Liden, but on a little side street that’s not evident on the guide’s maps (but is on Google Maps, Which Know All).

Once you come in, you’re greeted by the luxurious theater lobby.

On the second floor to the right you’ll see a clump of coats and shoes. That’s the teahouse.

Why shoes? Well, the inside is covered in rugs, so you can sit on the floor and eat from very low tables if you wish. All rug tables were taken when I arrived, so I sat myself in a regular table to admire the warm environment and oriental rugs draped on the walls.

They have many types of tea, including pushkin with vodka. Having been walking for 8 hours (literally) in the freezing cold, I decided that some whisky was necessary and ordered Irish tea.

Even if you calibrate for the fact that that the time merely hot water would have been great, it was delicious – the tea was just soft enough, but still blended perfectly with the whisky.

I got in trouble when ordering food, however – the menu was only in russian and german, the russian owner didn’t speak any English, and this was my first time having Russian food. Fortunately a very nice Peruvian fellow who is in germany studying Mechanical Engineering was working there part time, and he gave me some suggestions. I ended up having some russian borschtsch (the traditional one, with beetroot) for entree:

And Pelmeni for the main course.

This is sort of a lamb-filled ravioli, and reminded me of a dish that Mehmet prepares at Aya Sofya. The taste of the Pelmeni was very interesting – a strong taste for the meat, with a very light, refreshing flavor for the pasta. The salad, all too often merely something to fill the plate, was a perfect complement – the carrots were unexpectedly sweet, and a very good contrast to the somewhat acidic greens.

At this point I was stuffed, even after having walked all day, but I had to try the desserts. I told them to surprise me, and this arrived.

The bill calls it bliny preiselbeeren, and preiselbeeren means lingonberries. The photographs do not do it justice. It was once again a very contrasting dish – the acidic berries at the center are on top of sweet cold whipped cream, which is itself on top of some sort of warm tortilla. This by itself would have been enough, but the dish is perfectly rounded up by the very fresh fruits on the outside, such bananas, strawberries and kiwi.

The final bill was 6.8 euro for the tea, 3.2 euro for the Borsch, 7.5 for the Pelmeni and 5.4 for the bliny preiselbeeren – not pocket change, but not exactly expensive either. For those keeping score at home, it’s a total of 22.9 euros, or about 16,000 colones – around what you would pay at an upscale place like Saga for a 3-course meal, and that’s before you factor in the Irish tea, that it includes a high 19% VAT, and that you keep hearing how expensive good food is in Europe (more on that topic later).

In short, loved it, and I’m looking forward to repeat the experience, even if it does mean that it’ll spoil me for other places (and that eventually I’ll have to head back out into the cold).

Ricardo Restaurants and bars, Travel Berlin, food, tea

Berlin is littered with memorials, particularly for the jews murdered during the Holocaust. Everywhere you look there’s a plaque, or a statue, or entire areas covered in mock tombs. There’s even talk of making independent memorials for other groups, such as the gypsies.

None I’ve seen have so effectively conveyed the message as these small copper pebbles, embedded in the road outside the houses where those deported and exterminated used to live. They list their birth year, where they were sent to, and when they died.

Ricardo Travel Berlin, History, memorial, Travel

I know I said I’d shut up about the cold, but…

After my very long walk yesterday I had the toenails on my pinkies annoy me a bit, like they feel when they’ve grown too large and I’ve got to trim them. Today when I’m going to shower, I see some residual dry blood in the toenail.

I’ll spare you the pictures, but turns out the pinky’s toenails split vertically from the cold, probably since the pinkies were the ones closer to the outside of the boot. Nevermind that I was wearing very thick socks and hiking boots that were just fine in winter when navigating the very cold, very windy ruins at Curtea de Arges.

Vero kept talking about felt-stuffed boots and other things I had dismissed until now. This place makes Romania look like a summer home in Guanacaste.

Ricardo Travel Berlin, cold, Romania

Did I mention it’s cold here?

Yeah, I know, it’s winter. I’ll shut up about it. These are for Vero, who finds freezing weather charming.

Ricardo Travel Berlin, snow