They have an odd little entryway, with the obvious door being blocked off and the entrance under a nearby exterior staircase that takes guests into the cafe's bar. There appeared to be a private birthday party in the back dining room, and it struck me as odd when we were escorted to our table in the nearly full main dining room that there were no females seated at any of the tables (eventually two ladies came in with groups later in the evening). Our table was decorated with Yule-appropriate candles, evergreens, and a sprig of holly.
This was our first visit to Cafe Berlin, and I can tell you we're both looking forward to another visit. There were quite a few intriguing things on the menu, and I can't wait to try them. I also got a peek at their Christmas Day menu, starring roast goose and a chestnut and pheasant bisque, which just makes my mouth water!
Tonight, though, was a different holiday, so we concentrated on traditional Yule foods. Fr. Steven started with the pikante goulash suppe, a thick goulash soup seasoned with paprika which I got to taste and thought it was quite good. Then, in keeping with the Yule tradition of sacrificing a pig at the solstice (the source of our modern tradition of Christmas hams), he had the braised wild boar in creamy plum sauce, which was accompanied by red cabbage and a bread dumpling. My little taste of his boar was flavorful, though I thought it was a touch dry, possibly because we were eating fairly late in the evening.
I began with the cream of wild game soup, a huge bowl of game stock which had been thickened with a flour and butter roux and enriched with a little splash of cream; this is the old traditional way of making soups, though it always reminds me of thin gravy. My main course was the delicious medallions of elk with wild forest mushrooms in a lingonberry sauce, served with two potato pancakes and some steamed brocolli. The elk was wonderful; the waitress said it was Canadian, though, and not imported from Germany. I'd had a hard time deciding between the elk and the venison tips sauteed with dates and walnuts and I wish I could have tried both, but perhaps we'll do the venison on another trip.
Alas, when the dessert tray came around, they didn't have a Yule log. A Yule log, also known in France as a bûche de Noël, is a thin chocolate genoise (cake) covered with buttercream, rolled up like a jelly roll, and then frosted and decorated with chocolate icing to look like a tree log, commemorating the big trees called Yule logs with are traditionally burned this time of year. While the absence was disappointing, we still had plenty of rich, tasty dessert options. Fr. Steven chose the unusually tall pear and almond frangipane tarte and I had the egg nog torte, which had been artfully decorated with a bright yellow "yolk" in the center of the top whipped cream layer of the full torte.
If you like German foods, Cafe Berlin is a great place to try new things. They do an excellent job of keeping what can be very substantial German meat entrees from being too heavy or fattening, and the menu has a lot of options other than beef, pork, and veal, including chicken, pheasant, rabbit, fish, and even vegetarian offerings.
No comments:
Post a Comment