4.5 lovely restaurant, tasty food and terrific service. In looking for places to eat in Berlin, this spot came up on Eater as well-recommended for German and Central European food, and located fairly close to the Mitte section of Berlin so it didn't require a trek to reach. From Alexanderplatz it's about a 10-12 min walk, though public transportation via bus is also available.
Reservations are recommended and I can see why, on a Saturday evening around 8:45pm the place was about 50% full, though by the time I left around 9:30pm the 50ish seats they have were completely booked. When I arrived the staff located my reservation quickly and directed me to a table for 1-2 against the back wall of the restaurant with banquette seating. It was a nice spot to people-watch and get a view of the rest of the restaurant, which consists of a central bar and tables set around it along the windows and the walls. The area behind the bar is elevated on a bi-level a few stair steps above the rest of the restaurant.
To drink I tried the Landbier €3.00 on tap--one of the main draws of Germany's beverage scene is their many many beers and I was slightly sad to only try one here, though it was in the name of saving room for the food. All the options were local or regional too.
For food I was torn between a few choices - other reviews mentioned the Königsberger Klopse €21.60 veal meatballs in caper sauce with mashed potatoes + beetroot salad, the Szegediner Mushroom Goulash €18.60 with bread dumplings and sour cream, and the Backhendl €22.40 their version of chicken schnitzel with potato salad and radishes. I ended up going with the schnitzel and it didn't disappoint (though mysteriously did not come with any radishes). Perfectly crispy fried breadcrumbs enveloping tender chicken. They use brined dark meat here in contrast to the pounded chicken breast traditionally seen. The mashed potatoes were on point texturally though safe flavor-wise. I do wish I'd ordered the cucumber salad since all the meat and potatoes felt heavy after eating two-thirds of it.
For dessert I went with the seasonal Zwetschgenknödel €8.60 a plum filled potato dumpling with plum compote. It came served warm and I was a big fan of the plum compote made with fresh plums. The dumpling dough was a moderate thickness, though the texture was dense. This didn't taste like an error, more that this is in line with the texture of a traditional specialty. I will say for a dessert it was very light in sweetness, almost not sweet enough, though I can see why too much sugar plus the denseness of the dough would make it less palatable. The crumbly substance in the picture was mostly a fried finely crushed breadcrumb with a little sugar*. All in all I still enjoyed it--haha I ate all the fruit but couldn't finish the dough given how full I was from the main course.
Service was wunderbar--the staff was very friendly and accommodating of my lacking German, they tried to explain as much as they could in English to me. I love that they have a piano here too, mid-dinner one of the staff (or was it a guest) broke out some lively tunes. The patrons here seemed mostly the younger working professional types, with a smattering of more middle-aged customers, and overall the atmosphere was pretty casual and relaxed.
*I later searched recipes and it does look like cinnamon and sugar could be liberally used here, though it seems they kept the sugar levels less diabetes-inducing in their version :) read more