Happy Foodfriday! Herewith I end the silence here on the blog. A new restaurant tip had been pending for some time. Amandine and I visited the newly opened VENUE Café & Bistro in Neukölln a month ago. A cozy café – now I wanted to write “Instagram”-Café, because the interior and food just screams for an Instagram-Post.
Breakfast / Brunch in Berlin VENUE Café & Bistro
The VENUE Café & Bistro serves various breakfast stacks that you can put together as you wish – 3 for 6,90€, 5 for 9,80€, 7 for 12,90€.
You can choose from the categories “Greens” with for example Acovado with cress, almonds and chili oil or “Eggs” with 2 poached organic eggs with chives or different “Dairy”-dishes, like homemade Bircher muesli with fruit or goat cheese with herbs. For the meat and fish lovers there is also a small fine selection of fried bacon or fried merguez, as well as pickled salmon.
We ordered a small selection. Amandine couldn’t help but choose the “Burnt” croissant. It is coloured black with charcoal. Unfortunately it was a bit dry. The normal croissants looked very good.
Venue RÉSUMÉ
We liked the concept very much. The café is lovingly furnished and radiates the beautiful Neuköllner Café Flair, which I like so much. The breakfast stacks were very tasty. A selection of 5 pieces per head was enough for us. We will definitely come back again.
A short sign of life from my side. The days just fly by again. I had a very nice weekend in Berlin. Meanwhile I am already 3 weekends in a row in Berlin, which is really a lot for me. I had planned to visit a friend in Basel on the weekend, but I preferred to postpone it to a warmer one in summer. There was a bit of holiday flair on Sunday at Wannsee – Tiefernsee and Jungfernsee. We briefly walked over to Potsdam (I didn’t have on my screen that it was so close!). Potsdam is still on my list and will soon be checked off.
Now I have to go to work again. You will soon read from me again.
OUTFIT DETAILS
reverbuber silk top in wrap-around look here More & More jeans her sandalsold Asos Earrrings alt
Chotto – a name that sounds simple for the first time, but is ambiguous in Japanese depending on the pronunciation. “Chotto ちょっと” means “small” or “much”. The meaning of a word cannot be more contradictory. But exactly this ambiguity is it, which the newly opened Japanese restaurant Chotto on the Kollwitzstraße in Prenzlauer Berg would like to mediate. A restaurant that serves small Izakaya style dishes for sharing, but also larger dishes such as ramen soups or sushi plates. A restaurant for large and small (the children’s menu is sweet as sugar and would have loved to order the Ramen Hello Kitty).
Restaurant in Berlin Chotto
From old to new
My dear friend Andrea of Two Foodies Eating has once again managed to implement a great restaurant concept. It proves that it is possible with a certain effort to renovate a restaurant in a more sustainable way. She emphasized the old character with little (or no) effort – she removed the plaster to make the existing masonry visible, had the floors and tables sanded down instead of being thrown away or ripped out. In my opinion, the interior harmonizes very well and conveys a beautiful Japanese flair.
An interior highlight is also the toilet, which is completely covered with Japanese mangas of a collector. A very cool idea!
Chotto FOOD & DRINKS
But let’s get to the much more important part – the food! On Andrea’s recommendation we ordered a few selected dishes. The menu consists of a selection of ramen, sushi and Izakaya dishes. The weather was nice and cool, so we had a great appetite for a ramen soup.
All dishes are available as gluten-free and vegan options!
the famous “Chotto Fries”
Of the Izakaya dishes we only ordered one because we were more interested in Sushi and ramen or Udon. But thefamosen Chotto Frittes with Matcha sauce, Shiso Mayo and beef (5,00€) we could not miss. A very solid, but tasty starter.
Tokyo-Laksa Ramensuppe
Andreas big recommendation was among other things the Tokyo-Laksa Ramen soup with a big Ebi, Japanese curry, coconut milk and coriander (13,90€). The soup was mega delicious and had an unfamiliar Thai influence, which however harmonized super. I ordered a Vegan Spicy Tan Tan Ramen soup (10,00€) where I didn’t miss the meat at all. The taste was very good. Amandine tried the Yaki Udon Entrecôte with Stir-Fry Udon noodles with beef and vegetables (14,40€). We were all three times in Japan and found it super tasty.
Vegan Spicy Tan Tan Ramensuppe
Stir-Fry Udon Entrecôte
The sushi selection was just as good. Meanwhile Unagi Nigiri belong to my favorites, so I order them always à la carte. We also order the Special Rainbow Rolls (13,50€), the Shinjuku Rolls with baby asparagus, avocado and cucumber (9,90€), flamed salmon Maki (2,70€/piece). The sushi was really very good. I’m more of a fan of the classic varieties, but the baby asparagus in the Shinjuku Rolls was super tasty and tasted nice fresh.
Unagi Nigiri
Chotto RÉSUMÉ
I’ve been raving in everybody’s ears for the last few weeks. Chotto is great for a relaxed evening with friends, but also for the family. At noon I find it particularly nice that the restaurant offers a large terrace area outside. It’s also great that you can go with a bigger group without any problems. The food was really very good and I’m sure you’ll find me there more often.
How quickly one can fall in love with a place, I felt summer, when I flew to the Spanish island for the 2nd time. That was last summer in hot August. A long weekend with friends. The best weekend of the last year. And this should not have been the last time. March was disgustingly cold in Germany again and so I fled for a week to Mallorca in the low season.
Mallorca is particularly popular in the low season. Most holidaymakers fly to the island for a long weekend. They have been there several times and you can feel this calmness. They know the island, the city Palma, the people. Meanwhile I also find it very nice to return to a place and to get to know it all the better.
We were very lucky with the weather – 17-20°C and one week of sunshine in March. The temperatures are pleasant, the cities are not crowded. The island is a paradise for racing cyclists and other sporting activities. A holiday from Wednesday evening to Monday was planned. At short notice I found a Wahnsinns-8€- Flug-Deal, so the flight tickets were changed immediately.
Tip numero uno: Flights during the week are particularly cheap in the low season. We have paid about 80€ for our flight there and back.
stroll through Santa Catalina in PalmaCute restaurants & cafés in Santa Catalina
Begin your stay with some wine & tapas at MERCADO DE SANTA CATALINA!
Santa Catalina is a popular neighborhood of Palma. There are countless bars and restaurants. A highlight is always the visit of the market hall of Santa Catalina. A culinary meeting place for locals and tourists. After the late arrival the day before I was looking forward to the first shopping in the market hall. Here one or the other Mallorquiner stands already at 9 o’clock in the morning at the bar counter and drinks the first “Rojo”. On the market hall one can eat particularly well tapas and fish. The prices of the market hall are moderate.
I can highly recommend the bar/stand immediately to the left of the entrance to the north entrance.
A relaxedAFTERNOON IN PALMA & the sunset at the marina
From Santa Catalina one walks relaxed along the promenade into the old town of Palma. The cathedral of Palma is always a highlight. In the city centre you will find many hotel bars with beautiful terraces.
Terrace tips for the afternoon and sundowner
Boutique Hotel Can Alomar
Es Baluard
Hostal Cuba
Nakar Hotel
Terrace of the Boutique Hotel Can Alomar
Sundowner at 49 S
The cathedral of Palma in the sunset
Interior shopping in Santa Catalina
In Santa Catalina you can not only enjoy a wonderful meal, but you can also find very sweet little boutiques and interior shops. You can find most shops on the Carrer de Pou.
Interior Shopping Favorites & More
Magatzem de Santa Catalina (small shop with Espadrilles | Plaça de la Navegació, 3)
Midnight Blue
Oma Project
La Libelula Home
Temple café
Sangria at Assaona Beach RestaurantMarch atmosphere on Mallorca
It continues fluidly with a WINERY VISIT
Good weather, sun – truly only calls for more wine. A wine tasting on a winery is highly recommended. The following wineries were recommended to me by friends and acquaintances:
In the end we decided to do a winery tour of Macìa Batle. The tour including tasting costs about 12€ per person.
You can take a relaxing taxi from Palma (approx. 30€) or use public transport.
The winery also offers a 3 hour tour with an old timer train through the wineries and from finca to fina. This can be booked for 10 persons or more.
Das Weingut bietet auch eine 3 Stunden-Tour mit einem Old-Timer-Zug durch die Weingüter und von Finca zu Fina an. Diese kann ab 10 Personen gebucht werden.
Rent a car andEXPERIENCE THE ISLAND
The last two days we drove the island with a little speedster. Up to 5 persons it is worthwhile in any case to rent a car directly from the airport. Unless you spend the night in Palma directly, where you always have to buy a parking ticket.
I have already booked a car several times directly through Ryanair. In Bergamo it was a bit more complicated, but in Palma everything went smoothly. The provider was OK Rent a Car.
We still paid 5€ / day for the fully comprehensive insurance on top and paid a total of approx. 40€ for two days. Of that again 15€ fuel. In the high season the prices can vary of course.
Nature Park S’ALBUFERA DE MALLORCA
Another highlight was our beach day at the east coast. The Cala Mondragó in the Nature Park S’Albufera de Mallorca is a paradise on earth. Turquoise blue water, white sandy beach – beautiful! The beach bar at the Cala was fortunately also open. Unfortunately we could not visit many restaurants, because they opened only in April.
The best way to reach the dream beach is via the Parking Parque Natural de Mondrago or Beach Cala Mondrago, Parking. From the latter you walk along a beautiful forest path to the bays of S’Amarador Beach and Cala Mondragó. Unlike Platja Es Trenc you pay no entry to the nature park.
A dream of turquoise blue waterNice to pass through Santanyí on the way back
HIGH IN THE NORTH WEST the mountain community VALDEMOSSA over DEIA after PORT DE SÓLLER
The drive to Valdemossa takes about 40 minutes from Palma de Mallorca. With only 1900 inhabitants, the municipality is idyllically situated in the mountains. A small walk through the alleys and then we sat down again in the car to the next spot.
THE CLIFF OF SON MARROIG
Along the northwest coast we reached Son Marroig in Deia, where we can see the impressive cliff.
In Sa Foradada apparently you can eat super paella. This is still prepared in an old oven and you have a fantastic view of the coast. Opened unfortunately only in April.
Son MarroigView onto Deia
PORT DE SÓLLER
The hunger drove us to the Port de Sóller, where we stayed a few hours in the sun. We ate at Restaurant Sabarca, which I can highly recommend to you. Afterwards we relaxed in the sun at Café Randemar. Every now and then the historical train from 1912, the Tren de Sóller, passed us. The “Red Lightning” connects the capital Palma with Sóller and the Port de Sóller.
And no, I haven’t met a Majorcan with whom I have had a long-distance relationship since then. From now on I will take care of them with the island. I am very much looking forward to Mallorca in July!
Happy weekend! A weekend without poached eggs is very rare for me. A few years ago, when I was visiting Berlin, I celebrated all the breakfast places very much. There I ordered always poached eggs in all variations. But if we met at 11-12 for breakfast or brunch, I’d already died 100 hunger deaths on the way there. I am a morning person who loves to eat first thing in the morning. Only then do I get my necessary energy. Sometimes I wake up because I’m just hungry. My environment always laughs about that dead when I mention it. Long story short: I rather have breakfast at home now.
I can do poached eggs in all sorts of variations. I currently love the asparagus variations, so there is a little inspiration for a quick spring breakfast today. You stew shallots and green asparagus with butter on medium heat. You can also add cherry tomatoes, which also taste great.
POACHED EGGS – how to!
After years of experience, poaching eggs works best for me when the water is lightly boiled but not bubbling. Lower the temperature to a low temperature. Then beat two eggs into a large soup spoon.
Yes, it also works to poach two eggs at once. The other day I managed to do four eggs at once. That’s of course handy that the second person doesn’t have to wait for their food.
I make a strudel into the water with a spoon and let the eggs slowly plop into the water. I then always set the timer to 5 minutes, which is a bit individual depending on the stove. Et voilà. It’s that simple.
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