One of my work colleagues, Tom talked about this very interesting restaurant hidden away, literally with just a door underneath the bridge that crosses the river into the Friedrichstraße S-Bahn station. It’s best to book ahead for the restaurant, as even just for popping into the bar appears to require some level of planning. Or at least you need to be dressed to impress with most people wearing suits, or stylish dresses for the ladies.
The restaurant isn’t very big although several people seemed to be dining at the bar there. The food focuses on both Asian, and Spanish foods. Not really a fusion, but more a variety that spans both. I’m a little skeptical of places like this, but I can say that it seemed to work okay.
Be prepared to spend. Although it won’t break the bank, the dishes are small and you will need a few to probably fill up. Here we have the aubergine with miso sauce (€7), a light miso sauce infused with sesame. It’s a very good classic Japanese dish that I love and they did very well.
Spicy pimientos in padron salt (€6) never fail to impress. They arrived steaming and fresh, very full of spice. Mmmm. Very nice.
This dish of garlic prawns (€10) definitely came with lots of prawns. They weren’t the big prawns I’ve seen and I’ve had better, more spicy garlic oil at other places in Berlin but it was still good.
A decent serving of sashimi (€17) arrives looking very impressive.
The main courses aren’t cheap by Berlin standards. I went for the grilled miso cod (€28) and it literally comes by itself. As did the US prime beef steak and it’s best to get some sides although this adds up. A serving of herb risotto, or mixed vegetables or green salad at €5 or garlic rice, udon or edamame at €4.
I guess one of the most impressive parts of the evening was sipping on cocktails provided in their lounge. Although amazingly smoky for such an airy room, it didn’t really seem to fill up although we did come on a Wednesday and we left my about midnight – both probably very early standards that you cannot properly measure the place by for Berlin standards.
An impressive light at the end of the bar is enough to light the the entire room. Its rays scattered by the mirrored ceiling into the rest of the very darkly furnished bar. Saying that the bar staff know their stuff is a bit of an understatement. Not only do they have their huge list of signature cocktails but it’s pretty easy for them to whip up something they’ve never made before (at least the classics) and they do it pretty well.
Name: La Cantina at Bar Tausend
Found at: Schiffbauerdamm 11, Berlin
Website: http://www.tausendberlin.com/