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April recipes

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 10:04:59 +0200

A full version with recipes can be found at the Slow Travel Berlin website.

This period in the calendar is perhaps the hardest for a cook. Winter crop vegetables are mostly past their best, but most of the spring harvest has yet to come in. In fact, historically, in northern Europe, early spring gave rise to the expression “the hunger gap” to designate the paucity of produce.

Of the winter crop, leeks and cauliflower are still looking good and I’m hoping the first of the new potatoes should be making an appearance soon. Generally, you should look for small potatoes with papery skins that rub off easily. You will find them at supermarkets, but as they’re better eaten when freshly dug, you’re probably better off visiting one of the weekly food markets in Berlin and buying direct from the producer. There is a specialist potato stand, Kartoffel Krüger in the Arminiusmarkthalle in Moabit, but most of the other Wochenmärkte like Winterfeldtplatz or Boxhagenerplatz also have stand holders selling new potatoes as well.

They are best cooked simply, in salads or just boiled with a little butter. The recipe here uses new potatoes with another fresh ingredient that will be making its first appearance soon: samphire. Admittedly it is at its best in the summer, but the fresh salty little shoots can still be eaten now. Samphire is a bit harder to get your hands on, but most fishmongers will carry it, or order it in if asked.

Spring lamb – which, confusingly, comes from animals born in the autumn – is a traditional main course for spring celebrations like Easter or Passover dinners. Although there are a myriad ways to prepare lamb, for a large family or community gathering, my preferred way is a simple roast. Although lamb can be eaten rare – and is often very good that way – I like it best when it is slow-roasted, filling the house with tantalizing smells over a several hour period.

Lamb is a boon to the ethical cook, as it is always free-range. Sheep, like goats, are a good way for farmers to make use of shrubby hillside and poor soil, as these animals are at their happiest nibbling tough plants and scrubby grasses. There is no such thing as intensively reared lamb.

But although it is easy enough to find lamb in Berlin, it is not always easy to find excellent lamb. The Germans have a long-standing love affair with the pig and eat very little lamb. Much of what you will find comes from New Zealand, and whilst it would be sensible to eat Kiwi lamb in the Antipodes, it doesn’t make so much sense for us in Europe.

Welsh lamb is superb, but although Galeria Kaufhof theoretically carry it, we were told by a butcher at the Alexanderplatz store that they almost never stock it, as it is too expensive to sell well.

Olaf Willert, from the Eichhorn sheep farm in Rüdnitz, sells his own organic lamb at Kollwitzmarkt every Saturday. A taciturn man with a big grey beard, it is easy to imagine him roaming the hilltops with a shepherd’s crook, tending to his flock. The reality is probably more mundane, but whatever his methods, they clearly work very well: the meat is excellent, and probably the best reliable source I’ve found in Berlin.

Seasonal fruits are non-existent at this time of year. This scarcity, combined with the lack of vegetables, might once have meant serious hunger, or even starvation for northern Europeans. But these days, we’re luckier. I for one see a lack of fruit as all the excuse I need to eat chocolate for dessert.

Like many rich desserts, this chocolate torte makes use of eggs – also traditional at this time of year. Unlike sheep, many chickens lead a miserable existence, so when buying your eggs, you should try and make sure they come from a reputable source. The happiest chickens are those with space to run around outside, which – the recent scandal notwithstanding - the organic (“Bio”) label is supposed to guarantee.

Potato and samphire salad

Slow roast lamb

Chocolate orange torte

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All photos by Kristi Korotash

March recipes

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:45:13 +0100

Full version with recipes can be found at Slow Travel Berlin.

Perhaps I am spoilt coming from the UK, where the seafood is diverse and excellent, but I find fresh fish is sadly lacking in Berlin. It would be understandable if Berlin were further from the sea, but at only a few hours drive from Altona in Hamburg, one of the biggest fish markets in Europe, one would expect the choice here to be better. As it is, it can be a bit of a mission to find good, fresh seafood.

Frische Paradies probably has the best selection. I met one of their fishmongers a few weeks ago at a party where I got to chat to him a bit more. As well as being enthusiastic about his job he was also – as one would hope - highly knowledgable about sustainability issues.

Mitte Meer is also a popular choice. Smaller fishmongers include Der Fischladen, Fisch Schmidt and Fischfabrik, though at the smaller places, you may need to order in advance to get anything much more exciting than the ubiquitous salmon fillet.

But wherever you buy your fish, do be sure to think about the ethical provenance of what you are eating. There is a good interactive guide to sustainable fish on the Guardian website, so you can equip yourself with a little knowledge beforehand, and ask in the shop for more details. Any decent fishmonger should be able to advise you on the sustainability of individual fisheries and species, or the animal welfare standards regarding farmed fish.

Once you’ve got your fish, cooking it tends to be the simple bit. Fish and seafood usually benefit from having as little done to them as possible.

I’ve offered a slightly more complex pasta dish below, but if you get your hands on some clams, you can rustle up a pasta dinner for kings in a matter of minutes. Just warm some olive oil, lightly fry some garlic and perhaps a bit of chilli, put the shellfish in the pan for just a few minutes, and you’re pretty much done. Toss with cooked pasta, squeeze over a bit of lemon and perhaps a bit of chopped parsley. Prawns are also good cooked in the same way.

Whole fish similarly benefit from simple techniques. The recipe below uses sea bream, but any medium-sized fish can be baked in the same way. Feel free to experiment a bit with the details; you could try using a different herb for example, or roasted vegetables rather than potatoes.

My final recipe takes its inspiration from a grand northern European tradition, of preserving fish in vinegar solutions. Virtually every northern European country has its own version of pickled or soused herring (e.g. rollmops, matjes). The results are often bracingly sour, but no less pleasing for that. I’ve used mackerel in my recipe and softened the sharp vinegary kick by serving it with sweet seasonal oranges and crunchy fennel.

If you’re looking for fish restaurants, I’m told Fischers Fritz is very good, if old-fashioned. But as it also comes with a hefty price tag and the solemn service one often finds at a Michelin-starred restaurant, I haven’t yet made it there myself. I can personally recommend 3 Minuten zur Meer, sister restaurant of the more formal Bandol sur Meer, both of which specialise in French Mediterranean cuisine, particularly fish.

The oyster bar in KaDeWe is rightly famous, if eye-wateringly expensive. Bebe Rebozo also has great oysters and probably the best ceviche in town.

And for fish and chips – well, we Brits are almost duty-bound to be disappointed by any offering other than the local chippy where we grew up. But the imbiss attached to Der Fischladen offers an extremely decent version that is likely to put a smile on the face of even the most homesick and difficult-to-please British immigrant.

Herbed salmon ravioli

Whole baked bream

Soused mackerel salad

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Photos by Kristi Korotash

Recipe in the Guardian

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:33:56 +0100

I've been a big fan of Felicity Cloake's Perfect column for the Guardian ever since it started. So I was very excited to hear that she's started a new column for the Saturday Cook section.

The new column is called Readers' recipe swap, where anyone can send in a recipe based around a loose theme. Felicity tries them all out and selected her favourites to feature in the next week's column. And particularly exciting is that she's picked one of our recipes to feature this week. :-)

Berlin Food Info

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:27:34 +0100

I have been meaning to write this post for ages!

A while back, I was contacted by Peggy Schatz of Multikulinarisch. She was then launching a new website, berlin-food.info and invited me to be a contributer.

The concept is that food bloggers, food enthusiastics and the like receive registered logins to a shared map of Berlin. They can then add their "culinary treasures" to the map - delis, grocery stores, restaurants, markets, etc. - and the results are viewable by everyone. It's great, because entries are limited enough to be meaningful, and varied enough to represent more than just one person's opinion.

I was wildly enthusiastic and then promptly failed to add any entries of my own (sorry, Peggy). However, I have been using the map quite frequently to find new places and have found it brilliant. Every time I go there I find a new location has been entered that is of interest to me. The latest, which I discovered only yesterday, is a store specialising in olive oil, just up the road from us. How did I not know about this place before?

Anyway, I have finally pulled my finger out and have started adding locations of my own. So if you know of any hidden treasures, do let me know, so I can check them out and add them to Peggy's map.

If you're a food blogger, or similar, with a wealth of knowledge up your sleeve, do get in touch with Peggy to discuss becoming a contributer.

And if you're just interested in finding new places, stop by the website and check it out.

February recipes

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:27:17 +0100

Full version with recipes can be seen at Slow Travel Berlin, here.

February is probably my least favourite month of the year. It’s dark, cold and depressing yet without any of the excitement of the festive winter months, or the optimistic fresh start of January to brighten those bleak days a little. February is a month that calls for comfort food of the highest order.

And yet, what comfort food? If you’re anything like me, you’re probably getting a bit fed up with the endless root vegetables and pumpkin, but spring produce is still some way off. The answer – at least for me – is cheese.

And Berliners seem to be in agreement. Last year saw the first (though hopefully not the last) Cheese Berlin in Markthalle Neun, organised by Slow Food Berlin and the Berlin cheesemonger Ivo Knippenberg. Knippenberg’s in Kollwitzmarkt is where I usually go if I want something a bit special. You’ll find them at other weekly markets as well. Their sales staff are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful, always eager to make recommendations and push you in the direction of something new. The enthusiasm pays off: Knippenberg’s usually boasts the longest queue of any stand in the market, and it’s not due to understaffing.

I adore cheese and I love it when someone says to me: “have you tried…?” and offers me a sample. I’m a sucker for such sales tactics; I never yet met a cheese I didn’t like. And when it’s teamed with carbohydrates of some nature, I am practically in heaven.

Think of baked potatoes, with crispy skin and the soft mealy insides mixed with butter and cheddar. Or risotto with its last minute addition of pungent, savoury parmesan. Or any one of the myriad pasta dishes with cheese added in to provide soft, melting lubrication.

Two of the most famous cheese dishes, fondue and raclette are a problem to make at home unless you have the special equipment. In any case, the sharing nature of such food probably make it best to enjoy such with a group of friends in a cosy restaurant. You could try Ars Vini, Feuer und Flamme or la Raclette. But a “cheat’s” fondue can easily be made at home, by baking a whole cheese in a box. The cheese itself is so simple, it almost feels like a scam to give a “recipe” for it. The accompaniments to dip can be as simple as crudités and bread, or you can dress it up with baby roast potatoes and pieces of meat.

Classic pasta and cheese dishes include German Käsespätzle (Imbiss 204 has a great takeaway version) or American mac ‘n’ cheese. Both are forgiving dishes, that will happily welcome practically any old lumps of cheese lurking at the back of your fridge. Add pre-cooked pasta, a creamy white sauce, whatever else you fancy (mustard? nutmeg? herbs? tomatoes?), bake for 20 minutes or so, and you’re done. Every version will be slightly different, depending on what you put into it, but part of the beauty of such recipes is that you can make them with whatever you have lying around.

Although I’m perfectly happy with a big bowl of cheesy stodge in February, I also cook for other people, many of who are a bit more health-conscious and at least like to make a nod towards including some vitamins. If you’re one such, you can make simple pasta dishes with broccoli and blue cheese, for example; or goats cheese with chilli and pumpkin. The cheese pasta recipe given below takes things even one step further by adding a combination of vegetables to the mix, along with a few extra flavours and cutting out the stodgy white sauce.

I don’t have a very sweet tooth and would often forego dessert for – you guessed it – a cheese board. Throw in some crackers, a few grapes and walnuts and I won’t have the slightest food envy of even the most delectable chocolate dessert.

But for the sugar fiends amongst you, I’ve included a cheesecake. It’s a German-style cheesecake with quark, rather than the heavier New York variety with a biscuit base. The cake itself is extremely versatile, and you could try topping it with almost anything you fancy. As it’s February and we all need brightening up, I’ve chosen a zingy pomegranate topping: both beautiful and seasonal.

Baked cheese (cheat's fondue)

Cheesy pasta with leeks and fennel

Pomegranate cheesecake

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All photos by Kristi Korotash

January

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 12:56:32 +0100

Our first column for Slow Travel Berlin. See the complete version on their website, here.

After the excess of the Christmas feasts, January calls for food that is healing and cleansing. For me, this means dishes sharp with citrus flavours, fragrant with herbs, and perhaps a little kick of chilli.

Asian food hits the spot perfectly, particularly Thai or Japanese-influenced dishes. They feel so clean. I don’t just mean that they are healthy, although of course many of them are; but that the acidic sharpness of lime juice, the spice of ginger and chilli, or the aroma of lemongrass seem to cut through all the dairy, sugar and heavy carbohydrates in which so many of us will have over-indulged during December. They make you feel as if you’re achieving a New Year’s resolution without even having to make one.

And in addition to all this, such dishes can be beautifully warm, savoury and comforting on a cold winter’s day. Try making a Thai green curry: there’s a long shopping list, but you should be able to pick up everything you need for the green curry paste in one of those wonderful little Vietnamese stores that abound in Berlin. I like to go to Vinh Greengrocery, where they have a wonderful selection of fresh herbs, in addition to the harder-to-find Asian ingredients like fresh peppercorns, Thai aubergines, birdseye chillies, lime leaves and galangal. Once you’ve got your ingredients, you can make your green curry paste in a matter of seconds, whizzing up everything together in a food processor. Then it’s just a matter of frying some appropriate seasonal vegetables and adding the paste and some coconut milk. The vegetables suggested are mainly based on what’s good at the moment in Germany; feel free to substitute for others if you want a more authentic version.

Japanese cuisine is a bit less forgiving to the amateur cook than Thai food, and unless you’re lucky enough to live close to one of the Frische Paradies stores, getting hold of spankingly fresh fish can be a bit of a mission in Berlin. I’d leave sushi and sashimi to the professionals, such as Gingi’s Izakaya, or Sasaya. If you’re craving ramen, try Cocolo, but other Asian-style noodle soups can easily be made at home. Some good stock, a handful of aromatics and you’re already more than halfway there. Adding the noodles and a few little meatballs turns a hot, clear soup into a refreshing yet satisfying main course.

When it comes to dessert, I must say I find Asian ones are generally too sweet for my palate. This is where I divert back to Europe, but not away from sharp flavours. There’s a grand tradition here in Europe of using sour fruits in desserts: think of the French tarte au citron, the German sour cherry cake, or the wonderful orange and lemon sorbets and gelati of Italy. Passionfruit and citrus fruits are in season at the moment; it makes sense to use produce while it’s at its best. The recipe below is a based on a classic English posset recipe, but is a little different in that it uses the juice of a passionfruit rather than the more usual lemon, and is enriched with a little white chocolate.

Noodle soup with meatballs

Thai green vegetable curry

White chocolate and passionfruit pots

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Photos by Kristi Korotash

Recipe column

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:16:41 +0100

One of our earliest supporters is Paul Sullivan, who founded and runs the Slow Travel Berlin website. He sent a reviewer to cover one of our first events (I think our second ever) and we've been in intermittent contact ever since.

So we're delighted to announce that as of January 2013, we'll be writing a monthly recipe column for the Slow Travel Berlin website.

Additionally, as regular visitors to our website will know, photography is not one of our strong points. (We still don't even own a camera, except for the ones on our phones.) So we've teamed up with Kristi, of fellow supper club Zuhause, who is a budding food photographer. She'll be taking some beautiful shots of our food to go along with the recipes.

We're really looking forward to this joint collaboration. Watch this space for more details.

German Supperclubs

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 11:44:44 +0100

Over the last few months, we have been inundated by enquiries from all over Germany, asking if we know any supper clubs outside of Berlin.

We've been keeping tracks of all the alternative dining experiences we hear about, and are now delighted to post this list. If anyone knows of any more, please do get in touch to let us know.

Augsburg

Tischgeflüster

Berlin

See separate list.

Bonn

Dortmund

Dresden

Düsseldorf

Magic Garden Supperclub

Rebelote

Frankfurt

Ceci n'est pas un Restaurant (also Köln)

Göttingen

Innen Schön Rose

Hamburg

Jules' Kitchen

Port Seehusen

Heidelberg (also Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart)

Underground Dinner

Hattingen (Ruhr)

The Dining Room

Karlsruhe

Underground Dinner (also Mannheim, Heidelberg, Stuttgart)

Köln

Ceci n'est pas un Restaurant (also Frankfurt)

Krefeld

Mainz/Wiesbaden

Mannheim

Rendsburg (Kiel)

Starnburg (München)

A Secret Supperclub by Miss Ginger and Miss Anise

Stuttgart

Supper Club Stuttgart

Underground Dinner (also Mannheim, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe)

Wildehausen

My Flying Table

Additionally, Miss Funtasty of funtastyadventures has made it her mission to visit and blog about supper clubs, particularly within Germany. Her blog is well worth a look.

For supper clubs outside Germany, MissMarmiteLover's list here is excellent, as is this one from Dan of Casa Saltshaker.

New events: autumn 2012

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:52:07 +0200

Well, we announced our autumn events to our mailing list yesterday:

28th September

26th October

30th November

and were promptly overwhelmed by the response. In less than 15 minutes, every seat was booked, and the waiting lists are already very long.

We couldn't have built Thyme Supperclub without the help and support of all our loyal guests and friends, so thank you all so much for the appreciation you have shown for this project.

If you were one of the people who didn't manage to get a place, we are really sorry, and please do keep trying. We hate having to disappoint so many of you and hope very much to get the opportunity to meet you one day.

In the meantime, we thoroughly recommend trying out one of the other supperclubs in Berlin. There are around 20 supperclubs total. Every one of them is different, and each with its own charm.

Autumn 2012 events

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:27:14 +0200

We're going to be announcing our events in autumn 2012 in the next couple of weeks.

Events are always announced first to our mailing list, 24 hours before we put them online or on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

We only hold events once a month or so, so we sell out very quickly (last time within half an hour).

This means you really do need to be on the mailing list to be sure of getting a seat. Request to go on our mailing list by emailing caroline@thyme-supperclub.de, leaving a comment below, or filling out the contact form on this page.

We know we're getting a reputation for being a bit "exclusive", but I promise we are not! We don't vet our guests, we just have a lot more people who want to come to our events than we have places free. If you don't manage to get a place, it is nothing personal, and please do keep trying. We are so thrilled that so many people are interested in this project and we would love to meet you all eventually.

New summer events soon to be announced!

Sun, 13 May 2012 14:40:56 +0200

We're going to be announcing our events in summer 2012 really soon. If you want to be among the first to be informed, request to go on our mailing list by emailing caroline@thyme-supperclub.de, leaving a comment below, or filling out the contact form on this page.

Last time we announced new events, they were booked out within 3 hours of the announcement, so you will need to be quick.

Dinner report 3rd February

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:54:56 +0100

A lovely evening enlivened by the presence of Marten and Moritz from the Süddeutscher Zeitung who were there to report on Thyme Supperclub. We look forward to seeing their article in due course.

Although the guests have been lovely, for the last few months table art has been distinctly lacking. We're happy to say the muse has now made a reappearance, as you can see below from the wonderful pictures.

As ever, recipes for most of the dishes can be found by following the links from the menu page, here. Hope to see all you wonderful guests again at some point soon.

Dinner report , 4th November

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:54:03 +0100

A brilliant evening last week with multiple repeat guests. It's always lovely when people come back to us for a second (or in some cases, even a third) time.

Your table art can be seen below, and those of you who asked for recipes can find them by following the links from the menu page.

We've announced our first three dates in 2012 and the first two are already almost full, so if you want to make a booking, you should do so soon. Hope to see you all again some time.

Early 2012 dates announced

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:26:08 +0100

Now announcing our dates for the first three months of 2012. We will be holding supperclubs on:

6th January

3rd February

2nd March

If you'd like to make a booking, get in touch with us here.

More German press

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:16:23 +0100

Another new article about supperclubs in the German press, this one from the Abendzeitung München (Munich evening paper).

It seems the supperclub concept is really taking off in Germany and the press is quite excited about this 'new' dining experience. Every couple of weeks we learn about a new supperclub and we've turned down more press requests for interviews/photoshoots than we've granted.

I previously wrote a blog post about other supperclubs in Berlin; I'm soon going to add other German supperclubs to it. If you have one and would like to be included, get in touch here or leave a comment below and I'll provide a link to your website.

Portuguese magazine listing

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:29:22 +0200

The Portuguese magazine Saber Viver has run an article about supperclubs. We're very pleased to have been listed in it.

Dinner report 14th October

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:36:52 +0200

After a two month break, we were looking forward to another supper club evening. Our guests didn't disappoint and we had a really great time cooking and serving everyone.

Recipes from the evening can be found by following the links from the menu page. And the evening's creation from the table artists can be found below.

Thanks to all our guests and we hope to see you again soon. We're currently booked out until the end of the year, but we'll be posting information on early 2012 dates soon.

Danish Berlin guide

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:10:04 +0200

We've had a little spate of inquiries over the last few days coming from Danish people. I didn't know why until we checked our website analytics: we've been featured on the Danish-language Berlin-guide.dk.

The translation of the section name is Dinner beyond the usual; as Ture has it (see comments) an extraordinary experience!

We're looking forward to welcoming some more Danish people to our home in the forthcoming months.

Article in BZ am Sonntag

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:51:54 +0200

At a friend's restaurant yesterday (the excellent Esszimmer) we were somewhat surprised to be greeted by "congratulations!" as we walked in the door.

It turns out that - completely unknown to us - the Sunday newspaper BZ am Sonntag had run an article about supper clubs, featuring Thyme Supperclub as well as the excellent Metti una sera a cena and Fortuna's Feast.

A nice surprise for a wintery Sunday.

More press

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 10:37:36 +0200

We've just come across an article in the Austrian newspaper Nachrichten with an article about supper clubs.

Although their potted history is a little inaccurate, we're delighted to be mentioned by name.