Chez Grosz

I miss Paris and the fine French bakeries a lot and for diminishing my sadness I need to find more places that remind me of the good and sweet life on the other side of the border. Hence, my big rush to go to see Grosz, as soon as possible. During the week, in the afternoon, it was relatively empty, the only tables taken being in the interior court, on the other side of the restaurants. As it is situated in the tourist side of Ku'damm, many people were coming and going for taking pictures and have a look around. The waiters - fluently speaking a very good English - did not seem bothered and welcomed the visitors with a smile and eventually helped them to make a choice of menu if they were there to stay.

After we checked the colours of the Patisserie Oui, we took a table and started to read the menu with the notebook on the table. 

The interior design made me thing of the ways in which always one can imagine the Berlin in the 1920: old mirrors, wall decorations, wooden insertions and massive flower bowls. The building had different destinations: grand hotel, post office, regional financial department, Imperial Arms and Ammunition Procurement Office. The Grosz as I saw it opened at the end of 2012 so no reason to feel too guilty that it took me so long to discover it.

As we already had dinner before, did not want to take some big chunks of cake, but rather to feel the ambiance, read the menu and have a pleasant light snack for the afternoon. I spotted some interesting wines and champagne, for around 90 Euro or more, but also a salad I would love to try the next time: Erdbeeren Basilikum mit Pistazieneis. Good recommendations of fruits/vegetables smoothies too: pears, carrots, apple; beets, ginger, orange, carrots; limette, carrots, cucumber.

I ordered a cappuccino - excellent - and one sample of the macarons: pistachio - perfect; vanilla - seemed too old and in any case not that crunchy and fine as I was expecting; chocolate - nothing special to write about; raspberry - did not like it at all. 

For a more generous menu - we paid 10 Euro for this extravaganza which is almost nothing compared to the 108 Euro the price of a bottle of red 2009 Barolo DOCG - the plan can be of at least 50 Euro pro person. I spotted around nice ladies speaking about books and Antiquities and relaxed couples in their 50s tasting a nice meal. The usual people that I like to see sometimes at the Literaturhaus. I will be happy to return any time, especially with some of my girlfriends visiting the city for shopping this summer.