Frozen Yogurt - Berlin style

Two Americans opened recently - on the occasion of the 125 anniversary of Ku'damm - a frozen yogurt boutique, very close to the Zoo and near Ku'damm: FroYoCake.

I am passing through the place every week at least twice, but didn't have enough curiosity to stop by and have a bit of something. Now, when I will have to wait for the summer for at least 5 months, I decided it's the right moment for some frozen food.

But, as soon as I found the muffins - elegant and homemade - I gave up the curiosity of tasting the Made in Berlin frozen yogurt and pick up a vanilla muffin. A good taste and nice appearance.

For the youngest member of our family, the choice was clear: frozen yogurt (as a diplomatic way to enjoy two icecreams the day). You are free to make your own combination and pick up the size fitting you (ours was "small"). Satisfaction guaranteed and at the end I made renewed promises to return in the near future (most probably today is the right time).

I apologize for the bad quality of the pictures (I am still making efforts to optimize the use of my smart phone) but you should believe me that the experience is worth. The place is small, quiet and cozy, with one lady giving advice about the best combinations (including in English). Frozen yogurt is the new entry in Berlin's menus, and I am sure many improvements will follow in the next months, but for the moment I am happy with the offer and promise to continue the research in other places as well.

Evening eating @Coa

I've been several times at Coa and don't have reasons to complain. The ambiance is fine, the service fast and the food affordable and good (at least the vegetarian dishes I've tried) and the location is great, preferably mostly during the summer when you can admire the busy coming and going around Potsdamer Platz.

Let's have a look at my menu for tonight:

Dim sum/Asian dumplings in bamboo basket with cream cheese - four little ones - 3.50 Euro. Newly introduced on my menu: maybe the dumplings are too small, but tasty. The sauce is interesting to explore also with the noodles.

Thai-style rice band noodles fried with tamarind sauce, spring onions and egg, served with crumbed peanuts, lime and fresh soya shoots - 6.90 Euro. This is what I constantly order and neved had unpleasant surprises. Moderately spicey, good tofu, sweet sauce.


Peach creme with green tea - 2 Euro (obviously, sweets aren't the strong points of Asian cuisine)

Latte macchiato - 1.90 Euro

Regularly, they feature special dishes from Asian countries, the latest trend being two specialities made in Indonesia, whose cuisine is completely unknown to me. 

I should go back soon, probably.

Yoko Sushi @Tempelhofer Ufer

Lost in the not-so-touristic (not because you don't have what to do, but because you don't find too much in the usual "touristic" media) Tempelhofer ufer and looking for some cheap and easy food? Yoko Sushi is one of the answers. Part of a network covering many areas from Berlin with the possibility of delivery service and take-away, this small and colourful restaurant is fresh, polite, efficient, tasty and good for your budget. 

In between orders I admired a very nice photo exhibition about Japan

Wasabi - a good starter - the gift of the restaurant

Green tea for free

Not too sophisticated, but nice

Small and delicate vegetarian sushi for 2.70 - 6 pieces

Sunday in Berlin

After a very late morning, I decided that it's a shame and a pitty to continue procrastinating home - forget about the rhyme 'there are books waiting for me' - and headed to one of my favorite destinations in the West - Dahlem-Dorf, via U3, from the very classically designed U-Bahn Station Fehrbelliner Platz. 

A couple of seconds from the U-Bahn Dahlem-Dorf, we stopped for a vegetarian pizza (8.90 Euro) and a big bottle of water (5 Euro), at Ristorante Piaggio.

All you need is to cross the street from the U-Bahn  Dahlem-Dorf

A relaxed ambiance of a sunny Sunday

Aubergines, pepper, zucchini, some cheese and spinaccio

 For the dessert, we crossed the street for an icecream at Eiszeit. During the autumn, they serve here a very delicious pumpkin soup.

The beach feeling...

One coup, 0.49 Euro...a tempting price...


The next destination: Domaene Dahlem, one of the permanent destinations of my trips in the West Berlin.

An interesting museum to visit during the rainy days

Many options: a bio shop, farms, playgrounds, picnic area, animals, a mini-bar with many natural products

Old and new, technique and play

Sometimes, here are organized concerts and long beer-drinking nights

The colourful ways of nature

Who dares to open new ways?

A natural oasis and a little lake

The remnants of an old agricultural culture

Wild, wild horses

The kids can observe the animals in their natural environment

There are many opportunities for picnics and full laziness under the sun

A busy Sunday, with lots of visitors (the entrance to Domaene is FREE!)

Watching the visitors...
After three hours of wandering, we returned back home, for a little power-nap and plans for the evening adventure.

Berlin could be the loveliest place under the sun during the summer...

Where to eat in Berlin

A couple of recommendations introduced by WSJ via Sarah Wiener. Feeling a little bit ashamed, because I haven't been to many of them...Another homework for the near future - probably the ugly winter time.

The latest food, drink and fun recommendations

Very dark and rainy day outside, but lots of ideas to write about so let's say that I found the remedy against the depressive procrastination about the terribly bad weather of this week-end. So, no more word about the weather, at least for the next 100 words.

On another note, the latest places I've been in Berlin and felt good to very good:

For a good cofee, I tried Schwarzes Café cheap, good service, most part of the time busy and a nice garden.

For an icecream, try Eisgrün, in Halensee with very sophisticated ice constructions, and tasty recipes.

For a good - to huge - portion, Tex-Mex Cantina is the answer! Although in Mitte, the prices are good and, again, the food is impressively big. If in Kreuzberg, another Mexican recommendation is La Pulqueria - interesting menu and smiling service.

Wish you all my readers an interesting Sunday!

Bread and chocolate

It is not the Washington DC's famous bakery, and it's not a film review either. What I want to talk about it's the nice coffee shop from Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany.

A place a wanted to go many times in the last weeks, but I was always in a hurry or not in the mood to stop for eating and/or drinking something. 

But yesterday was a different day and I finnally opened my first embassy here.

The first impression: a small place, with a couple of tables inside, and three outside, not crowded but with almost all the tables taken. At the entrance, many announcement of many kinds: a coming yoga festival, some offers for teaching Spanish and Italian.

The rhythm of the day was opera, which I didn't hear for a very long time. (To-do-list: going to the opera). I ordered a honey and cinnamon chocolate - the most 'normal' among various choices with ginger, chilly... - not too sweet, but not tasteless either, a carrot cake - homemade, good looking and good tasting - and an icecream. The whole adventure was worthy 5.50 Euro. 

If you don't want to jump first to the dessert, you can find various choices of paninis. And if you are too tired, strong, normal coffees are offered. 

Here you can find on sale as well drinking chocolate, glass plates and mugs - some of them used for customers - and other chocolate-based products. 

The carrot cake, the carrot cake and nothing else but the carrot cake

Honey and cinnamon hot chocolate

Eating Dao

Given my passion for Asian food, I can't wait to try new restaurants and styles. As in the Savigny Platz area is a high concentration of Thai, Chinese, Japanese and anything Asian - maybe nothing from Singapore - it's not so difficult to make a choice. A couple of months ago, I tried Dao, an intimate restaurant, serving Thai food. 

The service, as in many Thai restaurants in Europe I've been too, is very fast and people are always smiling to the customers- the smile as part of the local brand is veritable. Fresh drinks are available and highly recommended. 

On the walls you'll find many pictures portraying moments from the life of the Thai royal family so while waiting for your meals - not too much time - you can discover also fragments of the history of this country.

The prices are fine - minimum 8 Euro - but they fuly deserve the tips and the smiles back.

Speedy lunch at Dada Falafel

I've heard and read many times about Dada Falafel but given my high reluctance against reading and going to fancy popular places, I avoided a first hand contact with this place. But as today I was a bit without inspiration and fighting the hot hot weather - a situation available two hours ago as now a not-so-nice rain it's about to start - and in the area, I decided to give a try to this resto. The name is referring to two places: the falafel, fast-food location and the bar/gallery. Both are available with places outside. 

As I was hungry, I tried the Falafel option. The decorum is the usually creative at the limit of kitsch, with some classical elements kept probably from the old building and some colourful hype details. The service is nice although you made the order in between two cell conversations and you should ask them four times after if they understood your wishes.

The prices are good to very good - meaning that for 7 Euro you can eat and drink. If you don't want a sandwich, for the plate options, you are served with a lipia. 

My choice: a halumi plate, with cucumber and salad (although the problem with the Spanish cucumber I took the risk), mustard (very spicey), hummus (not enough, only a trace of). The halumi was a bit too fried, but in combination with the various dips, was tasty and soft enough for such a Tuesday. They have also some sweets - baklava, for example - and I saw on the bar side some mint-based drinks. 

The final decision: the next time when I'm in the area I will try other restaurants, or I will have a look at the funny French place - Nord-Sud. 

Where to eat in Lübars

Hungry, but not starving, tired but brave enough to continue walking for another 10 minutes after entering the urban area and we decided to stop at 'zur Alten Dorfschmiede'. Good to be in the garden - the interior is overdecorated with various porcelaines and trophees and many other sources of gathering dust. You should be careful, tough, to prevent the small insects for falling into your food. Some could like it, we don't. I don't know nothing about the prices and conditions for the accomodation, but during the 40 minutes we spent here, there were many people coming and going from the pension's door, so I suppose is not bad at all to be there.

The service is fast, and the people are nice. The prices are pretty fair - for one meal - main, sweet, something to drink the average is 7 Euro.

Veggie falafel @Schöneberg

Boussi Falafel is almost five minutes away from Nollendorfplatz. If you are lucky enough to arrive there in a sunny day, outside tables are a good choice, as you could look extensively at the people coming and going around this busy area of Schöneberg. I was there around 2pm, and there were many people chilling around, not all of them looking as tourists.
The place looks clean and shiny-white and the food is tasty, healthy, veggie. The preparation doesn't take too much time and everything looks very colourful and natural. Apparently, the place is Lebanese, as the vendor explained me when I tried - loudly against the loud Oriental music - to find out about the preparation method of the hummus. For instance, I have a big problem with the Turkish hummus, too solid for my taste. This one was good, not too spicy and oily, but again, nothing to complain against.
I ordered a falafel plate and I was satisfied with the proportions, the taste and the combination. As for the price...I paid 5 Euro for all.

Today it's a bit rainy and cold and I don't think I dare to go too much out of the house, although I'm craving for some falafel and hummus. But, the next warm day, I'll be there. Hope the music is not so loud this time.