Highly impressed after my last foodie and discovery trip to France and before a gorgeous trip to London - with many foodie adventures scheduled, I wanted to see what is going on on the German counter. And, for the moment, I decided to explore the closest spot, the famous KaDeWe, on a Tuesday afternoon.
As usual, the place was full of tourists, many trying to get the full advantage of the sales for many luxury brands hosted in the place that used to be the only symbol of capitalism in the divided Berlin. It remains an important top-notch place nowadays, competing only with another high-end place, the Galeries Lafayette, at Friedrichstrasse. I know the both places quite well now, and I will always prefer the Galeries, not necessarily because too French, but due to the better quality of the products and of the customer service (one of the biggest problems in Germany, in my opinion).
Sophisticated and intellectual visitors, don't worry that you will waste of time and your money in a temple of consummerism. There are always some surprises left for the art lovers - unless you consider the high-end fashion brands such samples too. Regularly, the KaDeWe hosts exhibitions, fashion-related but going beyond the retail mass production level.
The food counter is situated at the 6th flour. It includes a lot of restaurants - many of them selling specific food represented in the shopping area - Thai, fish-based, sweets. The prices are relatively high, and the usual outlook is of a fast food counter. Noblesse oblige, especially when it comes to eating in such a historical place. You can find a lot of products - from sweets to regional wines and oils, fresh fish and vegetables and exotic fruits. There are good sweets and French pastry, and even there were some fresh good cakes for the end of the first day of Ramadan. You can spend easily more than one hour wandering through boxes and flavours, but you will rarely find someone asking you if you need some help or if you are specifically looking for something. If you ask, you will be helped, otherwise, feel free to explore!
The overseas fruits, not an exquisite selection, after all, were over priced. In fact, there are many products available at KaDeWe that can be found in the regular super markets at very convenient prices. I did buy some Thai mangosteen and was also tempted by the fresh looking pitthaya.
Germany is famous for the diversity of bread products. At the KaDeWe there were many luxury products created for special customers: caviar bread, most probably sought by many of the Russian customers visiting the place regularly.
Lebanese wines are only one of the specialities of the wine section. There are hundreds of types, from the classical Loire Valley and Italian wines, to the Hungarian sweet Tokay and the Mediterranean flavours.
Everything is very clean and somehow looks like a hospital or a museum entrance. People are coming and going, picking up their food and paying. Not too much conversation in between or openness to share too much information about the diverse products presented/
The meat is not only made in Germany, but also from Austria, especially from Tirol. Everything look fresh, this is all I can say about this section that is not tempting for me at all.
I loved to be there and to explore the products and the tastes and I returned at home with a couple of new spices I can't wait to taste. Compared to Galleries Lafayette the space is less organized and there are a lot of second-hand quality products introduced as luxury - especially at the Thai counter or a the Canadian counter where you can find a lot of American products. However, I tried to appease my relative disappointment with a longer visit at the clothing areas and forgot instantly all my previous disagreements. The KaDeWe remains a great place to visit and shop, after all.
