I was recently in Berlin, Germany visiting my niece and nephew. In addition to sightseeing I wanted to shop for cooking knives. My nephew told me that when he did his internship at the Swissotel in Berlin that he became friendly with the chef at the restaurant. He told me that we could ask him where he shops for his knives. So, we headed out on a tour of the city with an intended stop at the hotel’s restaurant.
Traveling through Berlin is an education and an emotional experience. History surrounds you with every turn from the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial on Kurfürstendamm to Checkpoint Charlie and the remains of the Berlin Wall. The reminders of what Berlin meant to modern democracy are everywhere. Berlin is also a city of modern art and architecture which blends effortlessly with the old and historical. Berlin is a city that has the energy of a place about to happen, not one that time has past. The streets and cafés are filled with young people, and families along side the older generations who remember all too well what costs this city paid for them. Old and new, ever present, the theme is constant.
We arrived at the hotel around lunchtime and my nephew was greeted by all of his former co-workers with warmth and genuine pleasure at seeing him. He warned me that the chef was not as warm and fuzzy but a really nice guy who liked him and that he would be happy to talk with us. We walked into Restaurant 44 at the Swissotel and immediately my food radar went off. I saw the Michelin Star on the wall. I saw the Gault Millau award for Germany’s Chef of the Year 2007 on the wall. Then I saw Tim Raue, the chef my nephew brought me to see, the Chef of the Year in Germany!
They began to speak German, a language I can barely read street signs in, but I did understand that they were not talking about knives. I quickly realized that my nephew was telling Tim Raue that I was a food photographer and stylist from New York. I was taken off guard but I had no choice but to go into professional mode. The chef squared up to me and began to speak flawless English. I expressed my pleasure in meeting him and we shook hands. The chef then told me, “that you do not truly meet a cook until you have tasted his food” as he invited us for a meal that he would present personally. I got the sense this was as much a gesture of affection for my nephew as it was a professional courtesy. So, here I was in a pair of camouflage shorts, a t-shirt and a baseball cap in a renowned restaurant being served by one of the most famous chefs in the country.
Tim Raue is an interesting character. He is a guy from a tough neighborhood in Berlin and has the presence of Brooklynite. He has professed in interviews that he “cooks like he is”. He describes himself as having sharp edges and a big mouth. He describes his food using terms like “tradition” to express the connection to regional styles and ingredients and “evolution” which suits his experimental flair. He has become, at age 30, one of the most celebrated avant-garde chefs in Europe. The confidence he exuded as he described his style made me realize that we were going to see him at his best.
He came to our table and explained each dish. Each experience with the individual courses accomplished exactly what he set out to do in my estimation. I tasted flavors that seemingly did not belong together blended in such a way that it made you forget you were eating and awakened you to a new type of sensory experience. Each aspect of the dish; taste, texture and visual presentation all gave me the impression I was learning something new with each bite. In this particular meal he threaded ingredients that indeed harkened to the tradition of German cuisine and evolved into the exotic look and taste of experimental Pan-Asian cuisine. It was truly remarkable.
The first dish he served was cauliflower with chicken leg jelly, chive ice cream and herring caviar. Layered in a deep bowl, looking like art instead of food, the subtle tastes entered your palette just that way, in layers. As I ate the tastes came to me together and separately at once. I found it extraordinary.
Next, it was salmon on a bed of leeks with ginger puree and a salad of watermelon. The interplaying of salty and sweet, soft and crunchy, sea and land, old and new really gave me pause to think about how he was connecting the dishes and exited about what he had planned to do next.
The most delicious dish was a neck of veal with jalapeno jus, juice and salad of wax beans. In the old tradition of all-day cooking it was prepared at 69 degrees C for 11 hours. His patience paid off as the rich flavor of the veal with the gentle bite from the jalapeno was perfectly complemented by the freshness and lightness of the beans.
Chef Raue brought us full circle with dessert, a blackberry cottage cheese with foam and ice cream of rosemary and black pepper meringue. The pepper opened up your sinus with a blast and the cookie’s sweetness quickly filled the spot with a mild cooling that was completed with a taste of the ice cream and cottage cheese.
I found the experience to be one that truly exemplified the city I was visiting. Berlin is an old city that proudly reminds you of its roots and its old soul. It is also a modern metropolis with a daring design and a young heart. It is truly a city of “tradition” and “evolution” and the way in which a native son like Tim Raue plies his craft is without a doubt a metaphor for all that Berlin represents. And by the way I found the knives, too.
