A Lokal Dinner in Berlin, Saturday 8 March 2014

You know, for the last few dinners, we have been flitting around the world in culinary terms - and I think it is time that we return to Germany to see what's happening with German food. By German food, I don't mean a schweinehaxe in a local kneipe (even though I personally miss rubbing my face in a good eisbein after being away so long), but swish modern German food at an inexpensive and funkily rustic little restaurant in Mitte.

Now you may not know this but it seems that as of today Berlin actually has precisely 5.424 restaurants and this place is ranked No 6 by Tripadvisor.com in that plenitude of dining venues. By itself, such a ranking may not mean that much, except that Foursquare also rates it as 9/10 and it is bloody hard to find any dissenters. So the logical conclusion is that this place must be pretty darn good, and everyone who has been there also seems to wow about the service - which will be a change from some of our recent experiences.

What is also very cool is that this restaurant sources all its food locally from the dour hardworking farmers around Berlin and Brandenburg - so it would be interesting to see what they can conjure up for us in early March. And so, without further ado, you should know that the place we have chosen for March is Lokal in Linienstrasse 160, Berlin. It's right in the heart of Mitte so there is very little excuse not to come along and try modern and avowedly rather exciting German food. Their website is http://lokal-berlin.blogspot.de/ if you want to check their current menu.

The deipnosophist for the dinner will be Sylvia as usual and if you want to know what it means, either look it up or preferably, come along and see a deipnosophist in action. The closing date for booking your place(s) is Thursday 6 March - and, you know, I have to say that I would be very wary of your gastronomic credentials if you are not signing up immediately to come along for this dinner on Saturday 8 March.

Chris (on behalf of Sylvia)

How it went on the night...

We weren't a huge crowd for the dinner but most of those who came were serious gourmet foodies - and the Lokal was pretty much the sort of place us gourmets like. The place specialises in fresh local produce from the region and to prove it, they have a different menu every day to match the farmers' daily offerings. Taste-wise, our expectations have been mostly fullfilled. By this I mean that some of the dishes were truly excellent but some also did lack a bit of flavour. For example, the freshly-baked bread was pretty good but the dip that came with it was somewhat bland - but freshly made. For starters, Sylvia had the tartare and she thought a bit more flavour may have been possible. For her main dish, she was really pleasantly surprised. It was different types of Schweinbauch that has been bedded on local fancy vegetables such as pastinakes and topinbar - and it was all very yummy. The dish sizes were pretty huge so most people had to skip dessert. The winelist had a nice selection but somewhat pricey. At least they didn't give people a headache, unlike some other wines. The restaurant was fully booked and everyone from the dinner club liked the atmosphere and their food. Some said they will come back again to try other interesting dishes such as the pigeon, which I suppose they shoot when they see them flying over Berlin/Brandenburg. Next time, please note that one can also ask for special dishes from the kitchen. Next time.

Oh, and you can see a deipnosophist in action in the album too! :o)

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