Foodie Rich European Tour... The Final Instalment

February 14, 2018 by Foodie Rich

Pizza you’ve beaten me, I’ve really been put through the ring. I wrote last week, and I quote ‘Lou and I ate pizza every day; yeah that’s right EVERY DAY, and sometimes more than one!’ Sounds lovely doesn’t, kicking back in the pizza capital of the world, and just doing as the locals do; eating our bodyweight in pizza. I love pizza and who doesn’t, but two a day, 3 days in a row? I challenge you, go on, give it a go, and you’ll soon know what I’m saying. By the time we were ready to catch our flight to Berlin, I couldn’t face another pizza, I was in the mood for German sausage! Yep, big ones, small ones, fat ones, thin ones, spicy ones, I wanted all the wurst Berlin had to offer! However, we still had to get out of Naples. And another pizza hurdle to get over, as yes, there’s more pizza at the airport. Honestly, I couldn’t face anymore Pizza, just a mere mention of it and I’d dive for cover. Over a prefight beer in departures, I looked at Lou, she looked at me, and straight away I knew we were both thinking the same; we’d spotted the Golden Arches! I hate McDonald’s, it’s shit. I never want to waste calories eating their bland and boring soggy, sorry excuse for burgers. However, for some very strange reason at this particular moment in time it seemed so right. So, with 20 Euro’s in my pocket I scored Lou and I a Big Mac, fries and a Morretti; yeah, I got a beer in Mackie D’s! We didn’t talk. Time seemed to stand still as we both revelled in the moment. It felt wrong, I felt dirty, I felt I needed to confess my sins to the foodie father; but who cares, for that 5 minutes it took us to eat this waste of calories I hadn’t a care in the world. Nothing else mattered, it was just man, and a pretty crappy burger. As quickly as we’d eaten this, I disposed of the evidence and we were on our way. Not a word has since been whispered about this crime until now. But I had to share this with you, I needed to get this guilt and filth off my conscious and hope we would be forgiven. So, after scoffing down my first ‘Muck’ Donald’s in years, Berlin beckoned.

Well, Berlin, what can I say. This city ain’t pretty, and we all know it has endured its fair share of a somewhat grim history. But, they’ve put all of that behind them and now it’s a pretty cool part of the world. Architecture here is a little alternative. In both Italy and Amsterdam, the architecture is mainly pleasing to the eye. Not in Berlin. Wandering the streets of Berlin, you really get a feel for the old days of east and west. The place is cold. Yeah, it snowed, and the mercury never rose above freezing, but the buildings were cold. They weren’t pretty and quaint like in Amsterdam; or beautifully historic as you’d find in Italy. Berlin had an ugly industrial feel about the place which radiated coldness. But that’s what it’s about. Just chuck a bit of Kraftwerk on Spotify and this city becomes beautiful in its own special way. And the history here is modern; I mean the wall only came down in 1989 and reminders of divided Berlin and its grizzly past are everywhere. So yeah, as with our previous destinations we couldn’t venture this far and not do some of the touristy bits. We looked at walls, memorials, museums, checkpoints and rather graphic exhibitions. I’ve got to say, although a little depressing and shocking at times, it was fascinating stuff.

But come on, this is a gastronomic tour, let’s talk food! One word Wurst! Sausage is everywhere!! And a good job too; it’s good! You can’t come to Berlin and not get involved with curry wurst. It’s brilliant beer food; oh, and the Germans do like a beer! On our first night we found a bar, grabbed a stein of Berliner Pilsner, and ordered our first curry wurst. So, what exactly is curry wurst? Simply, a pork sausage drowned in sweet curry sauce and dusted with curry powder. Apparently, it originates from British soldiers in Germany. One of the locals added some good old British curry powder to tomato sauce and lathered it over a sausage, and so curry wurst was born. How true that is I don’t know, what I do know is, it’s pretty good. Just like pizza in Naples, curry wurst is everywhere. So not a day past in Berlin without my daily fix. There’s other sausage too. Knackwurst was another favourite. Translated, knack means ‘crack’ in German. That’s right, crack sausage! Its not what you think, it refers to the ‘crack’ noise when biting in to this wurst. A slimmer sausage this time, the Knackwurst was served with a hearty accompaniment of mashed potato, sauerkraut and gravy; perfect comfort food. All the food in Berlin for that matter is comforting! The pork knuckle was the ultimate! Known locally as Schweinshaxe, this huge roasted lump of pig, served with chips or mash is enough to beat any carnivore in to submission! Duck too, Berliners love a roast duck. Most traditional pubs will have this on the menu. Half a duck is served with potatoes and red cabbage, another classic German fleisch ‘tastic’ dish. Jeez, if you’re a vegetarian in Berlin you may struggle they just love meat!

Strangely one of the most memorable meals we had in Berlin wasn’t in a traditional restaurant or cosy bar; it was in a rather rough part of the city, situated in a disused toilet under a bridge; sounds delightful eh! Forget the surroundings though; the food here was bloody awesome. So where am I talking? The one and only Burger Meister. Yes, it’s in disused toilet, but an old toilet which has been converted in to something quite special. It is a little rough around the edges, with graffiti and stickers plastered all over the place, but that’s it charm. Get here early is my first piece of advice. Burger Meister is legendary in Berlin and it gets busy, for good reason. They serve up simple good burgers. Lou and I both opted for the classic, a cheese burger, accompanied by skin on fries. Order at the counter, and the Meisters will have your burger ready in minutes. This is a no frills burger bar, stripped back to the bare minimum. Its one for the burger purist. Bun, meat, cheese, salad and sauce; simple. Well I’ve got to say, if there was such a thing as the perfect burger formulae this would be it. Burger to bun ratio? Spot on. Salad to burger ratio? Spot on. Burger pinkness? Spot on. Burger to sauce ratio? Spot on. Burger height? Spot on. Burger diameter? Spot on; yeah ok I think you get the picture. This burger ticked all the boxes, it was pretty much, well, SPOT ON! Unlike my earlier McDonalds experience, Burger Meister was not wasted calories. Each and every one of those calories in this burger was welcomed; it’s the sort of burger I dream of when longing to fill my burger compartment. Yep, Burger Meister, albeit a little rough looking is well worth the visit if you’re in town.

Whilst we’re on the subject of meat, which seems to be everywhere in Berlin, I stumbled across a real find; this one’s for the real BBQ aficionados amongst us. I almost wet my pants when I saw this; they have a Weber BBQ Grill Academy! Yeah, an academy where Berliners can learn perfect Weber grill techniques. Naturally, I had to pop in. This place was like a Weber BBQ theme park; I was like a pig in shit. A shop to the front where Weber grills of all shapes and sizes are stocked. Weber accessories like none I’ve ever seen before, and to the rear, the academy itself. I was in awe of this place, I could’ve spent hours here, and spent a fortune! But alas I couldn’t stay, after all, Easy Jet excess baggage aint cheap, and we had a flight to catch back to Amsterdam!

I promised in part one of this foodie trilogy to tell you about fine dining in the Dam. Whenever I’ve written about the Dam I only really waffle on about the dirty, deep fried late night snacks, the wonderful herring and smoked eel. All of it I hasten to add has its place in foodie society. Particularly so in Amsterdam when out of nowhere the munchies can strangely attack at any time. However, there is more refined dining to be had. Amsterdam is home to some talented young chefs, who are serving up modern food, in Uber cool restaurants. Places such as Gebr Hartering owned by two brothers are creating a twist on traditional Dutch food, which I am told is very good. However, Lou and I managed to bag a place at the bar in ‘Guts & Glory’. A restaurant which once a month not only changes its menu, but the entire theme of the venue. We visited during its traditional Dutch theme; particularly fitting I thought. The chefs served us a 6 course tasting menu, where they constructed elegant, modern and beautiful Dutch classics, but as I’ve never seen before! We had smoked eel with samphire and potato, chefs alternative bittabollen with croquettes, bread with home churned butter and pate, herring with cucumber and dill, brussel sprouts; yeah sprouts deep fried and roasted topped with the lightest hollandaise. But, the crowning glory was a duck breast perfectly pink with a beetroot purée, but it gets better. The Confit Leg was made in to a duck shepherd’s pie; what a triumph! Oh, and each dish paired with a Dutch wine. I was amazed! Modern, interesting and inventive cooking is alive and kicking in Amsterdam, rest assured.

Well, that’s that, my European gastronomic tour was at an end. But we’d finished on a high at Guts & Glory. This tour has not only fed me well, but educated me well too. Although the food was, and will always be, top priority, we visited some cities steeped in culture which I couldn’t miss. But what makes this trip the best? We flew from Southend! I said at the beginning of part 1, I love our local airport it’s so quick and convenient. And, to be able to use it for the starting and finishing point on a tour of Europe, made the trip extra special. Writing this trilogy has been fun, I’ve re-lived those foodie moments. Those moments I look back on which fill me with joy, laughter and mostly hunger! I’ve spent the past two weeks trying to shed the excess baggage I accumulated; but I now want a plate of spaghetti Vongole or maybe a porchetta roll. Oh, what about a pizza, actually no, I want wurst! Yes, bring on the wurst. Oh, jeez I can’t decide it was all so good! Guess I’ll just have to get another trip booked soon!!