Eateries and Drinkeries VI

 It is perhaps a shame that my taste in food is fine and nice, but it is still not at the level when it starts becoming connoisseur-like. I mean this would perhaps made me eliminate lots of names in this list, but to be honest, none of the places that I remember to mention here are bad. Some are outright excellent, others are pretty decent for the price you pay.  Today, I have a biggish list with me, and will try to go through those.

 First pizza places; pizza continues to be my lieblingsessen!

Masaniello:   Located in Hasenheide, a few steps away from Hermannplatz this place has some of the very good pizza that I have ever eaten in Berlin. The interior is very cool and cozy, to the extent of being quite warm even in winter (well, we were having a tropical winter till November, when I was there!). In any case, do go there, it is among the top pizza places in Berlin. I have heard from friends that the quality is going down, but I can't imagine how it must have been in the yesteryears if a month before it tasted so super!

Standard-Serious Pizza: Right from the name you have it, -- it is about serious food. No jokes here. The first time I was there was on a date, and the pizza must have been super-nice, because the conversation had flowed easily and the date was quite a success. But, jokes aside, it really is a nice place, I've been back there with friends and have yet to say bad things about the place.

Tin Tan: This is a place of Mexican street food, and yeah, this is one of those places that completely stand out. Located in the Chauseestrasse, it is still in the Mitte, and it is a smallish place, liable to get filled quite easily. And the service is slow, but that's because they are making the food super good to eat. Don't miss this, whatever be the reason.

Agni: Germans particularly are crazy about Indian food, which is not a surprise when you see the number of Indian restaurants around. Amrit is one of those chains, but Agni is another. They have one in Moabit, and another now in Prenzlauer Berg. Both I think are quite nice, even though some friends I know decare this to be the best Indian restaurant around. It is admittedly pretty good. In the Moabit branch, they would prepare the food from scratch (well, not absolutely from scratch, but you know!), and it takes some time to come. Personally, I have now been to both of them, and I think that the food indeed is quite good. Although the Kashmiri naan that I had (which should have been coated by some cheese and then raisins) was not terribly good. But everything else was.

Corroboree: An Australian restaurant located in Potsdamer Platz. I was there only once though, but only for a drink. So, I cannot really comment on the quality of food, but at least it was quite full, and had Kangaroo burgers. The interior has a very nice atmosphere. 

Lemongrass: No doubts about this, if you do not come here, you've missed something. I have actually lost count of the number of times I have been to this super nice and cozy restaurant. This has a small cozy interior, with Thai specialities, and never ceases to disappoint. Food is very reasonably priced, too!

Chapa: Another Thai place, at Kotti this time, is also pretty nice and not too expensive. Also try not to miss this one. It's location makes it rather busy and popular.

Maroush: A small cozy Lebanese place, serving a lot of falafels, my visit there wasn't really at the best of times, but I might be easily persuaded to go back there again. It's tiny, serving more as a takeaway place rather than sit-in place, but the quality that you get for the extraordinarily cheap prices is rather surprising. Don't miss this one.

Goura Pakora: Back in F'shain, this place used to serve a lot of vegetarian food, including pakodas and dosas, which are of pretty good quality when open. But, it seems like they are closed now. Hope they open soon, and when they do, don't miss it. 

Gorgonzola Club: A rather funny name for an Italian restaurant, but it is indeed quite good. Quite good I would say, I don't remember anything extraordinary with the food (maybe I had a pizza?), but there are some uncommon menus there. And again, it's kinda popular, located in the Dresdener Str., away from busy main streets of Kottbusser Tor.

Turnhalle:  Close to Ostkreuz, this is an old gym which has been turned into a restaurant. This has pictures of a number of famous people from Einstein to Helmut Kohl and others. And there is a huge nice chandelier. As the name suggests, this is an old gym which has been turned into a restaurant. You can view the inside by the side. The food is cheap and decent. I had good flammkuchens here.

Mi Amor: It is a steakhouse, but I did not have a steak here. I had turkey here, with pepper sauce, and potato fries. Again, this is a quite decent place, but the steaks should be tried.

Amrit: Together with its partners, this is probably the biggest Indian restaurant chain in Berlin. They already have six restaurants in the key places that restaurants should be. Again, nothing very special, but very good food in general. Try it (or them).

Zsa Zsa Burger: I was here in the summer, and the burgers here were really super nice. They always have a special size, and look very polished and were super tasty. Try not to miss this one, it is a gem. And for what's it worth, its located in Schoeneberg, in the Isherwood era of Berlin.

Kimchi Princess: I was here a couple of times. They are always very busy, so please do reserve in advance. The food is quite good, and I have always enjoyed the Bibimaps (that's what I remember having, it is soo long ago).

 It is a bit scary, I had only wanted to write about ten restaurants+bars in all, but only with the restaurants, the number is already crossed! Maybe it is time to start counting the bars. I will start with four absolutely local ones, which are in themselves quite nice and delightful.

Dregendorff: Located on Petersburger Strasse, just at Bersarinplatz, this bar often shows the football matches, the Bundesliga and other stuff. Nothing super special, but the beers are nice and the interiors are cozy.

Trautes Heim: Funny as it seems, I couldn't find an online entry for this  bar. It is located on the other side of Petersburger Strasse as the Dregendorff, and much closer to the U-Bhf Frankfurter Strasse. In recent times, they have reinvented themselves with a new decor which is positively nice and eye-catching. They were closed for a while in between because of some accident, or something, there used to be a memorial at the door, and flowers could be seen. 

Adgedreht: This name serves as both a club and a pub, physically they are a  bit separated, but essentially side by side. I have only been in the pub. The pub is incredibly cozy, and it has quite some variety of beers to surprise you.

CoffeinCentrale: A nice coffeeshop on the Mainzer Strasse, which specializes in the new wave of coffee that's sweeping Berlin off its feet. As with most other coffee shops, a nice place to talk over coffee, and the coffee tastes pretty good here.

Palasteria Galao: The website should be working, but it doesn't. This is in Weinbergsweg, close to Rosenthaler Platz, it specializes in a whole of drinks and snaks, all aimed towards the healthy sides of life. By this alcohol automatically gets ruled out, and coffees, and flavored teas and lassis rule galore! Healthy muesli, croissants can also be seen in plenty!

Apotheke bar: A relatively new player in Mariannenplatz in Kreuzberg, it has a stylish decor. The first time I was there, it was a  bit early, and the inside was much too empty. And I had a simple beer. The second time I went there was after being turned down at the Schwarze Traube (about which I will only write if I manage to get in). I had a rather expensive cocktail which had to do with a lot of mangoes and a whole lot of chillies, not at all sweet, but you know, that is life. So, do try it out, or you will be in the miss list!


ORA: The address is Oranienplatz 14, and I have linked here another blog which gives a more intensive insight into the cafe. Although I had a relatively simple beer here, the inside of this bar is super cool, and chic to be more accurate. Many of the spirits and ingredients for making cocktails are in jars, reminiscent of an old Apotheke, and it was way too full. It wasn't easy to get a place to sit.

Romeo and romeo cafe: A rather revealing name for a cafe, understandably located in the Schoneberg neighbourhood, is frequented by a lot of gay clientele. They have quite a few snacks and coffee on offer, and if I understand correctly, a refill on a coffee is free, or at least much too cheap. They have WiFi so that you can continue to work (or flirt -- online or offline) uninterrupted.

the Club : A delightful bar/cafe located in Hermannstrasse in Neukoelln. The place is a bit special in several ways. The first of all it is bang on Hermannstrasse which makes it a bit revealing. But in spite of this, the inside is neither too shabby nor too polished, and very comfortable. They have several events going on depending on the night, and a rather large dance floor where they have Waltz Thursdays! What a surprise, getting to waltz in a techno city!

Neue Nachbarschaft : Well, this is my first in Moabit, a place which I have never before explored, really. As it turns out, this is a nice bar, which is frequented by a lot of students from the TU (and also the FU). On the friday I went they had a smallish concert by Syrian refugees, which was pretty quaint for me (Germans/Europeans enjoyed it a lot too, by the looks of it!). The bar was overfull for this event, which made even standing not trivial. They have nice bar, and also a small nice dancefloor in the cellar, where they were playing more pop music for a change! Go there, highly recommended!
  
HERMAN Belgian Bar: A gem in Prenzlauer Berg which you cannot simply miss. One of the best places to enjoy high quality beer in Berlin, made by the Belgians. After seeing the menu list, you just have to open your mouths wide, as you realize which country really has a choice in variety of beers. I was taken there by my date (yes, after a pizza at the Standard, in case you have been following my personal life), and the nice beer, aided by the dimly lit cozy interiors only helped in the conversation. It's a super place, and I have been there several times later.

Eateries and Drinkeries IV

Again, it has been quite a while, and methinks the time is perhaps right to put up a list of places that you can amuse yourselves with.

Zu Mir Oder Zu Dir: A cozy bar in the "baby boom" district of Prenzlauer Berg. Slightly removed from U Eberswalder Str., this is a world of its own with people crowding to find a place inside. It is lush inside with sofas and stools to sit. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you are a smoker) it is a smoking bar, so be prepaed for your clothes to smell of smoke days afterwards.

Chilees: Burgers, korean style. They are generally good, but hard to compare with the BBI (Berlin Burgers International) in Neukoelln. But then again, here you will get interesting Korean burger creations. Definitely worth a try!

Szimpla Kaffeehaus: If you want to try out a stout beer brewed with coffee, don't forget this place. I had been searching for this particular kind of beer for ages, ever since I got introduced to Elysian Split Stout in Seattle. Apparently it seems like Hungary has it all. A wonderful Hungarian craft beer place, this also had delicious cakes, which tempted me.

Hamy Cafe: Such delicious Vietnamese food at this price is difficult to find elsewhere. A small-ish show just off Hermannplatz, serves the most delicious Vietnamese food, along with exotic drinks. A food and a drink will leave you poorer by only about 8 Euros!

Roses: A lovely gay bar with very colorful interiors. Is definitely going to keep you wow-ing. Nice crowd, but they don't have dark beers, be forewarned!

Drei Schwestern: Inside a castle-like building, the arched wooden interior boasts of a castle-like dining experience, along with German food for dinner. For the weekend brunch, you can get a wonderful English breakfast.

Z-Bar: Tucked in Torstrasse, this place will definitely leave you with the feeling of wanting to come back for more. A quaint little place with nice lighting, and yeah, movies that you can watch. But, we just leaned against the glass windows and talked. And admired the dim lighting.

Cafe Lux: Another cozy little cafe in Neukolln, has the perfect atmosphere to keep you talking for hours and hours at an end.

Neta: A small place, but serves wonderful Mexican street food, notably burritos. You can choose your own burrito recipe.

I thought for a while about the 10th place, but keep it empty purposely. And Berliner, or an ex-Berliner reading this article should fill it in.

Eateries and drinkeries III

Since it has been quite a while since I've written anything about food, I'll give it another shot. And this time, maybe I'll list and recommend places based on districts, now that I have quite a feeling of what of Berlin lies where.

 I will start with my favourite district, that of Prenzlauer Berg. There is a rather new German restaurant which has come up there, called Pefferbräu. It is directly opposite the U-bahnhof Senefelderplatz, and on the top of the terrace. A semi modern place, by which I mean a terribly modern place, but has the decors indicating a touch of shabbiness, which seems to be the defining characteristics of the neo-Berlin establishments. They brew their own beer, so it is higly recommended to go for one of those -- if I remember correctly, I had a dark beer from their collection, which is not terribly large. The same is reflected in the food menu, a few food items, but extremely delicious and served in the right amount not to make you overfull. The food here is of the more fancy type, served with grace, rather expensive (prepare 15 euro and above for the main courses) but tastes superb! If I haven't stated already, this is a trendy German restaurant, so go there if you're looking to eat German food in style.

 Another time I was at a Japanese restaurant in the neighbourhood, with (what a co-incidence!), a Japanese friend of mine. The restaurant is called Marubi ramen restaurant, but very surprisingly the people who run it are not Japanese, but rather from Shanghai and other parts in China. So, it was somewhat strange to see my Japanese friend ordering food in English in a Japanese restaurant. Even though this very cheap (the usual dishes cost around 6-8 euros), the quality of the food was quite decent. I mean, not exceptionally good, but good considering what you were paying for it. As it turns out, Kollowitzplatz is one of those gems in Berlin, where you can find restaurants and bars endlessly, and never grow tired of exploring any of it, and never hesitate to go in one, since you know that the food will always be decent.

 The neighborhood also has a whole lot of bars, out of which some are highly recommended. Some of the really cool ones are Scotch and Sofa. There's another one called Cocktailbar 55, which I don't think has a webpage, but has a whole book full of delicious cocktails, again highly recommended. Just walk down the Kollowitzstrasse away from the Scotch and Sofa and you will come across the bar to your left. There is another one in between these two, and in the same side as Cocktailbar 55, but neither Google nor other sources of internet want to reveal it. But then, that is Kollowitzplatz -- literally full of places to eat and drink.

  Not next to it. but not very far either is a Vietnamese place, called Si An that I went to on a Sunday. This blog already says a lot about it, so I will stop giving my own opinions. The food was pretty good, although the waiters a bit brusque, and only a few beers on offer. But you go for the food, that is very recommended.

 Another handful done, so I'll conclude now. More in my next!

 

Two languages, one artist and two decades

Since I don't have time to write too involved an entry, I will do a short one, based on the little things I found out today. It's about NENA, the German singer. If you don't know who that is, click at the Wikilink given at the end of the article. Since the aim of the blog is more about the songs, I'll skip her details.

 All you need to know that Nena is a German singer who had her first international success in the early 1980's. One of the wonderful songs (at least a one that I like so much) is the one called "99 Luftballons". The song is perfectly ordinary, but starts with a wonderful romantic opening line:

 "Hast du etwas Zeit fuer mich,
   Singe ich ein Lied fuer dich,
   Von 99 Luftballon auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
   Denkst Du vielliecht gerade an mich
   Singe ich ein Lied fuer dich,
   Von 99 Luftballoons ... "

 A terribly romantic set of lines, in my opinion. How many people take time to sing you songs of Hot-Air Balloons? And then, she did it again: she wrote (well, she was in a band at that time), and sang the English version of the song, which incidentally doesn't translate word for word. This perhaps reflects what original composers do when they are faced to translate a version of their song. The sounds and the tone of the English song is similar to the German one, which you can listen here.

 The next decade(s) were not particularly successful for Lena, apart from the Berlin concert, where she performed a song, the title of which means "Miracles can happen". A miracle did happen: this song performed for the "Konzert fuer Berlin", resulted in the German re-unification a few months later.

 Now, she has had a comeback, with a more mature stance. She made accolades for herself by resinging her old songs, which resulted in a major hit, but also coming up with new songs and albums which are a big hit in the German speaking countries of Austria and Switzerland, besides Germany. You can listen to one of the recent song here, where she has partnered with another British singer Kim Wilde. This is an interesting song to watch since the old version (of 1984) is also available and you can see it here.

 It is quite interesting the change that the artist has had, not only in her looks, but also in her style, way of looking, and singing. She exudes much more maturity and elegance, as does Kim Wilde. All the videos were a pleasure to watch, and listen to. Another of my favourites is here, and I think this belongs to the new songs that she wrote recently, titled as "Besser gehts nicht".

 Actually, I fully came to know about Nena only today. I did find her accidentally while searching for Lena, another german singer, who won the Eurovision award recently. Of course, I would confuse the L and the N, an alphabet apart, and keep getting different songs. 

Eateries and Drinkeries II

Its time again to recount the culinary adventures that I've shared with friends. Going to places alone is not really my plate of food, so I like to do it with friends!

okay, with which one should I start? Perhaps the Mustafa's at Mehringsdamm U Bahn stop. This is one of the very well known Doener places in Berlin. I was out with a friend drinking craft Beer at Hopfenreich, about which I have talked about in the last post. Actually, after this, we went to an Irish Pub, next to the Friedrichstadt Palast: if I am not too mistaken, its called Oscar Wilde. Mmmhmm, how very appropriate! Anyway, after that we went to Mehringsdamm. I had the chicken gemeuse Kebab: it was certainly the best that I have had in Berlin. But I wonder if it is worth all the hype it gets. I mean, there are like hour long lines for this every day. But just our sweet luck, we went there at quarter to two, and therefore only had to queue about 15 minutes. In the freezing weather, however, I have to admit, the waiting wasn't that nice.

 In the later weeks, I was told that there exists another branch of Mustafa's in Friedrishain, close to the Kaisers' at Warschauer Strasse S-Bahn.

 Well, so much for Kebabs. Let's move on. There is the exotic "Chutnify" that cannot not be mentioned, a paradise for authentic and modern South Indian food --- namely Idlis and Dosas. All my friends were delighted to be at this place. While they served traditional dosas, they also had dishes, which I would call modern, like when the filling of the Dosa is made of keema, or minced meat. It is a small place, so if you plan to go there in the evening with more than four people make sure to reserve a table.

 The next stop would probably be a Turkish, which was the weekend when Jyoti visited me. We went to the Doyum Grill and Restaurant near Kottbuser Tor. While I will not tell you what it was like (hey, you have to try it out yourself!), you can read more praises here. If you go here, try the Adana Kebab. This is the only one I've had here, as per the recommendation in the blog, and am willing to come here week after week to try the meat that is charcoal grilled on the outside, and yet sufficiently juicy and succulent inside.

Then there are two places at Potsdamer Platz that I've tried. The one inside the Sony Center, which is more a kind of a multi-cuisine place. With Jyoti around, we tried the flammkuchen. It was quite okay I think, not particularly memorable but better than many other places I've had Flammkuches at. The restaurant was fancy, but the prices were actually quite decent. The other place was the Amlas, the Indian restaurant, again close to Potsdamer Platz, where we went to after watching a Berlinale movie and to celebrate Miguel's birthday. Again, I think the Indian lived up to its average spicy food, but it was lacking the extra bit that made up the elegance of Chutnify.

 The next one which deserves a special mention is the Restaurant Serrano. Located to the west to the Tiergarten, close to Wilmersdorf and Charlottenberg, this serves Peruvian cuisine. The food was good, but rather expensive. I had a dish which was corn-fed chicken breast with a yellow chili sauce, walnut and parmesan cheese and blue potatoes, and was really delightful. This was one of this upper class restaurants where you can take your dates to impress them, the food is expensive, but good, the quantity is measured, but enough that it will just fill you, but maybe a bit more wouldn't have hurt. And the Peruvian beer (which unfortunately came bottled, not brewed there directly) had an interesting sweet sour taste. Given that I am very dangerously into foods with a sweetish taste, I consumed two big helpings of the beer. Oops!

 Rounding up the food discussion, I must mention the brunch places. The first one we tried the Datcha. Lots of people already praise this place, so I need not give you an additional link. The brunch, however, is particularly renowned! Suffices to say that we went there on a winter's noon for brunch, and I had to wait for almost half an hour for a place for two. So better go in advance, also given the fact that you cannot reserve for the brunches. The food is really worth it, all kinds of fresh salads with delicious cheese, fish, meat, veggies, filled papricas. Maybe also a Russian tea to settle your stomach. The brunch is help-yourself, and one can stay till 4pm, eat as much as you like, and the food is always replaced and very fresh. A comparable brunch place is the Schiller Cafe. The food is again very fresh with a wide variety, and they had the most delicious Berliners (Pfannkuchen) that I've ever had. Try this, it is highly recommended! And if it's not enough, they have a burger shop next doors, which I've heard is also quite good.

 Among the couple of Bars, that I can recommend, here goes the list. Definitely try out the Djungel, if you haven't. This is in Neukoelln, somewhere close to the Weserstrasse. The interior decor is quite striking, but as you'd expect: in a jungle. Unfortunately I never got to enjoy the ambience too much. Another one nearby is the Silverfuture, another pretty cool place with the hip (not hippy) atmosphere where you can see people of all age groups, and also LGBT. Going all the way up to the north Prenzlauer Berg, there is Cafe November,  not too far from Chutnify. It is a cool place, a bit on the quieter side, and while the lentil soup looked appetizing there, someone complained that it was a bit cold. Then there is Dogma Bar, not far away. This is bit more flashy bar, with more youngish people, nicely and trendily dressed. Perhaps not unlike the one on Kastanienallee, but then Prenzlauer Berg is sufficiently gentrified. A club across the corner is Horns and Hooves, on Danziger Str. and it is quite an interesting place to be (even though it means paying an 8 euro entrance fee), with a bar, a dance floor, a magic show, and sometimes live concerts. Another lively place is the Mon Plasir, on the Pappelallee, which makes fairly decent long drinks (all around 4 or 4.50 euros). Ah yes, they even have sand on the floor trying to mimicking the Bahamas.

 I think I will leave it at that. Hopefully this has enough to keep you running about for a few days at least!

New Movies

What about a quickie about some movies? I know that I have a bad (?) habit of juggling words in different places, but hey, why not? It can be quite fun.

So before I go into these different movies, I must say that usually I am a flexible person, and I won't call a movie bad unless I really don't like it. So among the movies that I watched last week, none of them were bad, on the contrary, they were quite good. But having said that, if you are looking at it from a critic's eye maybe you are not impressed either. Why did I watch these movies? Let me describe the movies first, and then I'll explain.

The first movie is What a Man. I had watched this movie before, but without subtitles, and though I understand German fairly well, it was nice to watch this one with subs, since I could appreciate the movie much better. This is a movie about relationships, more like a comedy-drama. Now before you start decrying this whole class of movies, remember that how much 'no-nonsense' type we may pretend to be, sometimes you can be in a difficult situation where you don't know what to do. Some people might say, that has never been the case in their lives, and in that case, I'll reply that they have been lucky not to have to deal such issues. They haven't come, but it doesn't mean that such cases won't turn up!

Anyway, I am deviating from the subject under discussion. The movie is about a school teacher, Alex, who's in a relationship with a model, Caro. Alex is quirky, too nice, and at the start of the movie Caro is frustrated with him, because he is not 'manly enough' for her. She cheats on him, and throws him out of her house, and he goes to live with a childhood friend, Nele. Now, Nele has had feelings for him, but she also has a boyfriend, Etienne, at the moment of the movie. However, they are not too happy in their relationship either. So, Nele takes a lot of care of Alex, and the rekindle their romantic feelings for each other, but are too scared to admit it (even after sleeping together one night), since they are afraid it might ruin the friendship. Then, there to escape her feelings for Alex, Nele decides to fly with Etienne to China, where he works for an NGO. Alex meanwhile realizes that he cannot live without Nele, and overcomes his fear of flying to go after his sweetheart. There are some subplots, but this is the gross story.

Whats interesting about the story is that it is something thats ageless and timeless. You can set it anywhere and it would be a good story (even if not the best one) But the fact remains: these are things that we have to deal with our everyday lives. Various points arise:
a) if this is so mundane, why do you have to go and watch it in a movie?
b) such happy endings do not happen in real life, only in movies
c) ...
You could think about a lot of objections, but I won't respond. I didn't see this movie to raise objections, I saw it because it was a German movie (with nice actors/actresses), and I wanted to improve my listening skills, as well as my understanding of the culture. And it was totally worth it.

The next movie was also a one by Mathias Schweighoefer, called "Russendisko". It is a comedy-drama, set in 1990, about three guys who come from Moscow to Berlin, after the fall of the Soviet Union seeing no hope in Moscow and thinking of a better life in Berlin. The plot is extremely simple and straightforward, but what made the film attractive to me was the initial set-up in Berlin in the 1990's. One could see how Berlin became the cool place it is now. You could see the city squats, especially in the eastern parts, where most of the movie was set. You could make out the city struggling to come out of its stupor with simple people doing simple stupid things, havingno idea that by the two decades the city would become a political, cultural and creative powerhouse ofthe world.

I am going to be quick now and move over to the third one. This one was actually special, since it was  made by some time amateur filmmakers, and completely shot in black white. It's called "Dr Kettel", and is about a doctor who goes helping ordinary people in Neukoelln, after the failure of Germany's health care system. The plot is quite interesting, and sometimes the events that occur are a bit symbolic. It seems like this is a personal topic affecting the director in some way, since he dedicates the film to his father, who helped people who didn't have money for medical treatment and lived in Kreuzberg/Neukoelln. Its actually a smallish movie (80 mins), and is probably worth a watch if you are not doing something very important!

Eateries and Drinkeries

While 'Drinkeries' is no proper self-respecting English word, I'll still go with it. With all the revolution in the English Language going on around the world, I think it'll survive the understanding.

So, since a couple of months I've moved to Berlin. While it's still true that because of various issues at various facets, I'm still struggling to establish a normal life here, I've begun to enjoy the city tremendously. Here, I'll focus on one particular aspect, as mentioned in the title.

 One of the first interesting places I've been to was a Sri Lankan restaurant around Boxhagener Platz. Here is the link. It turned out to be refreshingly nice restaurant, true to the universality of the South Indian spices. If I still remember correctly, I had "Appes", which are like Dosas but are shaped like a bowl. Would definitely recommend it. It is a small place though, and when we went, we even met a waiter from Bangladesh, who was working there for his last day.

The next restaurant I enjoyed the food was at an Italian place near Ostkreutz/Boxhagener Platz. That one of the crazy neighbourhoods in Berlin which is absolutely jam-packed with cool restaurants and bars. The place served really GOOD Italian food. Further down the memory lane, we land at a Burger place in Panierstrasse, which is again another neighbourhood (in Neukolln) filled with wonderful places. You can check out the BurgersInternational here . You can see how 'lacker' the burgers look, and take it from a person who can identify decent food, that they were absolutely superb! I would love to go there again and again. Note that it is a small place, often very crowded, and you might have to be outside. And, as you see, the burgers are huge, so be prepared to open your mouths wide.

When Christian, Lewis and Sofia were around for a weekend, we were mostly visiting Christmas markets, but there was a Vietnamese place on Sonntagsstr. @ Ostkreutz which was quite nice, and the Aussie Burger at the restaurant of the Adina hotel was quite tasty. Another super cool cafe is Cafe Hilde at Prenzlauer Berg. Check out the cool baked goodshere. It is a relatively big cafe with a nice decor, and a very cozy atmosphere. The muffins and hot chocolate were especially good. Speaking of Cafes, the one you shouldn't miss at all are Cupcakes Berlin. I don't know about the coffee there, but given the quality of cupcakes I've had (read: terrific), I would go there again and again. Actually, I had got some cupcakes (hmm, its not Muffins, that's American! Even there was a British lady at the reception) as a surprise for Sabine's birthday. And these muffins we had at Standige Vertretung. This is a place which I still have on my list. We went to this place for a drink, and it was so crowded that we couldn't go in --- admittedly on a Saturday evening. The speciality of this place is Cuisine from Koln, as Julia told us. Actually, we went there after having dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Friedrichstrasse (well, Mittelstrasse actually), called Ishin . Unfortunately, I don't exactly remember what I had, but it must have been a Don, with some meat.

Okonomiyaki

And speaking of Japanese places, another place at Prenzlauer Berg comes to mind, where Hana took me, and we had Okonomiyaki (see the picture). It is a delicious salty Japanese pancake, and even someone like who does not like fish, liked it very much! The restaurant is here, and for a more extensive review of the place you can read more. Shortly after the Okonomiyaki lunch, we visited the another cool chocolaterie and cafe in the area, in the very French fashion, Mon Plasir. If you go there, make sure you try the Macarons, and coffee, of course. Try whatever you want, I bet you won't be disappointed.

Coming back to more recent times, the first time we started doing 'informed' restaurant hunting, we went to Babel in Kastanienallee. A delicious Lebanese place, if ever there was one. Food was around 8-9 Euro, a lot of it, very good quality and extremely tasty. Again, it is a small place, and can get really crowded at times. In the neighborhood, there are two places that I need to try: one is a South African place called Cape Town, and another a South Indian, called Chutnify. We did try to go to Cape Town last Friday, but it was closed for some unknown reason, and Chutnify turned out to be a small but extremely popular restaurant, so no places were available for the whole evening. To take a hit, we went to Savanna . However, I wouldn't recommend this place too much, although you can get exotic dishes here. I had ostrich, while Miguel had Antelope and Hana zebra. To me, Ostrich and Antelope seemed fine, but I won't be trying Zebra. The quality of the food / meat was good, but the cooking wasn't superb, and the dishes generally expensive (even for traditional meat like chicken/lamb). Among the cereal dishes, one can choose rice, or couscous, or fufu. The latter is made from the root of some trees, and I wouldn't recommend it -- it was basically tasteless. Rice or couscous would have been much better. The African Beer Dju Dju was quite nice though, even if a bit expensive, and it comes in different flavors, much like the Berliner Weisse.

This is the men's bathroom, I'm sure you can tell!

Finally, some 'drinkeries'  before finishing this off. One of the really cool places I've been to in terms of quality and atmosphere has to be Hopfenreich. It has the largest number of craft beers I have seen available in a single place. Another place in Perenzlauer Berg, close to the Kulturbraurei, whose name I can't recall or find out from Google, but it was a very comfy place, with a particularly cozy nook that made for perfect drinking and conversation. And this is a classic example why these bars please me so much --- they have an atmosphere of casual decay and disdain, nothing is very polished, but stuck with old posters of a bygone era. Things look worn out, there are mysterious boxes behind curtains draped across big windows -- as if no one really cares if they get stolen or not, and no one cares what people think. It is this decadence that lends an aura that is quite difficult to conjure else where. In contrast, the bar/club An einem schonem Sonntag im August , has quite a different atmosphere. Often with (live) music, the seating places are arranged more like steps, and more carefully dressed people as well as smart, but casually dressed people come here. Quite recommended. Yes, and the bar at St Oberholz. Its quite a big place, but is more than the ordinary restaurant/bar as you can read in the blog. Besides having cool beer, they have a clever way of distinguishing male and female toilets (see the pic). And they have free WiFi, so a good place to work as well.

I think I'll close now. Quite a mouthful of places that I've listed. They look good, and hopefully there will be more in the future to come. In a phrase, Berlin is a foodie/drinkie's sublime paradise.

Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith


Yes, it's another of those books by Tom Rob Smith which is very accurate with historical details---and the story has a unique flavour. I am slightly upset by the book,---don't get me wrong, its wonderfully written, and I appreciate the time spent in reading it,--but in my opinion the central plot is rather weak. Raisa's death is the result of an accident, which went wrong, and carries the status of murder--thats all right; but it doesn't show the ingenuity of the FBI agent. Somebody less intelligent might have done the same. I guess I was expecting a much deeper plot; and therefore was not very satisfied when things did take their face value! The entire episode of the Afghan war, though very meticulously written, is rather long-winded and takes the flow well off the main course of the book---in fact, the Afghan episode itself assumes an independent and large sub-plot which the author could have done without! All in all, I'm very happy to have read the book, but probably not as happy as after "CHILD 44" or "THE SECRET SPEECH".


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Shiva Trilogy: The Immortals of Meluha

I bought the first book of this trilogy from Flipkart, and already, when I am yet to finish the first chapter, I am struggling to reconcile what I already know about this civilization, with what the author states. I like these kind of historical novels; but of course when there is a credible amount of history to go along with it. The most supreme example of this genre of authors (writing in English) I have read is probably Umberto Eco. Even Paul Susskind's novels, though set in the present, have strong historical and archaeological themes. This blog entry will (within the confines of an amateurish capability) discuss and separate fact from fiction in the novel. Moreover, this will not review the plot or characters; but will simply take up facts and deal with them.

A starting disappointment: the author is by profession, not a historian or an archaeologist. While this does not bar him from writing on anything he chooses to, a reasonably serious attempt would have been to acknowledge scholars in the field who would have something to say about the manuscript. I found none. Moreover,  no-where is it written that all the characters and many of the places in the novel are fictional. Is this a work where most things are fictional? Or does it draw from history? How much? It is not clear.

Let's start with the word:  Mehluha. Supposedly, this is the name Mesopotamians gave the people of the east. Moreover, many of the archaeologists agree with this (supposedly! Note that I am no expert, so will only present my conclusions from articles seen on the web. However, see this for detail: http://www.harappa.com/arrow/meluhha_and_agastya_2009.pdf).

Timing: The incidents are supposedly took place around 1900 BC. With a very conservative estimate, I would say that this corresponds to the early Vedic period, or roughly the timespan when the Aryans were coming to India, and the so-called Indus Valley Civilization was decaying.
I don't think that this can correspond to an Aryan viewpoint, primarily because this is abound with non-aryan symbolism's. The Aryans were prolific writers (on the contrary the gurukul system educated by word of mouth), they didn't dwell in cities or citadels, they didn't have doctors, nurses or immigration systems or quarantines in the city. I don't think any civilization in ancient history had the systematics of quarantine. A person infected with a contagious disease could be left aside, that's one thing; and quarantine is another! That seems kind of borrowed from science fiction, even while dealing with history. And the city of Srinagar did not exist in the year 1900 BC. This kind of thing, in my personal opinion, is wrong. You do not glorify a city unnecessarily.
Even in the first chapter, the reference to Aryan words and customs seems very frequent. This is rather puzzling: since I guess the generic idea is that the Indus Valley customs were widely different from that of the Aryans. The Aryans were mostly agrarian, while the book refers to the existence of  fantastic cities, and temples.

The other theme that recurs in the book again and again is the theme of perfection. There is a chief architect, the government provides such services that a modern political state would be ashamed of. And there was Census three thousand years back! Even if I could somehow try to settle down with the facts, a series of more bizarre facts strike me: at 1900 BC, the Meluhan society was living according to science, there was a chief scientist of the Empire, who had full knowledge of the existence of oxygen in the atmosphere. Maybe it's not too much to think that if he had been to high mountains, he would know that the "oxygen" content gets lesser since the air gets thinner. Further, his constant allusion to doing experiments, somewhat unnerves me. The ancient science in India had progressed via the elaboration of physical principles; stuffs of experiment came much later. As the novel progresses, there is a concept of the breaking up of colors: why does the leaf appear green? Well, why else, it rejects green of all the other colors! Now, Newton, and the entire human civilization must have been dump not to realize this thousands of years earlier. But of course, there were Meluhans! They know of the sun as a star which is shining, and about the existence of planets! Such a woe that they didn't leave their knowledge behind.

There is another reference to that of using "glasses" as vision improvement in the place where the Naga-aided Chandravamshis attack the Suryavamshi Royal family when Shiva, Sati and her mother are  coming back from Mount Mandar to Devagiri. While glass making in India was known as early as 1700 BC, about 200 years before the events in the story, it is rather far-fetched to presume that the people had mastery of using glass well enough to be used in telescopes. I did a bit of searching the net, and even from there it is not very clear to me that image magnification techniques using devices other than glass were known to such ancient people.

References to the even further ancient history astound and astonish me, about the origin of Manu etc. Personally I find it rather un-nerving when a novel is thrown like this at the faces of the Indian masses, most of whom have learnt to take things at their face value, without further questioning the written word. In this respect, I have to re-iterate, that if the author had takes pains to write down at the very beginning that this is a work of fiction, then it would have put me much more at ease. Even if he believes that all that he has written could have been true, still he should have explained that historical sources do not necessarily support such a hypothesis. Take for example, the novel NOTHING IS BLUE  by Biman Nath. Now that, forms very nicely a story from history and without trying to stretch historical facts to the accommodate the story. It does the reverse, and as a result everything fits in very nicely. Or take a more renowned example, the historical novels by Saradindu Bandyapadhyay, or those by Bankimchandra. Maybe this author should have had more inspiration from these authors than from Shiva!

On the whole, I have no problems in accepting this work as an entertaining read, although a rather short and quick one. The storyline is sufficiently simple and straightforward to follow, and you can even make guesses that will be proved right later on. A work of fiction to keep you engaged for the better part of a day in a lighthearted read.

Watched the movie, Love Actually. Initially, I thought that this was just a British remake of the Hollywood move Valentine's Day. Very soon I found out that was not the case. This was a romantic comedy maybe back in 2003 by Richard Curtis. It portrays many stories in parallel; love stories. The humour  was different, very British, of course; but very fun and likable. The vision draws from the scene at the airport when you are witnessing an arrival: there is always so much happiness around. Something that I have witnessed and experienced! Really, we are really messed up creatures ;) Anyway, before I forget, I must mention that the last scene of the Hindi movie Jaane tu...Ya Jaane na was adapted from one of the scenes of this movie, when this little boy runs in the airport terminal to profess his love to his sweetheart.
One the whole, this is one of those feel good movies!

The Ring of Solomon

Have just finished reading the new book (relatively new, since it came out in 2010) by Jonathan Stroud, The Ring of Solomon. The title will tell a lot to those who have already read the Bartaemius trilogy: yes, its about the famous ring that Solomon had; which could apparently control so many ferocious demons.
You've already heard about this ring in the Trilogy when Bartaemius claims to have spoken with Solomon himself; but here in this book things get very nasty. But, brilliantly written: now in my opinion, has hugely surpassed Harry Potter.
I only that he goes on writing about other episodes from Bartaemius' life.
And a book of this goes much beyond what the story is supposed to tell. Invariably, to understand the settings better, I mess with the actual history of the story; and in the process get to know a whole lot of things. For example,
take the The lost army of Cambyses. I ended up looking up quite a bit of the Egyptian history. And with this book; I happened to do quite a lot of reading about the region around Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece, Arabia and so on. This, reminds me how much I was interested in history. So many nations, so much culture, so much fighting! All very interesting.
Have ordered the Kindle. Will probably get it by the end of the week.
Before I completely forget, the last weekend was pretty nice. We went to Marine Drive, had ice-creams, actually rode on a horse-drawn cart in the Marine Drive; and had excellent pasta at Spaghetti Kitchen. Was definitely a day to remember.

Paul Sussman

After reading Umberto Eco, this person does deserve a mention. I finished reading the book, The lost army of Cambyses by Paul Sussman. It was a modern day novel but with tangible roots to the history and archaeology of Egypt. There is of course a lot of human element involved about finding a momentous discovery in the Great Sand Sea in Western Egypt. The historical background is pretty interesting. It was time of the great Persians, when they were having waves of expansion. The Persian ruler Cambyses had conquered Egypt; and had sent a great army of 50,000 men to defeat the Ammonians in what is now modern day Libya which started from Thebes, in Egypt. While on their way, the army was caught in a huge sandstorm and all of them perished. That's what happened, according to Herodotus. The book involves a finding of that lost army; and how the authorities use it to trap a notorious fundamentalist. Of course, for more drama, the entire army and the people who now know about it get lost and destroyed in another sandstorm. There is the main protagonist, Khalifa, who survives.
It has lot of learned remarks on history and archaeology; and inspired by it I actually dug out a translation of Herodotus' Inquiries. Interesting, hmmm! And it has to be; this person is an field archaeologist, so he manages to give a vivid description  to all the action that is going on there. Am reading the next book: The last secret of the Temple. Hope that this one's as interesting.

Reading Rybakov ....2

Yeah, this is my second post on Rybakov and his book "Children of Arbat". The first part in the trilogy: next comes Fear and then Dust and Ashes. And I must read the book, "The Thaw" by Ilya Ehrenberg. But lets come back to this book.
Well, as I said last time this is about a group of Moscow youths who grow up in a system which they idealize and which in turn, represses them. Unique! There is Sasha, who gets exiled for doing nothing wrong, but his exile is connected with arresting some other people. But you know, that part is the tragedy. Lots of people got repressed for no reason, for just being associated with someone the administration did not like.
The most fascinating aspect of the book is that it presents to the reader, two diametrically opposite views: that of the Soviet Man and that of the Administration. The Soviet Man is best personified with Sasha, Varya, Nina and their friends. They have the ideal within them to bring about a change: sacrifice for achieving something great, their faith in the Party and the ideals of socialism.

But what does the Party do? People like Sergei Kirov (who I think is depicted as a hero in this book) who understand the people and value their support continue to work tirelessly. But what can they do when Stalin is obsessed with the centralization of power? The book does paint a chilling psychological picture of Stalin by carefully analyzing his thought processes. Stalin was completely opposed to decentralization of power: all strings to himself,---a very dangerous game! But anyway, that's all history. But I just do wonder at times: that if people like Kirov had their way, not working at the very top, but among the people, helping and guiding them along, whether the experiment would have succeeded?
Did the rule of Stalin destroy the socialism in Russia? I think it did.

Simultaneously, we should remember that what the Russian people were also looking for was a complete change in society: where the individual would live, not only for self, but also for the community. The order matters, of course. Stalinist reversed the order, and committed numerous atrocities in that ideal. On the contrary, exploiting the other extreme, nations have become lousy capitalists.
A balance is necessary...but at which point? Next stop: The Communist Manifesto.

The book ends with two different points again. On one hand, Kirov is murdered by NKVD on the orders of Stalin (http://www.brushtail.com.au/july_04_on/kirov_assassination.html) and on the other Sasha realizes that he will probably never go back to Moscow. But in spite of that he has hopes: hopes for a life, a future, because for the first time, Varya has written him a letter.

Reading Rybakov

Very recently, I came across this book, Children of the Arbat by Anatoli Rybakov. Its a book about the Stalinist Russia in the mid-1930's when the socialist revolution was in full swing. An amazing book!
As you know, I do have a fascination for Soviet Russia. Primarily, because its so different from anything I have seen. Thats why I used to like the book, The Last Frontier by Alistair MacLean so much. I thought he was amazing when he wrote about the viewpoint of the anguished Russian leadership at Western Intrusion.
And now this! This book is a work of pure genius. It follows the life of several Muscovite adolescents, from the locality of Arabat which was considered to be a place of intellectuals in the monarchial and Soviet Russia. Pushkin had his house there. Remarkably, it also analyzes the thoughts and actions of Stalin and his other comerades during that time.
What Lenin did, what Stalin did, the Second Russian revolution (not called by that name, though!) and maybe why he did it are explained brilliantly in detail. What the new generations thought about their leadership, their society, their role and duty in forming what they thought be a new world order forms the backbone of the book. What is the individual and what is the society: it is a work of pure genius. Let me quote a paragraph from it that I liked:

"The criminals are scum," Vodolya said, "Degenerates and murderers. They'd betray their own comerade for a bowl of camp soup. They're the systems main support, they help our 'administrators'. Kill your wife and you get eight years, and then they knock off four for good behaviour. But take a pair of shoe soles out of the factory and they'll give you ten years."

Really, what an administration!

Ramona and Beezus

If it does happen that you are feeling down and depressed, that sick feeling inside your stomach that refuses to manifest, Ramona and Beezus could go some way to comforting you. Nothing like Bridge to Teribithia, this one simply focuses on the lives of two sisters in mid-Western America and the people that matter to them. I went on waiting for something great to happen, some exciting and out of the place adventure to happen, but none did. It was ordinary, far too ordinary. But it wasn't until the end that I realized that among the ordinary was really hidden something extraordinary. The movie was timeless and placeless: you could have set the plot to be somewhere else and at some period of time, and yet it would be as good. Had I been in any other mood, I would have been ecstatic when the movie ended. I was too upset over something, but this movie went far to lift my spirits.
Of course, I have seen lots of movies better than this, but this had some quality to it that clicked at the right point of time at the right situation.

Miss Marple

What have I been doing all these time? Besides working, that is. Why reading Miss Marple. Why her all of a sudden? Don't exactly know. But the settings, the plots and the characters suddenly seemed so nice and appealing, that I couldn't resist for long. And of course there was the fact that at some point of time, I was really bored with my work, my surroundings and my circumstances.
Anyway, sometime into this period I decided that I will read up all the Miss Marple that Christie ever wrote and that's what I have been doing, sometimes recklessly neglecting my work. Very foolhardy, I suppose.
I have finished most of the books--the only ones that are left are: A Caribbean Mystery, At Bertram's hotel and the Sleeping Murders. The question that naturally rises are which books I have liked and why? So, one of the issues that I realized is that Christie has reused several of her plots from time to time: many of the plots that she has toyed with in the "The Tuesday Murder club" has been reused in her later novels. Nonetheless, I must say that the books that I found to be pure genius are : The Murder at the Vicarage,  The Moving Finger and A Murder is Announced. The plot is considerably more intricate in the first and the last ones than the middle, but the middle one compensates in terms of atmosphere. I shouldn't miss out 4:50 from Paddington--that's sheer brilliance as well. Among the next best are : The Body in the Library, Nemesis, The Mirror Crack'd, A Pocket Full of Rye, and others. I wouldn't put anything in the third rank! :)
In the midst of all this, I also quickly read Ken Follett's Code to Zero. Of course, he was superbly brilliant in his The Eye of the Needle, so much so that I would have compared him with Forsyth, but then Code to Zero is a huge fall from the position. Sure the action is taut, but I find that the plot is terribly weak sometimes. I ask myself again and again if the US were really so lax in their security measures in the 1958 as he describes. I mean, even the events that Forsyth describe take place in London and/or the UK, but they seem more believable. It course remains that Ken Follett tried a romantic quadrangle in the latter book and not in the Eye of the Needle. Nearly the whole plot in Code to Zero is based on the romantic plot 15 years ago from the time when the story takes place and somehow this makes the plot pretty unsteady, according to my opinion.
Anyway--way too much of this! I must go back to working!