For my birthday, I requested a celebration in a restaurant that has been awarded with the Michelin star. After much research and browsing, I chose Vău to experience my first gastronomy meal. The main reason why I chose Vău is because of Kolja Kleeberg, the maître de cuisine of this restaurant. He often appears in ZDF's cooking show: "Kerner/Lanz kocht" and I like his bubbly and cheerful personality that he showed on the show. Another reason is because they serve lunch with reasonable price. Hey come on, I'm a student! I need to cut edges where I can.
Okay, I'm realistic enough to know that the meals I ate that day was not cooked by Kolja Kleeberg himself, but I was still really excited and awed by the food.
Vău is located at the luxurious & historical area "Gedarnmenmarkt". It's right around the corner of Berlin's Lafayette. So on that Saturday noon, my husband and me got dressed up and went to this posh area to be served fine gourmet food :D. The moment we entered the restaurant, a waiter in suit welcomed us and asked about our reservation. After he checked it in a book, he took our coat and seated us in a quiet corner.
The decoration of the restaurant reminded me of a warm and sunny terrace of a villa. They use a lot of wood furnitures in the restaurant and I love the fresh white orchids decorations on the tables.
the beautiful table, set just for us
Our waiter told us that the wine we enjoyed was about a year old. He also told us about the region where the wine came from, but I didn't take note and forgot the moment he left us. But I do remember that the wine was a Riessling.
Two different breads with herb cream cheese and butter.
They covered the focacia to keep them warm. And believe me, that warm focacia with butter is to die for. The crunchy crust has a subtle taste of dried italian herb and in the middle, there's warm soft golden bread.
smoked wild salmon in the form of a rose bud with crème fraiche and chives pesto
Doesn't it look like a flower garden? The rose bud in the middle, brown leaves from the potato chips and some dark and green grassesin the middle. So beautiful. *sigh*
mozzarella di Bufala Campana served with mango and summer salad
Buffalo Mozzarella is an almost flavorless Italian cheese made from buffalo cheese. They were so mild that you need to combine them with something savory and that's where the olives and the italian dressing come in. The golden mangoes in the middle were the best thing that happened on this plate. They were ripe, sweet and flavourful, exactly how mangoes should taste, unlike those hard, tasteless mangoes they sell here in Germany...
pan fried mackerel with beetroot-canneloni and goat milk cheese
Okay, I'm not a fan of goat cheese, so I kinda shuddered at the bite of the beetroot canneloni with goat cheese. The first thing that came to my mind was, how did they made this beetroot canneloni? I'm almost sure, that they made it with beetroot juice with gelatine sheet. As the canneloni has a distinct gelatinous structure. But again I'm not working in Vău, so I can't be 100% sure. Btw the mackerel was superb, mackerel is an ordinary fish but they pan fried it perfectly, Crispy skin and juicy flesh.
Medaillon of veal filet with Swiss chard, romaine lettuce heart and Pommes Carrée
The veal... The Veal!!! It was the juiciest piece of meat I've ever eaten in my whole life. The meat actually absorbed extra moisture from the added swiss chard that was cooked together in the middle of the veal. That was a succesful mating of meat and vegetable. And of course Vău only used the sweetest part of the romaine lettuce - the tiny heart in the middle of the vegetable. I wonder, what do they do with the rest of the lettuce, did they just throw them away?
Crispy Zander with root vegetables and horseradish
Those root vegetables are combination of carrot, yellow carrot, celery and german turnip, they're 3/4 cooked crispy but no distinct taste of undercooked vegetables. Combined with creamy yellow sauce and cappucino lookalike foam, they made the fish shines.
Soufflé of passion fruit and Mango with chocolate ice truffle
Believe it or not, when this souffle came to my desk, it was 1 cm over the mold. But by the time I finished taking the picture, it shrank! Should souffles shrink? I heard all the time, that it is very difficult to master how to make a souffle. A slight temperature difference and a chef can throw his Souffle directly to the rubbish bin. So I was extremely curious about this dish.
And oh boy! What a great dessert! The combination of warm fruity sourish souffle with cold chocolate ice. They were a match made in heaven.
So what's the verdict? It was definitely one of the best meals I have. Each and every item was carefully chosen and prepared exactly as it should. Btw you do know that to pepper and to salt food in fine restaurant is considered as impolite, because it implied that the chef didn't do a good job. Well I didn't need them at all. But again this is my first fine dining experience, so I don't have anything to compare with.
Okay, I'm realistic enough to know that the meals I ate that day was not cooked by Kolja Kleeberg himself, but I was still really excited and awed by the food.
Vău is located at the luxurious & historical area "Gedarnmenmarkt". It's right around the corner of Berlin's Lafayette. So on that Saturday noon, my husband and me got dressed up and went to this posh area to be served fine gourmet food :D. The moment we entered the restaurant, a waiter in suit welcomed us and asked about our reservation. After he checked it in a book, he took our coat and seated us in a quiet corner.
The decoration of the restaurant reminded me of a warm and sunny terrace of a villa. They use a lot of wood furnitures in the restaurant and I love the fresh white orchids decorations on the tables.
the beautiful table, set just for us
Our waiter told us that the wine we enjoyed was about a year old. He also told us about the region where the wine came from, but I didn't take note and forgot the moment he left us. But I do remember that the wine was a Riessling.
Two different breads with herb cream cheese and butter.
They covered the focacia to keep them warm. And believe me, that warm focacia with butter is to die for. The crunchy crust has a subtle taste of dried italian herb and in the middle, there's warm soft golden bread.
smoked wild salmon in the form of a rose bud with crème fraiche and chives pesto
Doesn't it look like a flower garden? The rose bud in the middle, brown leaves from the potato chips and some dark and green grassesin the middle. So beautiful. *sigh*
mozzarella di Bufala Campana served with mango and summer salad
Buffalo Mozzarella is an almost flavorless Italian cheese made from buffalo cheese. They were so mild that you need to combine them with something savory and that's where the olives and the italian dressing come in. The golden mangoes in the middle were the best thing that happened on this plate. They were ripe, sweet and flavourful, exactly how mangoes should taste, unlike those hard, tasteless mangoes they sell here in Germany...
pan fried mackerel with beetroot-canneloni and goat milk cheese
Okay, I'm not a fan of goat cheese, so I kinda shuddered at the bite of the beetroot canneloni with goat cheese. The first thing that came to my mind was, how did they made this beetroot canneloni? I'm almost sure, that they made it with beetroot juice with gelatine sheet. As the canneloni has a distinct gelatinous structure. But again I'm not working in Vău, so I can't be 100% sure. Btw the mackerel was superb, mackerel is an ordinary fish but they pan fried it perfectly, Crispy skin and juicy flesh.
Medaillon of veal filet with Swiss chard, romaine lettuce heart and Pommes Carrée
The veal... The Veal!!! It was the juiciest piece of meat I've ever eaten in my whole life. The meat actually absorbed extra moisture from the added swiss chard that was cooked together in the middle of the veal. That was a succesful mating of meat and vegetable. And of course Vău only used the sweetest part of the romaine lettuce - the tiny heart in the middle of the vegetable. I wonder, what do they do with the rest of the lettuce, did they just throw them away?
Crispy Zander with root vegetables and horseradish
Those root vegetables are combination of carrot, yellow carrot, celery and german turnip, they're 3/4 cooked crispy but no distinct taste of undercooked vegetables. Combined with creamy yellow sauce and cappucino lookalike foam, they made the fish shines.
Soufflé of passion fruit and Mango with chocolate ice truffle
Believe it or not, when this souffle came to my desk, it was 1 cm over the mold. But by the time I finished taking the picture, it shrank! Should souffles shrink? I heard all the time, that it is very difficult to master how to make a souffle. A slight temperature difference and a chef can throw his Souffle directly to the rubbish bin. So I was extremely curious about this dish.
And oh boy! What a great dessert! The combination of warm fruity sourish souffle with cold chocolate ice. They were a match made in heaven.
So what's the verdict? It was definitely one of the best meals I have. Each and every item was carefully chosen and prepared exactly as it should. Btw you do know that to pepper and to salt food in fine restaurant is considered as impolite, because it implied that the chef didn't do a good job. Well I didn't need them at all. But again this is my first fine dining experience, so I don't have anything to compare with.
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