Jim Block

My favourite steak restaurant in Germany is Block House. I love their T-Bone and their self created mixture of peppers & garlic. So when a friend of mine, Linda, who lives in Hamburg told me about a subsidiary company from block house, which specialized only on hamburger. I was all hot and eager to travel to hamburg on that day. But without a sound reason, why should I travel 700 km only to eat a bun with some minced beef inbetween.

so Last month I have a sound reason to travel to Hamburg. The reason for it? Be patient and wait, if it's a good news. I'll surely announce it in my blog.

Back to Jim Block. I have a high expectation for this one. First because of the name Block at the end of the name. Second, because of all the stories that Linda told me, about how good their burgers are compared to those from McD or BK. So here are the hamburgers.

the standard hamburgers with baked potato and sour cream (6,90 euro soft drinks included). Now tell me, which other fast food restaurant serve baked potato (healthier carbs than fries) as side dishes?




Hamburger with mushrooms, notice the generous serving of the mushroom. I just love the combination of mushroom with beef. As a menu with fries and drink cost 6,60 euro

Sasaya

I hereby proudly introduce to you, my dear reader, my favourite Japanese Restaurant in Berlin, Sasaya.


Let me start with this anecdote. A decade ago, before the Ishin that we all knew and love became the cheap, lower quality, franchised Japanese Deli that it is today, there was a tiny imbiss in Steglitz, Berlin also called Ishin. Everything they offered, the fresh sashimi, warm/cold dono, and my favorite grilled salmon, were prepared with love. And best of all, everything only cost 5 euro. The menu were simple, but Japanese food is about simplicity and quality. The Chef himself took his time to come out and greet his customers, asking whether the food was fine. No wonder that this tiny imbiss was always full, with a long line outside of the imbiss. After some time, this tiny Ishin announced that they were closing down. It was a great dissapoinment for everyone. Then the Ishin, that we know nowadays opened its very first store in Mitte. The concept was similar, sushi, sashimi, warm and cold Don, but the Japanese Chef was not there, and the touch of love was missing. The new Ishin was fulfilling but not satisfiying. I still miss the old Ishin that I love.


Then I heard a rumor that the Chef from the original Ishin decided to open his own restaurant called Sasaya. It is said that Sasaya is the chef's name. I don't know whether this is true. If any of you ask the Chef in Sasaya (the one behind the counter making sushi), if this is true, do tell me.

Without further delay, here are some highlight of the food in Sasaya


Salted grilled mackerel. A simple dish consist of a filet of mackerel that's grilled with some salt. Though it's simple, the flavor shine due to the freshness of the fish. It cost around 4 euro.

Tempura set: One huge shrimp, sweet potato and shitake mushroom. The shrimp was fresh and springy, the sweet potato was crisp and sweet and the fresh shitake mushroom was meaty and most importantly, the batter was light and crispy. Around 5 euro.






Stir fried takana, a Japanese version of preserved mustard green. A fresh and crunchy veggies for around 2 euro.




Here's everything I ordered, the small green stuff on the side is their complimentary pickles. They continue the custom!

Signora Maria

The idea behind Signora Maria is new and interesting. It's a combination of a delicatessen and a bistro/cafe at the same time. And since it's located right behind the ulmer Münster (Cathedral), so the location is quite central and well chosen. The store is divided into some sections; On one side, there are shelves filled with wine, balsamic acid, proscuttio and basically everything an Italian delicatessen would offer. In the middle of the store, there's a counter which sell cheese, antipasti, cold cuts and dessert. The final side offers warm dishes, such as pasta, and cold bread. And of course beside the warm dish counter, they also have a coffee bar, just like any decent Italian restaurant.

The first thing I noticed right after I entered the shop/restaurant, was that there are no picture or sign! This kinda turned me off actually. Why would they not put a sign? Did they think this shop/deli idea is so original, that they are afraid that their idea will be stolen? I have no idea. Anyway, despite that, I was still curious about this place and ordered some food. This process was also quite complicated. They don't have a clearly laid out menu, instead the menu are pastered either on the counter or over the counter. After that you need to walk to the register to place and pay your order, then with the receipt, you have to walk back to the cooking counter and gave it to the cook. It's definitely not a place for you if you want to sit leisurely and be waited on. Anyway, this is what I order :

Spaghetti with clams and mussels

It was alright, the spaghetti was a little bit undercooked, I guess they tried to make it al-dente but it's definitely undercooked. There was a lot of clams and mussels for a dish that cost around 8 euro. And just like spaghetti vongole should be, this is a very garlicky dish. And I love the cherry tomatoes which bring a little fruitiness and sweetness to the dish.

For the dessert I ordered a chocolate profiteroles:

The first impression that I got, is that they don't prepare the dessert in the store. Like I said, it's a delicatessen and they have variety of cakes which they sell in boxes. I really think that they open the packaging and then sell it as theirs. But I also saw some tiramisu and profiteroles in casserole forms. So maybe these two desserts are freshly made. The Profiteroles itself is cold and chocolaty. Good but clearly not the best. and for the companion of the profiteroles, I ordered some Latte Machiatto

I like that cocoa heart on top of the milk foam. The coffee is thick, hearty and milky, just like a good Italian coffee should be.

It was a mission for me to get permission to get the pictures of the food I ordered. Seriously. After I ordered my food, I asked for permission to take pictures of my food, and only of the things that I ordered, not the store itself. They were not pleased, but after explaining that it's for a blog, they were willing to ask around. First they asked the supervisor, then the store owner. I was surprised when they pointed me to a middle-aged Italian man, quite heavily build, who sat on one corner, drinking coffee while writing on a notebook. He looked just like a Don from a mafia movie (I watched too much "The Godfather", I know). Anyway, after a discussion, He told the supervisor to give me his permission to take pictures, but only after I gave them my blog address.

So my final verdict is this: the store impress me a lot, they have a variety of goods; Olive oil, balsamic acid, Italian bread, pastas, antipasti, cold cuts, and frozen goods. The warm dish itself was fine but not the best Italian food I've eaten. But, I will definitely go back for their authentic Italian goods.

Signora Maria
Kramgasse 4
89073 Ulm
http://signoramaria.de

Home Made Käsespätzle

My Landlady, Mrs Diebold is a true swabian lady. She cooks a typical german lunch everyday , i.e. Germans only eat one warm meal a day. It's quite a surprise for me who eat warm meal three times a day. So to introduce a real swabian Käsespätzle to me, she invited me for lunch one day. And I'm even allowed to take pictures of her Käsespätzle!

Käsespätzle is actually a German version of mac and cheese. I would even dare to say that it's more refined than your usual mac and cheese because, they used more than two types of cheese for taste and the noodle is made from scratch. Käse means cheese and Spätzle is a type of egg noodle, literally spätzle means little sparrow, I guess it's because of the irregular form of the noodles. The most important part of a Käsespätzle is the cheese, since the taste and the smell of a Käsespätzle depends solely on the cheese. So, strong smelling cheeses are recommended. For example, my landlady used a combination of three types of Cheeses : Bergkäse (a gruyere-like cheese), good quality Allgäuer Emmenthaler and old Gouda. The cheese should be grated and mixed evenly. For the Spätzle dough, it should be noted that the consistency should look like this

So let's start!

Fill a grater (Hobel) - a special gadget invented only to make spätzle - with some spätzle dough
then ... start to grate, grate and grate

Fröhe Weichnachten

It's white christmas, folks!

It's been snowing since the end of November here in Germany, but because it's christmas, everyone is happy and enjoying a white christmas. Here is the place, where we went sleigh riding.



and here is a view from the back of my home



I was invited for christmas dinner by my landlady and she served a pork medallion with cognac sauce and home made spätzle, as side dishes, there were Blaukraut and veggies in herb butter. Not a typical German Christmas dishes, because usually the German eats goose or duck for christmas dinner. However Mrs Diebold told me, that they were just too fatty for her so instead of those poultry she choose pork. And the pork medallions were tasty, it was small but crisp outside and juicy inside. The cognac based sauce was rich but gave an extra flavour to the soft and chewy spätzle.



Merry Christmas & Happy Holiday

Pizzeria Amalfi

Probably the best Pizzeria in Laupheim? After eating in a lot of pseudo-Italian restaurant, I have to say, Amalfi is easily the best Italian Restaurant Laupheim can offer. The restaurant itself is pretty small. We went there on a cold friday night and we were lucky to be given the only free, unreserved two-seater table in the middle of the restaurant. It's not the best table, but then again, we didn't know that it would be that full. So, noted, a reservation is recommended.

I was positively surprised that even in such a small restaurant, there's a wood-fire brick oven. And the menu was pleasantly surprising too, for they offer buffalo Mozzarella and spicy salami, which are my favorites pizza toppings. Not only that, they also offer Rocket Salad with Parma ham and Parmesan cheese Pizza, another favourite of mine. I didn't order this that night but I will visit them again just to have this.

On the table, there're bottles of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. And once you placed the order. They served a basket of white bread which you eat with the olive oil.

So here are some stuffs that we ordered that night:
Small mixed salad with balsamic reduction (4,50 euro)




Pizza with Buffalo Mozarella, spicy salami and mushroom

I like the pizza a lot. The combination of the toppings and the crispy pizza bread is heavenly. Unfortunately, the dough is a little burnt and I don't like the taste that much. Not as best as it can be.(Although, for around 7 euro, it's a pretty huge serving! I could only eat half of it and packed the rest for lunch the next day)

A New Beginning

I must say, this is the most difficult post that I have ever written. I've been dreading to write this post for months. And even as I was writing, I kept rereading sentences, deleting them and then I try to rewrite them again and again. I don't think there's anything I can write to explain these complicated feelings that I have. Anyway, long story short, I'm moving out of Berlin. Scratch that. I've moved out from Berlin. THE Berlin that has been my home almost 10 years. I've spent some of the best years of my life in the capital of Germany. I came to Berlin as a teenager and in that city I grew up to be the young adult that I am today. I've come to love Berlin as much as my hometown. Maybe even more. So I'm pretty sure you can imagine how difficult it is for me to write this post. I felt as if I left a part of me behind and that by writing this post, I'm officially ending my 10-year-long relationship with this fascinating city.

So, the next question that needs to be answered is: where have I moved to? well right now I'm living in a tiny town, about 30 km from Ulm. For those of you who doesn't know where Ulm is, Ulm is located around 90 km from Stuttgart. Well Stuttgart must at least ring a bell for you right? And what am I doing here? Well, I'm calling this city as my transit place until I find the next place where I can call home. The reason for all this relocation is because I have recently pocketed my master degree and now I'm desperate for a decent job. So if any of you, my dear reader needs a chemist with knowledge and experience on HPLC and homogeneous catalysis, Please please please contact me. I will be deeply indebted :D

Well I've been wondering this whole time about what to write after I moved out of Berlin into this charming little town. Well, I'm glad to say that I've realized that I can still express my love for food, wherever I am. Food doesn't only means Asian or Chinese. Here I can have the freshest products available. I can hand picked my tomatoes from the garden, yes! the house where I'm living now has a garden. And the generous landlady of mine told me, that I can take whatever I want, from tomatoes, wild berries, plums and much much more.

Not only that, here I can get in touch with the local "schwabisch" food , imagine hand made spätzle (german noodle) with cheese, Maultaschen and lots more. And because of the scarcity of Asian ingredients in this little town. It forces me to be creative whenever I want to eat some decent Asian meal. So I think, I will post more recipes rather than reviews about restaurant. But for those who loves my restaurant review, don't worry. I still have some Berlin restaurants review posts that I haven't published. So don't go away but keep on waiting and I promise I'll come up with some interesting posts soon.

Egg Tart at Tian Fu Supermarket

After I re-read my post about Zha Jiang Mian at Tian Fu restaurant. I remembered that I have a photo of the egg tart from Tian Fu Supermarket. I Bought one back home and took a picture of it in the darkness of my room.



And it's really good, the filling is sweet, soft and custardy without beeing overly sweet and the so good flaky pies are barely strong enough to hold the soft filling. so they just melt once inside my mouth

Sadly, there's no Chinese bakery in Berlin, there used to be one in the Oriental supermarket, however after they finished renovating a while ago, they closed down the bakery. So if you crave for some egg tarts, I only know one address and that is Tian Fu supermarket. Be warned though, there're only limited amount (not more than 20?) everyday.

Zha Jiang Mian 炸酱面 at Tian Fu Food

Honestly saying, the first time I heard about this black bean noodles is from Korean Drama (Shame on my Chinese heritage) I thought Jajangmyeon is a traditional Korean food. Little that I know it's actually an adaptation of northern China speciality. After I taste both Korean and authentic Chinese black bean paste noodle. I must say I prefer the Chinese variation better, it's meatier, the sauce was not thickened with unncessary starch and I can't appreciate the potato in the jajangmyeon. I would say too much starch in a meal.

The Zha Jiang Mian in Tian Fu Food is just right for me. They served home made hand-pulled noodles, for me, the bounciness and the chewiness of noodles is the most important of all. If they got it chewy and bouncy then they got me. The sauce is made with minced pork and salty zha jiang. They also served a lot of veggies like carrot, cucumbar and soybean sprout, the sweet and fresh veggies complement the salty zha jiang very well, and I love the combination of the crunchiness of raw veggies with the soft noodles.

Different than JaJangMyeon, where everything is already topped in a serving bowl. Tian Fu serves the ingredients separately and you need to assembly everything yourself. Which works fine for me because this way you can control how much sauce and veggies do you want in the ball. Hey some people hates raw soybean sprout they said it has some grassy smell.



So this how the ZhaJiang Mian looks life after all the toppings are pour on top of the noodles







And this after it's been tossed evenly, it might look unappetizing because of the dark colour. But after you try one bite of this chewy and salty noodle. you are surely hooked. I brought my supervisor to this Imbiss and she loved it so much that she keeps coming back. And everytime I visit this Imbiss I saw many Korean Ahjumma and they always order the ZhaJiang Mian. So I guess that It's one of the place that real Korean Ahjumma visit, when they crave for JaJayngmyeon.

Btw, if you are wondering why there're Tian Fu food, Tian Fu Restaurant and Tian Fu Supermarket. Well the explanation is simple, there's only one owner for these three establishments. And if you already take your time to visit Tian Fu Food then you just need to walk next door to shop for some Asian ingredients in the Tian Fu Supermarket. I would suggest to grab some home made egg tart in the counter of Tian Fu Supermarket. They are really one of the best (or better said the only one) in town.

Tian Fu Food
Berlinerstr. 15
Wilsmersdorf 10715
U9-Berlinerstraße

http://www.tianfu.de/nudelspezialitaeten.html

Aaberna - Korean Imbiss

The funny thing about Aaberna is, it's not actually an imbiss. It's actually a part of a bed and breakfast. The owner is a Korean man and he is always sitting behind the bar. The cook, a Korean ahjumma is always standing in the kitchen. The moment I enter this bed and breakfast, I felt like I'm entering a Korean family's sitting room, where the father is busy in front of the computer and the mother is busy cooking. I'm not sure wheter the owner and the cook are related, but that's the impression that they gave me.

Their menu is simple but it represent home cooked Korean meal like bulgogi, deokbukki, kimchi jigae and bibimbap. I was there more than once and I've tried all those food I mentioned above and they are all satisfactory. They are not like the food that you are going to get from a restaurant but more like a home-cooked meal from your mom. But for foods that cost around 4 to 6 Euro I think it's very reasonable.

The only picture that I have from this restaurant is this stir fried octopus with rice



And here it is once again with the complimentary kimchi and other side dishes




Aaberna Hotelpension
Wilhelmshavener str. 37
10551 Berlin
U9-Birkenstr.
Tel. : 3952594
http://www.aaberna-berlin.de/