I have found the perfect diet!

Forget the calorie counting, forget the 5:2, forget the Atkins and the South Beach! Forget them all! The best way forward is the Millionaires Diet! The clue to succeeding with this diet, is to only eat in Michelin starred restaurants, a) because the portions are usually small and b) one can’t usually afford to eat in them everyday! Or alternatively go for the other sure thing diet ” And only keep Champagne in the refrigerator”

On our recent nostalgia trip to Berlin we ate in a two Star Michelin restaurant, and it has to be said that himself has been waxing lyrical about it ever since. To his mind it replaces his former favourite ” Indian Accents” in New Delhi ( a bit too far to revisit, maybe)

Facile was exceptional, I am sure that in our former life, we could not afford such an outing, but back in divided Berlin, maybe such a restaurant did not exist. Actually I do not remember too much about what we ate back then except for some amazing cakes, but that is not for this blog.

From the moment we arrived, it was just spectacular. The table decorations all beautiful and even though we were in the city centre, looking outside was just an array of garden lights.

W decided to take the tasting menu, simply because, such a menu usually show cases the chefs talents well. And from this, we both chose the Brown Crab, but himself chose the Grilled Mackerel, whilst I, the Venison, and for the main course there was Lamb. We could have chosen, 4 from the list or more, but thought that four savoury courses would more than suffice and we could always decide later on the dessert.

The wine we chose, ( although it says Stockholm on the bottle) was from the Baden region of Germany as well as a Graubunder White Wine from the Pfalz. Again this was nostalgia, having lived in Southern Germany when first married. We were served an assortment of breads, with these being the prettiest, along with some pre-dinner nibbles.

The picture on the left is just sheer invention, it looks like yellow caviar, but is in fact lemon . There is a Tofu chip and then a kind of lemon mascarpone cream with lemon caviar on top. The caviar is little balls, of intense flavour filled lemon , just amazing. The dish on the right is the brown crab  with grapefruit, basil and green asparagus.

Here, we have the grilled mackerel with turnips, kale and curry.  The middle picture is tartar of venison, with fois gras, apple and burdock root, and finally the veal sweetbreads with smoked eel , mushrooms and cider foam.

And finally the rump of lamb, which had been cooked sous vide, with some moussaka, whisky and cucumber and caramelized eggplant ( aubergine).

In the end we could not resist trying the dessert which was simply called Rhubarb. As himself loves rhubarb, it really became a no brainer., However it came with Gianduja chocolate, Sorrel and Yuzu ( the Japanese/Chinese/Korean citrus fruit )and as you can see from the photo, it was picture perfect. and then we were served some petits fours as well.

And finally a photograph from the entrance hall, as you can see, everything was done to perfection, BUT not in any way was it pretentious, there were like us couple dining as well as a group of 17 business people, but everything was calm, and if I ever go back to Berlin, it will be number one on my hit list !!