Oh goodness, how the time passes. Though it makes me sad that it’s been so long since I last wrote, it makes me much happier that the time has come to write about what I love most.
Yes, you guessed it. The time has come to write about food again. And this time within the context of a restaurant that is so Berlin, you half expect your food to be served in the shape of the Fernsehturm (a.k.a. TV Tower on Alexanderplatz) and for Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory (who sits atop the Brandenburg gate driving her four-horsed chariot) to sit down at the bar next to you.
The restaurant of which I speak is none other than the new and fabulous Dos Palillos. When it comes to restaurants, I can be extremely critical, it is true. But in the case of Dos Palillos, the fact that it stands at the very tip of the restaurant wave in Berlin – that it is so tremendously ahead of its time – is enough to allow it to override any serious complaint I might otherwise lodge against it.
The Dos Palillos in Berlin is one of two in the world. The other is located in Barcelona, but despite their name and locations, both serve Asian tapas, not anything Spanish. And do they ever do it well! The tapas concept is an old one, originating hundreds of years ago in Spain. In the 1990’s, it began spreading throughout some of the world’s wealthier cities. Many New Yorkers and Londoners complained that the concept, as it was implemented in their direct vicinity, was merely an excuse to rip off diners all too willing to spend more money on less food. Many of these people were right.
The tapas concept, when implemented correctly, encourages conversation because each dish is small and easy to eat, but leaves you feeling as full as you would after a normal meal because you’ve eat enough small dishes to add up to one or two larger ones. The implementation of the tapas concept in Dos Palillos is next to perfect, bringing the original concept in perfect cohesion with modern cuisine. Dos Palillos serves multiple delectable Asian-inspired dishes (12 or 16, depending on which menu you chose) to its diners, all of whom sit in a row behind a counter facing the kitchen, taking the focus for one second off of the food (and onto the kitchen, or your fellow diners), the next second bringing the attention back to it (since each dish is so tasty, it’s impossible to ignore).
To make matters better, this entire extraordinary visual, olfactory, auditory, tactile and gustatory experience takes place in a beautiful setting designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, the Paris-based sibling-designer-duo known best for their space-age furniture. The restaurant can be found in the Camper Hotel, which opened last September (Dos Palillos itself opened just 2 short months ago), on the corner of Weinmeister Strasse and Rosenthaler Strasse, right between Hackescher Markt and Rosenthaler Platz.
Oh, and I almost forget to mention: the head chef at Dos Palillos is Albert Raurich. He used to be chef de cuisine at elBulli. That’s right, elBulli. Talk about street cred.
So for a taste of the new Berlin, and for serious foodie braggie rights post-dinner, swing by Dos Palillos, But don’t forget to make a reservation in advance.
For contact information, or to take a peak at the food, go to http://www.casacamper.com/berlin/dining/dospalillos-en.html
For beautiful images of the restaurant itself, go to
http://www.bouroullec.com/ (Dos Palillos is listed under Projects, 2009.)
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