Berlin Reified | Food, design and life in Berlin

On the stairs in Weinbergspark

We were at the foot of the stairs eating rhubarb ice cream and I admired these colors and light so much.

Field Notes (Elderflowers)

While I'm waiting for my dress to dry so I can leave for a party, I thought I'd tell you about collecting elderflowers. I've been watching the heads of elderflower go heavier and whiter as I cycle through the park. Last night after dinner I drank a cup of spring tea, gathered my equipment, then left. As I glanced back at the clock I heard the bells tolling 9 o'clock.

There wasn't actually much in the way of equipment. I prefer to remain hazy on the ins and outs of foraging regulations, and was glad for the capacious market basket I've borrowed from a friend.

The park was mostly empty when I entered, with just a few joggers, and some young people playing pétanque.

I quickly spotted my quarry, but the elderflower bush by the path had been stripped almost bare of blossoms, sending a ripple of worry through me.

But as soon as I pressed onwards, I was hopeful again. The elders dotting the hillside were frothy with creamy blossoms.

Far from being too late, many of the sprays were still mere buds. Others were already showering their dainty pale pollen.

My bowl full and a wind whipping up, I thought it was time to return home.

Then I spotted the white pinpricks amongst the distant green, and filled my bowl a little more.

My mission accomplished, I had to stop and admire the bowl's contents.

The light was failing when I finally turned home.

When I got home, David was just taking the sugar syrup off the stove, and as it cooled, I snipped the flowers into a bowl. By ten o'clock, I was finished. What beauty one can make in an hour!

Two or three lunches at das Lokal

You'll remember my enthusiasm for Kantine, the temporary restaurant Maren Thimm and Gary Hoopengardner set up in architect David Chipperfield's parking lot, so you'll imagine my delight when they found a permanent location on a sunny corner of Linienstraße. The light floods across the rough whitewashed walls on a windy afternoon, glinting off the eel-catcher lamps. They brought the floorboards from the old location, and one still eats off Katja Buchholz's rough-hewn tables made from reclaimed wood. Now a shiny metal barcounter, laden with fragile, pale hydrangeas and two kinds of chocolate cake, catches your eye when you enter through the unmarked entrance.

Das Lokal is bustling and full of beautiful people in the evenings; at lunchtime, art types gather and talk business with their elbows on the tables. On offer are dishes with European and American influences prepared with mostly local ingredients (the beef comes from Schorfheide, just north of Pankow). But if you get there at noon on a Saturday, hardly anyone's there. I leafed through their copy of Coco in blissful silence while savoring my poached eggs.

The staff is as brisk and smiling as ever, quick to bring a clean spoon when yours clatters to the floor. It's become my default place for lunch whenever I need to be in the neighborhood. I met Suzy there after a round of Christmas errands to Haut + Sein and RSVP (see her beautiful pictures of our visit here). I plotted a visit to the Berliner Ensemble one afternoon with Donna (the Wilson/Wainwright take on Shakespeare's sonnets), and sketched a list of Berlin must-sees (the Neues Museum!) when I met Molly, a food writer in town for a conference on smell.

Meanwhile, I've been eyeing the bar food menu, served from 5pm. I imagine a glass of wine from a German vintner, a little plate of meatballs or rilettes on toast, eaten on one of the sidewalk tables. The light would change from gold-red to the pinkish blue that leaves me tingling when I see it, signaling as it does the summer in Berlin.

Das Lokal, American & German-influenced bistro dishes made with care using regional ingredients, Linienstraße 160, Berlin-Mitte (map)
Open Sunday and Monday from 5pm, Tuesdays to Saturdays from noon.
Tel. +49/30 28449500