I knew Prenzlauer Berg was rapidly gentrifying but Goldhahn & Sampson seems to mark a turning point, bringing an urban-country style of posh food shop I associate with London to a Berlin neighbourhood that usually continues to insist on a certain scruff.

I'm not complaining. I like decor as much as the next girl, and was pleased by their wooden lingerie-counter-converted-to-bread-display case, by their comfy reading room with cookbooks in various languages fanned across a table, by their tongue-in-cheek instructional diagrams pinned to the walls. David, in turn, liked the Belgian beers I bought him (Orval and Hoegaarden for 2.50 EUR apiece). A certain scruffiness is retained in the secondhand coffee and spice grinders for sale, and the place, while swish, is not snotty.

On display is a nicely edited medley of items from Hawaii, England, Spain and even Saxony: I was impressed by the restrained packaging of Stadtgut Görlitz's various goulashes and fricassees. Along with great browsing potential, there's also a small counter serving up drinks. Barely open for a month now, the shop's already doing a brisk trade, and I'm looking forward to the cooking courses slated to begin in the next month or two!

Goldhahn & Sampson, Dunckerstr. 9 (map)
Tel. 411 983 66
Open Mon-Sat 10 am to 8 pm, Sun noon to 4 pm

Comments

[kristina - no penny for them]

hey sylee, you definitely got there first - just blogged about them today. ust like to take my time... ;)

[Berlin Reified]

Kristina, and Prenzlauer Berg is an utterly different world! This entry - the idea of Prenzlauer Berg retaining a trace of scruff; the idea of a glossy posh food shop standing out in these streets -- feels very distant.

[Kristina - no penny for them & mostly berlin]

i bet. it's so amazing how fast changes happen. partcicularly helmholtzplatz is a different universe to what it was some years ago. (we have to do that photo project - someone must document the fleeting world!)

[Berlin Reified]

Kristina, quite!