Marcus Brau, Berlin

We stumbled across Marcus Brau while wandering through Berlin in search of a place for dinner. It's an unassuming little pub that serves your typical(?) German meat-and-potato-type dishes.

To start we had frisches bauernbrot, a dense German bread served with cheese, gherkin and dripping (yes, lard!). Once you get over the fat-factor, this is actually quite nice, similar to butter but with more flavour.

Frisches Bauernbrot

Andy, always up for a meat challenge, ordered the geschmorte schweinshaxe (roasted pork knuckle) which came with potatoes, sauerkraut and a huge dollop of mustard.

Geschmorte Schweinshaxe

I had the thuringer rostbratl, a more modest serve of panfried pork with onions and potatoes. The pork was a little boring on its own but not bad with the fried onions and potatoes - goes to show that everything tastes better fried! :D

Thuringer Rostbratl

Irene went for the Flammkuchen, a German style pizza, this one topped with sausage and cheese.

Flammkuchen Marcus Brau

All in all, Marcus Brau lived up to our expectations of meat-and-potatoes German food!

Munchings in Berlin

Apart from meals, we did a fair amount of snacking in Germany.

On our first day in Berlin, we came across a festival/fair at Alexanderplatz. Food stalls were set up around the square, mostly selling various kinds of sausage. The currywurst tasted like a typical frank doused in McDonald's curry sauce (that you get with the chicken nuggets). It's not exactly bad, but kinda goes into the same genre as a kebab.

Currywurst

The riesenboulette was like a patty version of a sausage with a bit more texture - not bad with tomato sauce and mustard.

Riesenboulette im brotchen

Rostbratwurst im brotchen

Something our friend Andy was told he had to try was the Berliner Weisse mit schuss, and he was specifically told that he had to have the "schuss". As it turned out, this was a German wheat beer flavoured with an incredibly sweet syrup (schuss). It came in both the red and green varieties. Although I'm not a fan of beer, this additive did not win me over.

Berliner Weisse mit Schuss (green)

Also spotted at this fair was a half metre long sausage although we were not game enough to try it!

Stand selling 1/2 metre long sausages

Along a similar vein was the frikendel (deep fried sausage) with chips and mayo from Frites van Holland (sausages and chips take away stand). Once again, dubious meat content but the mayo is soo beautifully creamy!

Frikendel

We stopped for coffee and le marc de champagne cake at Peter's Konditorei. The cake was light and spongey and filled with lots of cream and a splodge of fruit.

le Marc de Champagne

From Karstadt supermarket, Erdnuss-Flips, which I'd best describe as rice puffs covered in peanut butter. Quite morish!

Erdnuss-Flips (Peanut chips)

Lastly, an apple donut from one of the numerous bakery/coffee places in Berlin - sweet, sugary and delicious!

Apple donut

Next post: the meat fest!

Borough Markets, London

Borough markets is every foodies dream and my favouritest place in the world! It is mostly a growers market, selling fresh produce, cheeses, olives, breads, cakes and a plethora of other edibles. Best to visit on an empty stomach as all the samples are sure to fill you up! If not, its easy to be tempted by the fish and chips or venison burger or the raclettes (potato with melted cheese and pickles) or the brownies...

I think the pictures speak for themselves...

More types of olives than you can imagine!

Apples and juices

Cheese, cheese and more cheese!

Salami

Raclettes: The block of cheese is melted under a grill then scraped onto a pile of potatoes. Served with picked onions and gherkins - yum!

Cakes

Baklava

Artisan bread

Huge brownie stack - this was mostly gone after a round of the markets!

Beautiful tomatoes!

Tarts

Spices

Mushies

I found this sign amusing :)

The only drawback is that is has ruined me for all other markets!! I love Borough markets!

Fifteen, London

What a break! With my thesis submitted and refreshed from my UK/Europe holiday, I finally have some time to blog. Not to say that the eating had stopped over this time, if anything I have been eating more than ever (it's tough being overseas - sigh!).

The first thing on my list for London was a visit to the Fifteen Trattoria. All I can say is that I loved it! The food was delicious, the restaurant had a lovely rustic feel, the service was fantastic and I love what the restaurant is all about.


We started with various entrees. The pasta for my ravioli was fresh and al dente and the beef filling was meltingly tender.

Beef stew ravioli

Lamb ragu tagliatelle

Risotto 'ai frutti di mare'

Potato gnocchi with Italian sausage ragu

We got some sides for the table: roasted potatoes with rosemary and garlic, leafy salad with parmesan and balsamic and green beans with chili and garlic.

Roast potatoes

My lamb was an impressive chunk of meat, tender and moist, and served with fennel and chard.

Pan-roasted leg of lamb

Pan fried rainbow trout

Chicken with pesto and pearl couscous (?)

Although we were all stuffed after our mains, the waiter somehow talked us into ordering dessert. These finished the meal perfectly. The cranberry tart was a little tarty and a little bready and delicious with custard. The creme brulee was velvety smooth with an aromatic coffee flavour.

Rustic cranberry tart

Espresso creme brulee

Not a bad way to start my foodie holiday!