Cookies Cream
BEHRENSTRASSE 55, 10115 BERLIN
1 Michelin star.
I’d heard that CookiesCream was hard to find but I eventually gave up and messaged my friend and dining partner who was already there. “Stand on the road outside the hotel, I’ll come and get you”. He found me and took me round the rear of the hotel down a badly lit and covered service area; it reminded me of that road which goes immediately behind the Brighton Centre. A few turns and suddenly, still in the service road, I’m standing next to a fancy sofa, some high chairs and tables....and numerous commercial waste bins. We are still outside the restaurant at this point, on what I presume is their terrace. Fancy furniture, reasonably well dressed people, plonked down in the gutter next to the dustbins; it’s all rather incongruous. I see the first rat of the evening. I remember [MENTION=27447]Goldstone1976[/MENTION] was bemused by a one star Michelin establishment having a bouncer on the door. I did wonder what he’d make of this similarly starred front entrance.
Although I’m late, my table’s not ready, so we opt for two glasses of champagne on the “terrace”...although they don’t do champagne so I take a Crémant instead. It has a strange taste...”like it’s been in a sherry barrel” my friend says. It was “natural”...just like all my other wines will be. We finish these and make our way up some stairs to our table. A young skinny thing on the door asks if we have been before, we say yes but when it was Cookies nightclub; she said she’d heard lots of stories about the club but had never been.....as she was too young when it was open.......
The dining room has gone for the industrial look, bare concrete, aluminium ventilation ducts and metal lights hanging from the ceiling and art hanging on the walls. Minimal techno played in the background. If I had to guess I’d say there were a lot of 30/40 something arts and creative industry types in the space; it’s vibrant and feels like Friday night post work. The staff were seemingly either arts graduates or tattooed hipsters.
We went for 7 courses including their two signature dishes which were 20 euros extra each.
We also went for the wine pairing. Now, I was led to believe they had normal wines...they’re exclusively natural these days. My heart sunk a little. After I explained my reticence I was told to put my trust in the young tattooed hipster wine waiter and open my mind a little. I rolled my eyes at this but as he was speaking, depending on where he ranked his English, in either his 2nd, 3rd or 4th language I decided to ignore it and assume something got lost in translation. But he then spoke as though I was new to natural wine; I had my first bottle at that Silo place in Brighton ten years back. The first was extreme, or funky as they call it, and coincidentally from a bar in know well in Barcelona. We then veered between quite nice and a bit sour. I’m still not convinced.
The food was something else though. As previously mentioned it’s meat-free; I really did like it. The onsen egg yoke with seaweed caviar, sour cream and chive was excellent. But the two signature dishes were superb: dim sum truffle with cauliflower and potato foam and Parmesan dumpling with artichoke. I had a chilled red light bodied and slightly sour wine with the truffle dish which complimented it well. The last dish was a soft white chocolate ring with basil ice cream which was also excellent.
Overall I had a great and very enjoyable evening with a good friend. I would not go back through choice due to the wine, but if someone invited me I wouldn’t complain.
Next up is Kin Dee... this Saturday. It’s a 1 starred Michelin Thai place recommended by [MENTION=238]Uncle Buck[/MENTION].
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