A few weeks ago, the Newsweek cover story was titled "The 101 Best Places to Eat in the World." The restaurants were chosen by 53 of the world's most famous chefs, including Anthony Bourdain, David Chang, Anita Lo and Lidia Bastianich. You can see the complete list on the Daily Beast, Newsweek's partner website.
2 German places made it to the list: Winebar Rutz and the Chinese Restaurant Hot Spot, both in Berlin.
Weinbar Rutz
Whenever I am in Berlin, I try to stop at the Rutz Weinbar in the Chaussee Strasse 8 in Berlin-Mitte and enjoy their outstanding wines. Rutz Weinbar is not only a top wine bar—it is also a top restaurant and a top wine store, but I go there for the wine bar.
Rutz Weinbar has an extensive wine list, about 1000 or so wines, largely from Germany and other European countries. For example, Rutz offers 13 different wines from Weingut Kuenstler/Rheingau/Hochheim. The nice thing is that you can consume all wines for the wine-store- price plus a corkage fee of Euro 18. Winebar Rutz also has some excellent New World wines including about a dozen different vintages of Opus One. The oldest one—1985—goes for Euro 392 in the wine store, and Euro 410 at the wine bar.
You can also eat at the bar from the exciting bar menu; I love the “Rinderroulade”—a German specialty. The kitchen and the main part of the restaurant, including an outside deck, are on the second floor. The restaurant is one of the best in Berlin, with 1 Michelin star and 16 Gault Millau points. Chef Marcus Mueller offers a number of 5/6 courses menus for between Euro 55 and 105; you can also eat a la carte for Euro 20 to 30 per course.
For more, see:
Billy Wagner Invited to the 10th Bottle Party at Wein Bar Rutz in Berlin
Hot Spot
The Hot Spot is a Chinese Restaurant in Berlin Charlottenburg, Eisenzahnstrasse 66, just next to the famous Kurfuerstendam, well known for its amazing list of German wines. Mr. Wu, the owner, loves wine and in particular German wine.
At first sight, Hot Spot appears to be a regular Chinese restaurant. But once you have eaten there, you know that its Szechuan- and Shanghai-inspired menu really stands out. And once you have seen the wine list, you can understand why Hot Spot has become something of a sensation in Berlin: Hot Spot offers an extensive list of fine German wine. Hot Spot has become the place to go if you want to fine German wine with fine Chinese food.
Hot Spot is owned and run by Mr. Wu, 50, who came to Germany in 1984 from Zhejiang. He earned a degree here in engineering but left school and opened a Chinese restaurant. In 1995, he became interested in wine and started to serve French wine at his place. In 2007, Mr. Wu opened Hot Spot with an extensive list of German wine.
For more, see
Chinese Food and German Wine at the Hot Spot in Berlin: 5 VDP Winemakers Pour their Wines
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Nice post! Once I've lived in Barcelona, I find somewhat difficult to find restaurants which serve good wine in Berlin. The price is often way more expensive here and the offers on good spanish, italian or french wine are always rather disappointing.
ReplyDeleteSo having said that, I thank you for the tips. I'll try them soon.
BR
Luke