Adrie Reinders

Thai Pearl in Silicon Valley

Tamarine Restaurant, 546 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94104

About 5 years ago I was a frequent customer of Tamarine, a top notch Thai restaurant in Palo Alto. Coming back to attend a conference now, 5 years on,
I was curious to see if they were still able to deliver food of the same high standards so many years prior. I had lunch, and later in the week dinner in Tamarine. The restaurant is very comfortable
and well maintained. It’s definitely recommended that you make a reservation for dinner, or you will be facing a long wait. The waiters are very skilled and friendly, and provide great advice as they all really understand the menu. It’s worth mentioning a drink I had, the special watermelon lemonade, very light and refreshing. For an appetizer I had Tea Leaf beef, rolls of stewed beef served in tea leaves. As a main course, the “shaking beef” – an absolute must when you go there. The food really was still as excellent as it was all those years ago – and I would strongly recommend a visit.

Food: 8.5
Comfort: 8
Service: 8.5
Price/Quality: 8
www.efactor.com/adrie

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Did not meet expectations

ZED451, 739 N Clark, Chicago IL, www.zed451.com

I had passed this restaurant/bar many times, always impressed by the beautiful design and exterior. It looked very promising so I decided to have dinner there.

The interior looked as well thought out as the exterior and very zen. The restaurant space is rather large and as more clients come in, it becomes rather noisy, something I dislike at the best of times. The comfort was OK. The concept of the restaurant is a little far fetched I think. For your appetizer you have to walk over to a kind of luxury salad bar. I am not that keen on going out to eat and then having to get my food myself. For the main course, they have developed a special system – you get a pebble per person at the table which you lay on the edge of the table if you want something to eat.  The hosts then walk by with a skewer full of grilled, or cooked meats and seafood – of which you can have as much as you like – chicken, lamb, beef, salmon etc. If you want to take a break, you simply remove your pebble. I have to say that the meats/seafood was excellent but the way you get people at your table between every bite is not very peaceful. The server serving me was extremely attentive in the beginning, stopping by repeatedly to see if he could get something for me. But things went downhill as more guests arrived with the absolute low being the time I asked for coffee and after 20 minutes waiting he came to tell me there were some problems with the machine. Overall, an evening that went out like a candle – and definitely was in no equation to what I had anticipated based on the exterior.

Service: 6.5
Food: 8
Comfort: 7.5
Price/Quality: 6.5

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Who says that having great chefs prepare excellent multi-course dinners for you needs a restaurant? I’m not sure if you can already call it a trend, but in Berlin, there is more than one chef preferring to celebrate dinners in a more exclusive and intimate manner. Namely there are my friends Oli, Jens and Mirko (the latter is not a cook but does the organizing). Oli used to have a restaurant in Prenzlauer Berg that was quite well-known at the time. When he decided to give it up, there were the usual options – start a new place, be hired somewhere else, do catering…

Instead, he decided to do what was initially a freelance thing. I met him at a friend’s wedding where he and his staff of people (sous-chef, service personnel…) cooked for a party of about 40 people. If you’d like to know more about that truly memorable occasion, look over here.

By the beginning of 2009, Oli and his friends decided to do this “cooking for friends” thing on a more regular basis. Once a month they’d invite people for a dinner party at changing locations in Berlin and called it “Monatskochen” (monthly cooking). In March, for example, they rented a film studio in a huge palace-like factory complex from the 1900s. Maybe 80 people attended, among them myself and some other friends who are into finer dining. An excellent, EXCELLENT 5 course set menu was served for the price of 29€ excluding drinks.

Meanwhile, the guys have found a home base for their cooking activities. They call it the “außerhaus Studio”. “Außerhaus” literally means “out of home” – it’s what you say when you want to dine out as opposed to cooking at home. The studio is not a restaurant, though it boasts a large kitchen. It’s the place where they work and prepare stuff for catering jobs and the like.To celebrate the opening of the studio, the July Monatskochen took place right there on long tables in white linen.

Now how do you join? Well – basically, everyone is invited to come. All you have to do is check out their Facebook profile, sign up for an event, or otherwise be in contact with them – they have a mailing list too. However, this means that there is a certain exclusivity to it. There is no fixed location, there are no fixed dates. Most people become members of this Circle of the Initiated by being brought by friends. This, in turn, creates a very fun, cozy and friendly atmosphere at the events, because everyone is somehow connected either to the chefs or to a friend of the chefs, many are regulars, there are never more than 70 or 80 people attending, and they all have one thing in common: their love for great food.

Speaking of which – here’s the menu of the last Monatskochen 2 weeks ago:

Green bean salad wrapped in marinated savoy cabbage with spiced thyme cherries
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Clear chanterelle soup with chervil ice cream
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Knuckle of pork or brook trout roulade, stuffed with mashed peas or tomatos and rucola, accompanied by caraway cabbage salad, salt potatoes, and a sauerkraut white wine creme sauce
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“Berliner Luft” dessert creme with lime melissa and iced raspberries

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As you can see, Oli and the guys base many of their dishes on hearty continental and German cuisine and then start experimenting. Another favourite of mine that they sometimes offer as an entrée is trout caviar on cinnamon-seasoned, chunky apple puree on spiced toast. There, you have the salted caviar meet the sweet-and-sour, intense taste of apples on a hearty piece of bread, which really creates an explosion of tastes in your mouth. This picture to the left  is how it looks.

So finally, I won’t give you any address or phone number here. If this is something you might like to join, check out this group here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Buxbaum-Sartorius-Partners

- and act accordingly

A piece of Thailand in London

Nahm, 5 Halkin Street, London W1

This week I had dinner in NAHM, a Thai restaurant located in the Halkin hotel – what an experience!! It’s an absolute treat for both your taste buds and your eyes. For once, not a Thai restaurant with all the normal Thai decorations, but an Italian decor with Italian service – perfect combination with the refinement of the food.
As a starter I had the special of the day, lobster salad which I would highly recommend – very refined flavours. As a main I opted for the stir fried beef with fresh vegetables and steamed rice. As I was preparing this blog, I found out that they were the first Thai restaurant in Europe that received a Michelin star. Whilst it does not normally guide me in my choice to eat somewhere, it is an indication of just how good Nahm is. The service was perfect, professional and friendly and I always appreciate that when you are leaving they remember your name and shake your hand. It’s the small touches that I often miss at other restaurants.

Comfort of Nahm is fine – and the decor is peaceful.

In short – not just a recommendation, but a Must Do!

Food: 9,5
Comfort: 8
Service: 9
Price/Quality: 8.5

Today, my old friend Jan and I had some business to attend to. In my other life as an entrepreneur, business consultant and copywriter I’ve come to the point where I need my own homepage. Jan on his side is one of the best screen designers I know, so we decided to meet for an impromptu design briefing today. Since we generally do as much business as possible over breakfast, lunch or dinner here in Berlin, it was his turn to come up with a suitably refined location for a 11:30 late breakfast.

At 11:30 sharp I heard the horn of his ‘78 Mini Cooper outside my door. And off we went to a place he had announced as a “true hidden gem”. As it turned out, he has been breakfasting there often over the past two years. As it further turned out, “hidden” is quite accurate when it comes to this gem. We drove down to Kreuzberg and then some. Where Görlitzer Straße meets the Landwehrkanal: that’s where you find Salon Sucré.

At first sight, I was both amused and reassured. This would not be Berlin if Salon Sucré was merely a bistrot, a cafe or restaurant. No: it’s all that AND a hairdresser. The place is run by a French patissier, Eric, and his Brazilian girlfriend Katia, who’s a hairdresser. Today, though, the salon was closed and she was helping to wait tables. Very endearing, all that, and Jan as a regular was warmly welcomed.

A closer look at the food on display revealed that Eric specializes in what the art of French baking has to offer. On the downside, this means that for breakfast you won’t get any eggs or toast or cereal or yoghurt. On the plus side, you will get croissants with any conceivable stuffing. I took three: one filled with marinated salmon, one with French cheese, and one with French ham and Dijon mustard. Jan took a croissant and a paté with tomatoes. Thus supplied, we sat down at one of the small tables outside, enjoyed the tranquility on this remote end of Görlitzer Strasse, sipped our Café au lait and lazily went to business.

Business, however, didn’t stop me from noticing that these were the best croissants I have ever had. The filling was tasty and well-spiced – you easily notice that this was miles from the prefab stuff you get at LeCroBag. The croissants exuded homemadedness – juicy and firm at the same time. Beautiful!

After a while, Eric came out with a bottle of crémant rosé and two glasses, which he waved in front of our eyes invitingly. As he poured us two glasses, he explained that this was to say sorry for the fact that they’d be closing Salon Sucré down for summer, so that Jan would have to look for another place to have breakfast until September 17th. Eric did that in his truly colorful German – it doesn’t sound fake at all when he talks half German, half French, frequently ending his sentences with “et voilá, Monsieur!”. When we came in to pay our bills, he calculated out loud: “Un Euró quatre-vingt, trois Euró quatre-ving dix, sept Euró… ca fait neun Euro achtzig, bitte. Merci beaucoup!”

On this occasion a word about the pricing. The deliciously stuffed croissants come at 1,60 € a piece. After three of them, it’s you who is deliciously stuffed. Need I say more?

As we paid, both Jan and I identified some French pastries that we wanted to take home for the afternoon. I chose a blueberry pastry that had already caught my eye as we had arrived. Now before writing this text here, I just finished the last bit of it, and Dear God, it was a piece of heaven! Blueberries of a size and sweetness that clearly designate them as Polish produce (I will have to write about the merits of Polish food another time), a mild and tasty crème and the perfect shortcrust. If there ever was the quintessential Sunday Afternoon Pastry, I found it!

And so can you – unfortunately not before Sept 17th, though. And only Thursday to Sunday, unless you want to have your hair cut – the salon is open Wednesday to Saturday.

What a sweet place!

Salon Sucré

Papa Pane di Sorrento.Ackerstrasse 23, Berlin, www.papapane.de

In the area “Mitte” you will find a real pizzeria at Papa Pane’s. Mitte is comparable to Soho in NY,  a little bohemian, many galaries, restaurants and alternative initiatives.

Papa Pane’s is a modern looking, mainly decorated in white, restaurant with a gorgeous terrace outside. It looked pleasant and modern, well furnished. Service was reasonable but not great, a little too much showing a professional disinterest. The pizza’s however, were outstanding. I had a Pizza Formagio which was delicious.

According to many Berlin-experts – this ranks as a “Cool” restaurant.

Food: 8.5
Comfort: 8
Service: 6.5
price/Quality: 7.5

BTW, no credit cards accepted, which is the same in many restaurants in Berlin

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Le Marche, Ft. Lauderdale North Beach Boulevard

You will find Le Marche at the Hilton Hotel on the Beach in Fort Lauderdale. It is an interesting combination of a coffee shop, pizzeria and deli. It has not been open that long, but is already fulfilling a big demand on that part of Beach Boulevard. Everything is prepared locally, coffee is by Starbucks and the pizzas and paninis are freshly made and baked right there for you. The personnel at le Marche, led by John Sobczak, is very friendly and helpful, which is almost unusual in touristic hotspots. It’s a comfortable environment, with a nice sheltered terrace on the front overlooking the beach. Comfy, inviting chairs for you to sit down and just watch the world go by. Definitely recommended if you are looking for some simple, uncomplicated food and great coffee.

Food: 7.5
Service: 8.5
Comfort: 8
Price/Quality: 8.5

Le Marche definitely beats the restaurant/breakfast area of the Hilton itself!

Megu, Japanese restaurant, 62 Thomas Street, New York, NY

The first time I visited Megu, about 4 years ago, this was the first Japanese restaurant in the chain outside of Japan. In the meantime there are about 20 all over the world. The first time you walk in, you are overwhelmed by the dramatic interior. High ceilings in the dining area, massive ice sculpture in the middle and the typical Megu Japanese/Western decor. The feeling has remained even though I have visited the place many times. The Megu I talk about here, is in a small alley in Tribecca. The feeling of “what have I gotten myself into” really creeps up to you as you walk towards the restaurant – as a CEO of a Fortune 100 company I once invited will testify. He almost turned round as he thought he had gotten lost. But the courage to continue is worth it!
I mostly ask the staff to put a menu together for me – which may end up being 8 courses all consisting of small bites. The Kobe beef is very special, and you can prepare it at your table on a hot stone. Ofcourse the Sushi is always wonderful too. The wine cellar is outstanding with a good choice of world wines. The only problem I have with Megu is the price, every time you dine there – you think you have just purchased the entire restaurant.

Comfort: 9
Service: 8.5
Food: 8.5
Price/Quality: 7.5

Cafe George, Leidsegracht 124, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Still one of my all time favourites because of its atmosphere, service and type of food. The menu is simple, with a good selection of as far as different dishes and use of fresh produce is concerned.

My favourites are for instance a Farmer’s Omelet for lunch, or alternatively the Scrambled Egg with Salmon and toast. Or in the evening the great Steak Frites. I think Cafe George is a classic and will be around for quite some time. Service is always good, the owners are almost always present which makes a difference in any restaurant. During the day it is a coming and going of people I know and ofcourse the fact that this is one of Casper’s (Jimmy Woo’s owner) hang-outs means that a lot of people will drop by. It’s too busy in the evenings for my liking, but cosy nevertheless.

Food: 8
Service: 8.5
Comfort: 8.5 if I can sit in “my” fav spot, otherwise 7.5
Price/Quality: 8

Definitely a place to call “home”.