Berlin Reified | Food, design and life in Berlin

I keep looking down

I find the street intoxicatingly pretty in the autumn.

Kaffeemitte

You've been there already because Kaffeemitte is no secret but anyway, I like it.

And to the anonymous reader who gently prodded me to say more: Because I'm a sucker for concrete and irises, because the espresso is affordable and not too acidic, because before there was nowhere else around Hackescher Markt I wanted to go when I wanted cake or small snacks.

Kaffeemitte, Weinmeisterstr. 9a, Berlin-Mitte (map)
Open M-F 7:30am-10pm, S-S 10am-10pm

Autumn in Berlin

My eye has been focussed everywhere other than on beauty these past few weeks (for instance taxes, if you want to know) and this space has duly suffered. Yesterday, though, I went out with a camera and a spring in my step, thanks to my new boots, to collect a few specimens of the season.

First quince of the season

Happy Diwali!

This shot in the acid light of the makeshift Hasenheide Hindu temple. Happy Diwali!

Giants, Tea

Yes, we went to see those giants too. Remind me, please, to sort out the snack situation the next time I decide to attend a mass spectacle. After fleeing the dry sandwiches at Haus der Kulturen der Welt and Akademie der Künste we ended up eating flabby quiche in the dim, dingy food hall at Galeries Lafayette. Thank heavens for the Mariage Frères stall with the amber-eyed salesman who trilled 'undert gram? when I requested some Roi de Earl Grey. I let myself be persuaded to take a bit of Thé 1854 too: that blend of jasmine and bergamot was just the thing to sip once home, feet snug in furry slippers.

Plum cobbler

The Zwetschgen at the market are a bit soft these days, and best transformed into cobbler. The layer of fruit goes jamlike with a bit of heat, and the pillowy crispness of the scone topping is just what you want to sink your spoon into, confronted with an early dusk.