Berlin Reified | Food, design and life in Berlin

Harry Lehmann Perfumes

This old-fashioned, wildly charming perfume shop is the place to go when grey skies leave your spirits flagging.

The silver-haired man behind the counter was the grandson of the founders. He seemed to know all the scents by heart. I was looking for a present. When I described my sister-in-law, he lifted a stopper and the air smelled like her.

Some of their scents have been sold since the 1920s; their newest, Potosi, was inspired by a brother who had spent time in Bolivia. Harry Lehmann's "Tulpe" (Tulip) was just the lift I need in late winter.

Harry Lehmann's high-quality perfumes are shockingly affordable: 10 ml cost around €4, with an extra euro or two for the glass bottle. On Saturday, March 19th, they'll be celebrating their 85th birthday. Everything will be 30% off. They'll be serving coffee. A new fragrance will be unveiled. You should go.

Harry Lehmann, Kantstraße 106, Berlin-Charlottenburg (map)
Open Mon-Fri 9am-6:30pm, Sat 9am-2pm
Tel. (030) 324 35 82

Cold, cold, cold/Friday rest/Hudson's Cakes

Between the laryngitis and the translation there's been little room for adventure. Now that my voice has returned (so hoarse!) and the translation has spun off into the ether, it's time for a Friday rest. Cold, cold, cold, but don't those spots of sun make all the difference? Being ill has meant I still haven't made it to Jim and Katie's new cake shop. The injustice!

Corsets on Kantstraße

I've gone on walking, so much so that I've been left a little breathless. As a placeholder, here's a sign I've mentally earmarked for my friends at the Buchstabenmuseum. Now off to my hot water bottle, book and bed. (Everyday Aesthetics is amazing.)

Outtakes from a stroll (Hermannstraße, Bergmannstraße)

I'm devouring Berlin in great gulps right now. I want to be everywhere, walking.

Perfect baklava in Wedding (Ağam Baklava)

I've wanted to tell you about Ağam Baklava for almost three years, and do you know what's kept me from it? I never, ever managed to stop eating long enough to take a photo of their incredible pastries. It doesn't seem fair to rave about their söbiyet or su böreği (aka water börek) and not share them in all their pistachio-speckled goodness.

This time, I balanced my paper tray of pastries on the Osloer Straße tram stop railing to take a photo in the failing light. By the time I got off at Schönhauser Allee, only two pieces were left. The söbiyet -- the triangles to the left -- are my favorite, filled with a tender mixture of pistachios and fresh cheese.

The water börek is scrumptious too. (That's why I had to take two bites before I found a spot to take a photograph.) Here, lasagne-like noodles are layered with a sour-salty, crumbly cheese and leaves of lemony parsley.

Five pieces of baklava and a generous wodge of börek costs about €7-8.

Their pastries are made fresh at the Stettiner Straße branch, just north of Gesundbrunnen. Peep into the back room and spot the cauldron over a naked gas flame, bubbling with syrup. To the side, there's a metal table covered with flour. Or snag a plastic chair at their Müllerstraße shop and order a Turkish coffee while you watch all of Wedding crowd past on the pavement.

Ağam Baklava
Stettiner Straße 10, Berlin-Wedding (map)
Open 7am-8pm

Müllerstraße 143a, Berlin-Wedding (map)
Open daily 7am-8pm

We visited an abandoned Bruno Taut house this weekend

Before I get down to work in earnest

I had to take a few photos. These must be the most fragrant flowers I have ever bought. White gorse in the pitcher, Sgaminegg's blackberry jam on my bread: I'm poised between two springs.

Cafe Aroma for Sunday brunch

I'm generally not a brunch person (those curling slices of salami! those sweating squares of anonymous cheese!). But, researching a guide, I had a long conversation with one of the women who run Café Aroma. She told me this restaurant-cum-Italian community center was the first gathering place for the Slow Food movement in Berlin, and a Sunday brunch pioneer back in 1987. Today, they take pride in sourcing their meats and vegetables from small producers in Brandenburg and Italy. It was enough to get me onto a train to Yorckstraße last Sunday to give their spread a try.

Do you wish I had a better photograph of the food? I do too, but I was too busy tucking in. But you can make out a few of the highlights. To the east is the Savoy cabbage doused in a creamy sauce and stuffed with mashed potatoes. In the southeast, a shell encasing a just-right spinach-ricotta filling. In the northeast corner you can glimpse one of the several arancini I devoured over the course of the morning. I'd never tried one of these saffron-yellow, breadcrumb-covered risotto balls before, and even though they were a little salty, I still find myself longing for them. €12 might be a little more than brunch elsewhere, but oh, it's worth it to be saved from the scary cold cuts.

We had planned to walk down to the Naturpark Schöneberger Südgelände afterwards, but the frigid air made long walks forbidding. We walked west on Großgörschenstraße instead.
(David says this angel in the churchyard photo is too trite, but I can't resist.)

S played peek-a-boo by the Grimms brothers' gravestones, and then it was time to go.

Café Aroma, Hochkirchstraße 8, Berlin-Schöneberg (map)
Open Mon-Fri from 6pm, Sat from 2pm, Sun from 11am (brunch only til 2pm)
Tel. 030/7825821

Alte St. Matthäus-Kirchhof, Großgörschenstraße 12, Berlin-Schöneberg (map)

This morning

I woke with a craving for biscuits.