And the Katz Came Back…

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Well, more correctly we came back to the Katz. The Katz Orange. 22 Bergstrasse, Mitte.

Now, normally the first thing I do when I hit Berlin, and my Invalidenstrasse home, is to visit my very favourite restaurant for a long, lazy and first-class meal. But for the moment, thanks to the inevitable Berliner Baustelle, I’m not in Invalidenstrasse, so it’s taken four whole days for us to get ourselves to a Katzish dinner. But tonight was the night!

Now Humboldthain is not that far from the Bergstrasse, where the Marmalade Kat lives. I suppose we could walk it in 20 minutes. Hmmm. There, OK. Back? Oh no. So we took an ersatz bus. The free bus which is covering the route of the closed underground. Very nice, spotless bus. I should have taken a photo for bus-freak Gareth Valentine.

So we arrived at Bergstrasse. All the old pals were there! You can tell when a resto (or any business) is happy and prosperous. The staff doesn’t change. Hugs all round, welcome backs, and up to our favourite little corner table à deux. The Gold Fashioneds were already on their way. Oh, for those who don’t know, a Gold Fashioned is a whisky cocktail, with a huge Laphroaig iceblock, grand marnier and lots of Olli expertise. Olli is chief cocktail honcho here. It is a doozie on a cool night. And pretty good any time.

The slim menu has changed a little since last time, and some new delicacies shone from the page, but we agreed that for a first visit we should just stick to the Katz Klassic. The 12-hour-cooked cuts of meat. We were tempted by the pork belly (new), but tradition ruled and we went for the shoulder of lamb. Accompanied by a side dish of black beans with bacon and … dammit why didn’t I listen! ... the Katz’s incomparable goose-fat chips (you can’t really call them chips, they’re sooo superior) and a little bowl of roast veg. Perfect. And, oh my heaven, it was!

We relax, with the remnants of our (second) cocktail and wonder if we can manage afters, and … afters arrived! Compliments of. Welcome back! A sensibly-sized cheese board with a glass of delicious 2012 Beaujolais. That’s what I call a welcome!

We dawdled lazily through our wine and cheese, and then a wee devil said in my head: ‘you cannot leave the Katz on your first visit of the season without their turkish coffee’. So we didn’t. Oh, the Turkish coffee, here, is made into a martini … and it goes down a treat with a little light sorbet … Ahhhhh!

But it’s time to muffle up, go, find that bus, and head back to the Hochstrasse. Hugs all round and off we tramp into the spring night. Now I feel I’m in Berlin. The Katz Orange rules! And we shall do a bit of ruling with it in the months to come …  lead me on!