I’d had a strange
day. Up after midday after a difficult sleep. Well, sitting up till 1am
reviewing The Rise and Fall of the City
of Mahagonny, without being totally bloody, is not easy. Nor restful. One
tosses (no pun intended) and turns … I hate writing bad reviews. It preys on
me. Maybe I’m in the wrong job.
No one was coming
to see me today, so I switched on the tennis and started the month’s ironing.
Shriekapova vs
Halep. The former’s theatricals meant I had to turn off the sound. Apparently
and sadly she won. I do hate noise.
Dinner time, and
still no one. Well, in that case, I shall dine alone. At the best Berlin has to
offer. And – since I’m only paying for me – I’ll do the whole hog.
I’m lucky. The
restaurant in question is a few hundred metres from my flat. And there I hied.
It was April 2013
when Thomas Hermanns introduced me to the Katz Orange (‘my favourite restaurant’)
and I’ve been there 30 or 40 times since, usually hosting friends to whom I
want to show this hidden jewel. But tonight was just like at the beginning:
Kurt solo popping down for a bit of dinner …
lovely. And it was truly lovely, one of the most delightful meals I’ve
had in years.
Enter. Ushered to
my usual table. Outdoors, for the first time this year, because the heatwave is
coming. Olli the world’s best cocktailer
has already got my
Gold Fashioned on the make. Oh yes. The afternoon’s ironing aches vanished in a
splash. I am alive!
Next, 15 minute
pause – and, OK, a second Gold Fashioned – after which cheese and wine. Jacob,
whom I have known since Day One here, brought me a German cheese board. Not to
choose from (which would have been nice) but chosen. I asked for the names.
Here they are: Regonbert Zieger (delicious), Berliner Brikott (nice,
interesting), 14-month Bergkäse (nice), Schwarzbier käse (boring).
Since I trust
Jacob, I told him to give me the ‘right’ wine. He chose a ‘Barbera d’asti, coppo
Camp du Rouss’. It served nicely and self-effacingly to accompany the cheese.
Anywhere else, I
would have now gone home. But …. a little lime rum sorbet? And who can quit the
Katz without one of Olli’s Turkish Coffee martinis ..
Why, when one can
eat such immaculate food, and drink such …… would one go anywhere else? I’ve
already booked us in (who’s coming?) for tomorrow night.
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