Most days of the year, I am a hole-in-the-wall kind of girl. If I'm not cooking at home, I like going to weird little restaurants or snack stands - the smaller, the better - and fancy or luxe food isn't really my cup of tea. But Champagne is my very favorite thing to drink in the whole world. You all can keep your well-shaken martinis and Hefeweizens and full-bodied reds and Cosmopolitans. Give me a glass of Champagne (flute, coupe, whatever) any day and I will be a happy woman.
The thing is, I don't get to drink it half as much as I'd like. It's hard to get people to see Champagne as a regular, everyday drink (I'm working on it, though!). So the other day, when my mother and I had a little something to celebrate, we met up at the oyster bar on the 6th floor of KaDeWe for a festive lunch: Champagne (Roederer for me, which was amazing; Veuve Clicquot for her) and oysters.
It's such a fun thing to do. You're in the hustly-bustly food department - there are people everywhere shopping for their fish and wine and good bread and French cheese. There are folks across the aisle buying crusty, salty Fischbrötchen and white-clad men shucking oysters and working quickly at the stove. They work with a serious expression on their faces, but catch them at the right moment and you might get a sweet smile or a little wink. You eat at a tall bar table with stools and there are people's coats everywhere. It's a little cramped, it's true, but before you know it you're sharing bread with the people at the table next to yours. It's warm and brisk and a little incongruous - but most importantly, the oysters are very, very good and the Champagne is cold, dry and delicious.
We each had a plate of mixed oysters, six apiece. Four from France, one from Ireland and one from Scotland. They were impeccably fresh and pristine. Tasted almost sweet and more like the sea than the sea itself. I could have eaten two whole plates, in truth. You can have them served with mignonette or Tabasco, but I like nothing more than a few drops of lemon juice so I can really taste the clean, faintly briney liquor.
Though the oyster bar is always crammed, it still feels like a little bit of a secret place. I loved celebrating there - it felt down-to-earth and special at once. And now I can't wait for Paris over New Year's, and Huitrerie Régis.
One of my favorite food experiences ever, was drinking champagne and eating bouillabaisse on the 6th floor of KaDeWe while visiting a friend in Berlin last year. I need to come back and have oysters too.
Posted by: NOJuju | December 21, 2010 at 03:35 PM
The oysters at KaDeWe are a family favorite - I think the La Royale oysters they sell there are the best I have ever tasted.
I live in the States and have been looking for places to get them - no luck so far.
The smoked fish "Tresen" to the left of the oysater bar has a pretty good selection - you can probably get some real Kieler Sprotten there too - not the canned stuff, but the real deal - freshly smoked. Just remember to remove the guts (easy to do with your thumb - similar to deveining a shrimp), then twist off the head and don't eat the tail. Only tourists eat the things whole :)
Posted by: JK | December 21, 2010 at 04:25 PM
I find the interesting thing about eating oysters is the incredible differences you can taste depending on the type/region. Nothing tastes as pure of the ocean as an oyster, especially if you don't cover the taste with tabasco.
@JK. If you are in the States, nothing can beat New Brunswick or PEI oysters.
Posted by: Fishly | December 21, 2010 at 08:37 PM
JK - I go to Rogacki for smoked fish. They do almost everything in house. Sprotten galore!
Posted by: Luisa | December 22, 2010 at 12:26 AM
I just saw KaDeWe for the first time a couple of months ago - it's a foodie's paradise! If I lived in Berlin, I would be there every day.
Posted by: Gretchen | January 1, 2011 at 04:34 AM
Last year, when I was 6 weeks pregnant and dieing of morning sickness my partner dragged me out of our 5th floor Kreuzberg flat into minus 15 degree streets, into the train and up those 6 floors into that food hall, and i found a little bit of happiness amongst all those different types of licorice. Sadly, we're not in Berlin anymore, but if I were, I have to honest, I'd probably find some way of bribing you to be my friend. I really didn't meet many real food lovers while I was there, and that makes for lonely Berlin eating experiences... and lots of bad ones! Looking forward to reading more, and taking notes for my brief trip back in April.
Posted by: Angela | January 1, 2011 at 09:42 PM
Angela - no bribing would have been necessary! ;) Hope the blog is helpful for your visit. I also always find KaDeWe to be a good little cheerer-upper.
Posted by: Luisa | January 6, 2011 at 05:10 AM
I've never been much of a fan of European oysters - I don't think the water of the oceans is cold enough - but that does sound lovely.
When I lived in the UK, we did the very same thing at Harvey Nichols, the London equivalent to the KaDeWe, sneaking up to the food hall on the seventh floor and drinking champagne with the ladies who lunch.
Back here in Toronto, oysters are everywhere, especially during winter. My personal favourites are Malpeques, from Prince Edward Island. Small and bursting with flavour, and the colder the water, the better they are.
Posted by: Andreas Duess | January 23, 2011 at 06:19 AM
Yes, I also love this spot - the mixture of being in the middle of the busy KadeWe yet sipping champagne with oysters on a random morning for brunch is divine. And I have to eat oysters, basically, whenever I see them.
The same bar at the Lafayette is very disappointing though. KadeWe is the spot for your oysters, when you want to do it shopping-style.
Posted by: Goodfoodberlin | February 10, 2011 at 11:49 AM