Sunday Brunch at Café Aroma

The sacred weekend brunch buffet is an institution in Berlin. And though it can be tempting to try out a different café each weekend, trekking across the city in search of 5 euro, all-you-can-eat, groaning tables, I'd venture a guess that you'll get mighty sick of the same array of bought-in-bulk cold cuts, bowls of fruit salad, cubed feta cheese with chopped tomatoes and arugula (at the progressive places!) and boiled eggs as the weeks go on. I know I did. 

Then Sylee told me that a favorite Italian restaurant of mine in Schöneberg, Café Aroma, also did a Sunday brunch. And that it was good! Not the usual cold cuts and Brötchen, she said, and that's really all I needed to know. We headed there the next weekend with some friends.

Café Aroma has been at the top of the adorable Hochkirchstraße, nestled into the Rote Insel part of Schöneberg, since 1987. Run by what seem to be an assortment of Italian friends, both in the kitchen and at the front of the house, it specializes in homey Italian food, simple and pleasing. On Sundays, the restaurant opens at 11:00 and boasts a groaning board placed directly opposite the bar when you walk in. Come hungry and be patient with the limitations of your own belly. You'll want to fill your plate several times.

There are tiny meatballs in tomato sauce so good I'd bottle it. There are lovely roast potatoes, squidgy and herbal. There's poached salmon and roasted peppers. Stuffed mushrooms and cauliflower in homemade béchamel. Wedges of frittata. Breadcrumb-stuffed calamari. Grilled slices of zucchini and eggplants. Little squares of lasagne. Slices of imported Italian salami, tender and almost sweet. Some dishes are there every time we go, some things are new each time we're there.

Everything on the brunch buffet could use an extra dose of salt, but this seems to be a Berlin-wide malaise. I don't really understand it. Otherwise the food is fresh and tasty and impressively varied. Aroma's not interested in using chafing dishes, which results in some dishes that should be served hot being a little lukewarm, but that doesn't really bother me (how un-Italian of me, I know). I'm just so pleased to have found a brunch spot that I love going to again and again.

If you've got room at the very end (I never, ever do), there's always tiramisù and fruit salad and a few other desserts (the last time we went, there were creampuffs and a berry-topped Bavarian cream).

It feels like our own little Berlin secret, to be nestled in Aroma's four walls on a sleepy Sunday morning, hearing the waitress banter in Italian with the bartender while we munch away contentedly. A walk up and down the streets of the Rote Insel afterwards, passing the cemetery where the Brothers Grimm are buried, helps with digestion and prolonging that languid Sunday feeling.

Café Aroma
Hochkirchstrasse 8
10829 Berlin
(030) 782 5821

Comments

[Suzan]

You ladies are always talking about this place.
I really like your shots. Makes me hungry.

[Sylee]

I think we've just found the spot for our next date with you and Max! S gobbles down those tiny meatballs like they're the last food on earth.

What's really dangerous is the proximity of Aroma to Pasam Baklava. Last time I was there I couldn't resist a box of söbiyet to take home for Sunday tea-time. Yum!

[Gemma]

I keep forgetting about this blog. So lots of posts to catch up on. Yay. Funny about the salt. My aunt and uncle were just visiting new york and while they thought the food at restaurants was attractive they said it was unbelievably salty. So I think your taste buds many have become accustomed to too much salt. Berlin probably has it just right!

[Julia of Randomly Yours, Julia]

Mmm... I love Brötchen but I'd definitely join you here instead. Too bad I'm not in Berlin.

[Kristin]

looks amazing! i´m definetly going next sunday! should i make reservations? is it always full?

p.s. i love love love your blog!

[lucrezia]

aww! this place is run by a good friend of my dad(pesaro pesaro!) !! ahi luisa! che voglia!

[Luisa]

Kristin - I always make reservations when I go because I hate nothing more than waiting to eat lunch when I'm hungry. :)

Lucrezia - small world!

[Liz]

Hi Luisa,

Love you blog! I'm coming over to Berlin for a while and trying to narrow down an are to live...any suggestions?

I like to eat, drink, go to flea markets, go on walks, pay very little rent and shop at a produce market when possible...ha! not so much to ask right?

TIA!

http://kartepaper.blogspot.com/

[Luisa]

Liz - Nowadays, most people who come to Berlin to live for a little while want to be right in the middle of the action, so check out the Kreuzberg, Neukölln or Friedrichshain neighborhoods, where it's still possible to find some lower rent places. There are some flea markets there, and there are green markets too, though they are not administered the same way as in the US. I personally like the western neighborhoods better - Schöneberg, Charlottenburg, etc. It's quieter over here and there are less tourists, there are good restaurants and also flea markets etc, but for going out at night, you'll find yourself trekking east a lot. Enjoy Berlin!

[Schuyler Klaassen]

Went to Cafe aRoma this past Sunday. The food was great, and the atmosphere was one of the nicest I've had in Berlin. I love how out of the way it is.
By the way, I moved to Berlin from Brooklyn about a month and a half ago, and have been reading your blog quite a bit, since stumbling on it several months ago.
Thanks for it!

[Dan]

The eggs look amazing. Great post.

[Angela]

It's nice to finally be in Berlin again so I can start reading your Berlin blog. I had to stop because it made me miss Berlin too much!

[Luisa]

Schuyler - hope you've been having fun! ;)

Angela - that is so sweet. I know the feeling!

[rasha]

you should try the brunch buffet at AVRIL in graefestraße, kreuzberg. it's AMAZING, all kinds of eggs, fish, pasta, tapas! it's my favourite in berlin :-D