ERNST BERLIN - THE CLOSEST EXPERIENCE TO A JAPANESE KAISEKI IN MAINLAND EUROPE

Ernst is an eight seater countertop, very much Japanese influenced, kaiseki style restaurant in Berlin that is run by Dylan Watson-Brawn a Canadian who worked at Ryugin in Tokyo previously. There is a devotion to fresh vegetables that compose about 80% of the 35 courses. These are subtly prepared with dashi, lacquered sometimes with wagyu fat or soaked in soy milk or yuzu and grilled on a binchotan. Towards the end more significant proteins like wagyu rib, wagyu picanha and unagi eel also make their appearances.

The stars at @ernst.berlin are the freshly picked morning vegetables 🥬🌱🥦which change almost every day. About 80% of the 35 courses are grilled on the bincho, sometimes with wagyu fat, and then sometimes dripped in soy milk or a light dashi.

Asparagus came with kaffir lime and soy milk while green stalks came with caviar and cream, then there was the grilled navel orange 🤯, and the superb scallop with rhubarb. Not to mention artichoke with kumquat kosho. I almost cried when I got the egg white omelette with caviar. 🥲Beautiful stuff.

The skill is what you would expect from a Japanese master chef, and the taste original and wonderful with the flames and the added condiments and glazes.

Some favourites were wagyu picanha with sansho pepper sauce, wagyu short rib with quail egg and caviar, unagi glazed wild eel, and desserts like the apple cider granita with apples and the cream sabayon with rhubarb.

Not often do I find myself in a position when the level of creativity and excellence is hard to put into words. Ernst manages to change its 50 odd course menu sometimes weekly sometimes even daily based on the fresh supply of vegetables. The quality of the produce is outstanding and giving it that extra dashi or coating of fat and smoke elevates it to a whole different level. 

I'm fine eating turnip tops and wild asaparagus for the rest of my life if they come out like this.