Number 22 #9

Kudos to our first mutliple contributor, Holger Börner! ¡Ay, Caramba!

Not only is Holger apparently a true believer in the “Number 22 and a beer” idea he really, really must like to eat.

I am a lover of true mexican food, and yes I do also mean pickled pigs ears and nopales, a delightfully spicy-sour condiment made of marinated cactus. Fortunate enough to have lived in the USA for many years, I have been able to sample many fine mexican meals, including a wonderful home cooked Pollo en Mole from the salad lady at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Chicago. (Over fifteen years ago, but not forgotten!) Regrettably (at least as far as mexican food is concerned) I moved to Germany. And there is only one place where mexican food tasted worse than in Germany: a chain I would consider hell in form of a restaurant, Chi-Chi’s. Which incidentally had to close all of its restaurants in 1994, after an outbreak of hepatitis in a restaurant in Pennsylvania (Oy, the irony!) With all respect to Holger, I do urge any and all readers to take caution when choosing mexican food in Germany. Although hepatitis is probably unlikely, bad food is probable.
It’s sad. But true.

Here then is Holger’s report. (In the background when can discern Holger’s companion’s meal (number 23): a steak with a side order of bleeding fingers, it seems.)

photo: Holger Börner for Number 22 and a beer

Paydos
Wittenbergplatz 3
10787 Berlin/Germany
U-Bahn Wittenbergplatz
http://www.paydos-berlin.de

Opening hours:
su-th 9:00-24:00
fr-sa 9:00-2:00

Date eaten: March 18 2009

Price: € 11,50, Beer € 3,50

¡hola ricura! el número 22 y una cerveza, por favor

Pollo a la piña
Strips of chicken breast together with pineapple, vegetables, rice and salad

A large portion with lots of salad, it was a filling meal- for me at least. This dish is listed under “specialties” and tastes very good.

Paydos belongs to a series of three restaurants next to each other on the north side of the Wittenbergplatz, with a view of KaDeWe, (Berlin’s big department store). The interior is very nice, and one might be tempted to think of oneself in Mexico.
The service was friendly and pretty, at least at lunch when I visited. Because of the central location in Berlin’s West Center I presume reservations are recommended in the evening, when the place could be rather full.

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Number 22 #8

I am glad to say that I am back and all bones are where they should be, and in as many segments as our maker intended.

The snow, sun and skiing were great, but sadly no 22s were to be found in the Austrian Alps. While I was away a few more did come in from faithful readers. This entry is from Jill Koglatis (text) and André Sander (photo) from Berlin. Thanks for your contribution!

Above all I would like to commend André and Jill for their bravery. Actually eating in a restaurant that uses dishes such as those pictured below, is a feat I would compare to willing yourself to jump off a bridge attached by nothing more than a rubber band. For some reason I can’t help thinking the restaurant owners must have picked up the china at the going-out-of-business-sale of this fine establishment.

photo: André Sander for Number 22 and a beer

Mr. Long
Kollwitzstraße 89
10435 Berlin
http://www.mrlongandfriends-berlin.de/

(The actual menu and the one available online differ.)

Noodle soup with chicken, 5,50 €
(Beer: Saigon, 2,70 €)

We were a bit disappointed that number 22 was a soup, but since we skipped ordering number 22 at another place a few days ago because it was soup, this time we did not chicken out.
The soup looked very healthy, was a bit spicy and not the ideal dish for people who hate cilantro and the like.
The staff was friendly (in Berlin this always has to be mentioned).

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Number 22 #2

Bok Restaurant
Schanzenstraße 27
20357 Hamburg, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)40 4306780

http://www.bokgmbh.com

Date eaten: February 17 9:17 pm

Price: € 6.90

Oh the glory that is satay! Not only one of Thailand’s top 3 exports, the other two being wacky names for their royals (Bhumibol in the house!) and of course, sexually transmitted diseases, satay might be one of the greatest contributions to the global food chain.

When done correctly, its simplicity is as stunning as it is pleasing. Some tender chicken straight off the charcoal grill and a peanut sauce that combines the sweetness of palm sugar or honey with the refreshing heat of ginger and the bite of fresh garlic are all it takes to make for a great meal. Throw in some exhaust fumes from about a million mopeds, and one is immediately transported to a street food stall in Bangkok. If done poorly, satay just might make you wish you had ordered a ham sandwich.

I wish I had ordered a ham sandwich.

Don’t let the zen-like sparseness of the dish pictured fool you. No meditating master chef was at work here. The uniform color made the alarms go off, before I had even tasted the skewered insulating foam on the plate in front of me: where were the grill marks? Where the scent of charcoal? Instead these appeared to have come straight out of the kitchen appliance from hell: the deep-fryer. (The only thing worse than satay out of a deep fryer is Wiener Schnitzel.) The crust did have an amazing ability though. While being cool to the touch, it managed to conceal behind its dry barrier relatively moist chicken, at a core temperatur of what I’d guess to have been around 397°C. The resulting burns on my tongue did manage to make the next course, tom kha gai, more bearable.

But what about the sauce? This I had hoped would be the saving element, the deciding goal in the 90th minute of the World Cup final, turning desaster into delight. But alas, the shot went straight over the cross bar. Thin, uneventful and boring. But strangely enough, I wish there had been a little more of it. Because the last two skewers were rather dry and drab all on their own.

The beer was an Erdinger Weißbier. Light and refreshing.

All in all a pretty lame Number 22. While not inedible it left me pining for the real thing. Minus the mopeds.

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Number 22 #1

Man Wah Restaurant
Spielbudenplatz 18
20359 Hamburg, Germany
TEl +4940 3192511

Date eaten: February 15 12:27 am

Price € 11.90

Number 22 here was “Chicken with straw mushrooms and ginger.” Served piping hot in a small steel wok-type thing. The chicken was tender, though slightly bland. The sauce was pungent and fruity-spicy, due to copious amounts of fresh ginger. A little odd: the straw mushrooms. They looked like the eyes of an extinct amphibious bi-ped, and shared a similar consistency. Or at least I figure this is how the eyes of an extinct amphibious bi-ped might feel in my mouth. All in all, a fairly tame, but quite tasty Number 22. The beer was Warsteiner, a self-proclaimed “premium beer,” but definitely my least favorite german industrial beer.

Man wah is a Hamburg-institution and offers good quality chinese food and dim sum. I think they are almost always open.

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