Tim Raue is a Michelin Star restaurant by the famous Berlin cook by the same name. Serving sophisticated dishes inspired by multiple Asian cuisines, Tim Raue delivers a stunning, high-end dining experience and proves why his restaurant has risen to one of the city’s top food destinations.
The concept of a Michelin Star restaurant in Berlin that serves Asian inspired food is something I found a bit hard to grasp, especially since the head chef isn’t Asian. I’ll let a quote from their website describe the concept for you: “For our diners, this means that we stay true to our style and serve Asian cuisine which can be characterised as a combination of Japanese product perfection, Thai aromas and Chinese cooking philosophy.”. In other words, some of the best traits of Asian cooking delivered by a guy from Kreuzberg. On Michelin star level. How cool isn’t that?
To write about the restaurant Tim Raue you have the know the story behind the man Tim Raue. A kid with a tough childhood in Kreuzberg that used his hard earned learnings to excel in the equally tough world of fine dining kitchens. A guy that now runs one of the four Berlin two star restaurants with his wife and has 19 points in the Gault Milieu. Which by the way can be put into relation as only four chefs in Germany have a higher rating. And who cooks Asian-inspired food, just to point that out one last time.
The Tim Raue restaurant is located close to Checkpoint Charlie in an old gallery which the Raue couple has turned into a classy restaurant that seats around 30 people and where the only thing that separates the kitchen from the dining area is a huge glass wall. This fact also revealed to me that the kitchen crew was watching a football game in the kitchen on a big screen during service. How bloody awesome isn’t that? I can’t believe there are many other Michelin star kitchens where that happens.
The first thing that strikes you are the casual waiters, dressed in matching jeans and sneakers, this is also another statement by Raue making it very clear that this is his turf and that he doesn’t play by regular, fine-dining rules. This is his turf and he likes to keep it a notch more casual than others.
At Tim Raue you can usually choose between two menus or even order a la carte which is also a way of not having to do the full monty if you pay him a visit. Menus usually have around 6 courses which is not too much in comparison to other tasting menus but considering the amount of amouse-bouches and greetings from the pastry chef we received you will not have to walk home hungry. The meal is kicked off by a starting “platter” of 8 tiny dishes which all are served at once, you can call it a little buffet of snacks. This fantastic selection of small taste bites, designed to stimulate your taste buds and your mind, really set the standard of the upcoming meal for me. Salmon sashimi, paperthin slivers of pork belly cooked into a butter-like consistency that melts in your mouth, and all the dishes with various Asian tastes. Fantastic flavours and consistencies!
The main courses maintain a very high quality level and if you go for the classic menu you will be pampered with ingredients like kaviar, lobster, truffel and diamond label Wagyu beef, the finest grade Wagyu there is. A friend recently reminded me of the beauty of a Michelin Star experience: You will always get at least one dish which blows your socks off, which pushes past the barriers of your imagination and leaves a lasting memory on your taste palette. At Tim Raue this would for me be the blue lobster dish. Paired with passion fruit and a carrot mash this sounds rather simple and actually nothing that struck me as particularly interesting on the first glance since I’m usually not that fond of fruit-powered dishes. But it was such a brilliant combination of textures and flavours which quickly shut me up and revised that stubborn fruit perception. The buttery lobster combined with the acidity from the passion fruit worked perfectly and it still lingers on my tongue when I think about it. A true winner. The other dishes should not be neglected though, I loved the Kaviar starter and the fish dish with the 10-year aged soy sauce was also truly fantastic. Not to forget the diamond label Wagyu which was an exceptional piece of meat. And it is awesome to finally again encounter a talented pastry chef.
Tim Raue delivers in terms of both food and dining experience. I found the service to be exceptional and very relaxed, the waiters were all quite young but very friendly and professional. Certain lack of attention at times but nothing that hurt the overall experience. The sommelier was also exceptional, I’m a big fan of dry German white wines and I asked him for the dryest he had in stock. He then served me a Grauburgunder which made my toenails curl (out of dry pleasure) and it was one of the best glasses of wine I’ve ever had.
I’m not surprised at all that Raue received his second star in the Guide Michelin 2013 and thereby joined the ranks of Fischers Fritz, Reinstoff and Lorenz Adlon. It’s entirely justified and I would even go as far as saying that Tim Raue might be running Berlin’s best restaurant right now in the category of sophisticated fine dining. The German restaurant critics of Gault Milieu certainly think so, scoring him higher than all other chefs in their elaborate 20-point system. Personally, I would pick Tim Raue over Reinstoff any day, his concept feels slightly more mature and both him and his staff feel slightly more confortable in their roles, resulting in a better dining experience. If you want to taste something entirely different and expand your view on food I would strongly recommend a visit to Tim Raue and one of Germany’s best restaurants.
BEST DISH – The Lobster dish
GOOD TO KNOW – Book a couple of weeks in advance, try the “Menu unique” to get the best grip on Tim Raue’s concept
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https://www.tim-raue.com
