FoodNet

The gourmet's guide to Europe

1903

Page 120

Presented as published in 1903. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
The Restaurant Hiller at 62 Unter den Linden, and the Restaurant Dressel at 50 Unter den Linden, used to be two typical Berlin res- taurants, but fashion has rather passed them by of late years. The Hiller still retains some of its old patrons, and Louis Adlon, who is its proprietor, is hoflieferant to the Kaiser, and one of the firm which owns the great hotel near the Brandenburg Gate. The prices of meals at Dressel’s are : dejeuners , 2.50 marks ; dinners, 3.50 and 5.50 marks ; and suppers, 3 marks. A band plays till 1 p.m. At Hiller’s the dejeuner is 2.50 marks ; dinner, 5 marks ; and there is a “ Theatre-Souper ” at 5 marks, which is the most popular of all the meals at this restaurant. The Hotel Restaurants The Kaiserhof was the first hotel to give Berlin a restaurant and a palm lounge, such as the gourmet en voyage is accustomed to in Paris and in London, and Dressel’s, 50 Unter den Lunden. Hiller’s, 62 Unter den Linden i 'Berlin 2 1 9 therefore let me accord it precedence in gossiping about the up-to-date restaurants attached to hotels in Berlin. The restaurant is lighted by windows Kaiserhof, which look out on to a back street, Wilhelmsplatz and is rather dark in the daytime, but at night, when lighted up, its pink carpet and crimson portieres give it a very comfortable appearance. The table d'hote prices for dinner are 6, 8, or 10 marks. The 6-mark dinner, which is also served in the grill-room, is an excellent, but not imaginative meal — soup, trout, beef, chicken, vegetables, sweets, it ran on the night I dined there. The palm lounge is a Teutonic reminis- cence of that of the London Carlton. It has the same bull's-eye windows, and has a raised platform with gilded rails on two sides of the room. The furniture in this lounge is heavy and gorgeous, but two large palms justify its title. A band plays in this lounge till 1 a.m. The grill-room of the Kaiserhof, white-papered and with grey and white marble columns, I found a cheerful place at which to lunch. It has a verandah looking down from about a man’s height on to the square. This verandah is gay with flowers and creepers and hanging baskets, and Berlin life unfolds itself very pleasantly as one sits there and watches the comings and goings across the busy open space. A 5 -mark theatre supper is served at the Kaiserhof, and it possesses an American bar. The Esplanade in Bellevuestrasse is one of the hotels controlled by the people who own the London Ritz and Carlton. Its dining-room is The Esplanade, almost a reproduction of that of the Bellevuestrasse Carlton — pink carpet, chairs upholstered in pink, and pink portieres. Its windows look out on to a garden. The Esplanade is rich in gardens. It has a large one and a small one where afternoon tea is served and where a band plays. The board-room of this hotel is a handsome panelled room, but has just a little too 220 *The Gourmet's Guide to Europe