Restaurants
Kitchen Library Brilliant Cuisine in Charlottenburg
© Kitchen Library
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Wednesday to Saturday from 5:30pm
Kitchen Library
Bleibtreustraße 55
10623 Berlin-Charlottenburg
.How to get there
With the Kitchen Library on Bleibtreustraße at the corner of Goethestraße in Charlottenburg, a couple, still young but all the more courageous, have fulfilled their dream of owning their own restaurant. She is in service, and he in the kitchen have been rocking the old Berlin premises since 2016. How you can cook at such a high level all by yourself remains a mystery.
It has been seven years since Daniela and Udo Knörlein put the first cookbook on the shelves of their Kitchen Library. There are now around 800, and new ones are constantly being added. They give the turn-of-the-century dining room an intimate charm and, at the same time, the feeling of being in the living room of the hosts.
Daniela Knörlein looks after her guests as if they were privately invited. She manages the service of the Kitchen Library all by herself. Calm and level-headed. The budding sommelière expertly recommends the right wines for each course of the menu: "I have known the taste and spices of Udo's food for 16 years. When I taste a wine, I intuitively know whether it goes with a dish or not," she explains.
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In recent years, Udo Knörlein has discovered his love for pickling and has made the pickling the defining moment of his delicate dishes. Hardly any of his dishes at the Kitchen Library can do without the acidic accent that runs like a thread through the menu of five, six or seven courses until dessert.
No matter how many courses you choose, a "mise en bouche", a small snack, "salty tea time", and petit fours at the end are always included. But from the beginning ... To a Berlin Mule with Mampe vodka, spicy ginger and mint, Daniela Knörlein serves the chef's greeting, a tiny tender tartelette with finely sliced Wagyu beef and apple, accompanied by a langos en minature. A successful start that bodes well.
The Knörleins' love of detail is evident from the body art that shines out all over their bodies. It is also to be found on the plates. Everything is artfully arranged and allows the eye to enjoy the food. This is also the case with the carrot in various consistencies, doused with amasake and refined with tagetes, which gives the course a wonderful spicy-peppery flavour.
Beetroot and yellow beetroot follow with cottage cheese and spruce shoot oil. Summery fresh with a sour note. The "Salty Tea Time" proves to be a fantastic bisque before the next course. Pulpo is served hidden under wild herbs with rouille and mango, followed by corn poulard with baby spinach and an excellent hollandaise for which you wish you had a piece of bread so you wouldn't have to leave any of it behind.
The dessert is again a highlight: fermented strawberry with white chocolate cream, accompanied by crispbread and a touch of basil. Yet what sounds so pretentious comes across quite naturally and very modestly in the Kitchen Library. It is an uncomplicated place with fantastic food that doesn't make a big fuss.
