Fresko Deli Handpicked delicacies from Italy

What better comforts over autumnal gray than a big plate of fresh Italian pasta? We'll tell you: fruity sugo made from sun-ripened San Marzano tomatoes and creamy burrata to go with it. Fresko Deli in Mitte district demonstrates that it can be done without the stereotypical Bella Italia romanticism.

Is it a gallery? No, but a lot of glass, steel and concrete are reminiscent of one. At Fresko, however, the focus is not on art. "It's really quite simple: we have good Italian products here," is how Kappa from the neighboring Bar Milano sums it up. A classic Italian alimentari, in other words.

Still, it's a bit different here: the deli's design concept comes from Arno Brandlhuber and Sam Chermayeff - which explains all the concrete and steel - lamps by Pierre Jorge Gonzalez light up the ceilings. The shelves are by New Tendency - all good acquaintances from Mitte. Kappa had this project in mind and wanted to bring some people from Berlin together in Fresko. A little bit of Italy is always good for Berlin.

But the heart of the small cuisine is definitely the fully glazed walk-in refrigerator. Custom design. Here, neatly lined up, everything comes together that makes not only Italians' mouths water: fresh ricotta, the finest mozzarella and perhaps the best burrata in the city.

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Or the whole of Italy? The burrata comes from an organic farm in Puglia. There are only five organic farms there, he says, and one of them supplies the Fresko Deli. "I've been to them. The cows are there somewhere and eventually they come back and you can milk them."

Outside the fridge, the dry goods line up. And that's not much at all at the moment, because it's not that easy to source some of the products, he says. Only the best of everything, the right products from the right region, is what Kappa values. "I always say cooking is the easiest thing in the world. You just need to have the best ingredients!"

That's why products from the Presidio Slow Food Cuisine Association dominate the menu at Fresko. To this end, he regularly makes direct contact with the producers. Some of these are small producers, sometimes just one or two families from a region. Italy's best saffron, for example, is not yet to be found in the Fresko Deli, "they simply don't answer the phone!"

But instead we nibble on the handmade tarrali from Puglia, small fried dough curls that go perfectly with olives, cheese and salami. There are also some fine drippings, or capers from Pantelleria, considered the best in the world, artichokes pickled in the producer's own olive oil. "They're better than my own, and mine are really good!"

Kappa notes, "All we Italians talk about all day is food." We nod our heads in understanding and start thinking about what we'll do later with the wonderful puttuccine from Pasta di Gragnano....