GapShap For a chat over excellent Indian cuisine

Indian restaurants with excellent, authentic cuisine are still rare in Berlin. But something is happening. In the past few weeks, we had the opportunity to try out three Indian restaurants that are all outstanding in different ways. The most recent was GapShap at Günzelstraße 19 in Wilmersdorf, which particularly impressed us with its really fantastic, aroma-rich cuisine.

Owner Gaurav Sharma opened GapShap back in April last year. Born in the Punjab region in northern India, the restaurateur came to Berlin 18 years ago to study. But in the end, he followed his passion for good food and opened Bahadour, an Indian restaurant within walking distance, a few years ago. With the GapShap, he is now sharpening his expertise in the subtleties of Indian flavours even more.

An incredible 100 spices, some of which are brought directly from India by friends because they are not available here, are available to the Indian chef in the kitchen. And he can handle them like a magician. In the process, we discover things that were previously wholly unknown to us, such as the stone flower, a plant that grows like moss on stones and has a very fine, intense aroma.

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The menu focuses on chaats, street food like you find everywhere in India, delicious kebabs and favourite dishes from the north and south of India. "Our food is as authentic as you can get only in really good restaurants in India," Sharma enthuses about his own cuisine. High-quality ingredients and the same variety of spices are the basis for this. And indeed, we too have to acknowledge that both the colourful small dishes and the fragrant main courses taste outstanding.

It isn't easy to pick a favourite. Each dish is so rounded and aromatic that we would recommend them all. Starting with "Bombay Bhel Puri", a speciality from Mumbai with crispy spicy puffed rice, potatoes, onions, tamarind and tomatoes, to "Naidu's Fried Chicken", deep-fried chicken pieces in cornflake breading with mustard seeds and curry leaves, to "Papdi Chaat", crispy flour and semolina chips topped with potatoes, chickpeas, onions, tamarind, chilli, coriander and yoghurt as starters.

It gets even more complicated with the main courses, as we go into raptures over every single one: From "Tandoori Chicken", half a chicken with Kashmiri chilli & cumin from their own tandoor, to "Aloo Gobhi", baby potatoes and cauliflower cooked with turmeric, cumin, ginger and coriander, to "Kadhai Chicken", meat from chicken legs in coriander seeds, chilli, ginger, onion, tomato, capsicum and coriander and on to "Paneer Tikka Masala", grilled paneer with onions and capsicum in a sauce of tomato, ginger and coriander or Gourav Sharma's favourite dish "Adraki Chaamp", grilled lamb chops with chilli, ginger, tomato, lime and coriander.

It's a colourful and intensely fragrant feast, and it's not easy to taste everything. Along the way, we sip a fantastic "Curryleaf Gimlet", the young bartender's own creation, and two different natural wines that the GapShap has on the menu, along with other well-curated wines from Italy and Eastern Europe. If you don't want to drink alcohol, there are also deliciously fresh homemade lemonades!

Incidentally, neither the catering, with which the GapShap caters for larger groups of 25 or more, nor the Indian brunch, served on weekends from 11 am to 3 pm, should go unmentioned. Indian-inspired egg dishes, bread creations and sweet specialities such as French cardamom toast with saffron-pistachio yoghurt are served here. By the way, the name Gapshap translates as chatting. - And what could be nicer over a good meal in a convivial company?

Constanze Hallensleben

Founder Creme Guides