Philomenis Nuts and Dried Fruit Delicatessen

It all started 16 years ago with an incredibly tasty kind of Greek almond that Philomeni tried, loved and went on to sell at Berlin markets for two years. Due to its big success, she opened up her eponymous shop Philomenis on Knesebeckstraße in 1998.

She complemented her line of goods with a wider choice of nuts and dried fruit and began creating delicacies like Philomeni's Nut Cake, a completely flour-less cake that gets demanded in and delivered to faraway places like Japan, or Sour Cherry Amarettini, Cereal Bars, Pistachio Shortbread and numerous cookies and tarts.

Up until today, everything you find in those red-painted shelves is handmade on location or comes from small manufactures who also produce and prepare the goods themselves. Like the big choice of pasta by Greek brand Mylelia: for their pasta, they only use flour made from ancient kinds of wheat and ground in a 300 year-old watermill. Careful processing is what makes it one of world's highest quality kinds of pasta.

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And then there's the Thyme Honey which was ranked number 1 out of 100 different kinds of honey by local newspaper Berliner Morgenpost. And even more delicacies are displayed behind the counter: daily made mille feuilles, cakes and chocolate-covered dried fruit, but also an exquisite selection of cheeses and meats.

You can also settle in the bistro area of the store for in-house savoring and, if the time allows, try something off the daily changing lunch menu that's being offered every day from noon to 3pm. Philomenis is a gourmet haven and yet another reason to keep your hands off of mass-produced groceries.

Constanze Hallensleben

Founder Creme Guides