Restaurant Macionga Fine dining with an (almost) self-catering kitchen

Xantener Straße, which runs parallel to Ku'damm, is quiet. People tend to live here rather than eat here. But in the middle of it all, a restaurant opened a few weeks ago that attracts connoisseurs of fine wine and refined cuisine: the Macionga Restaurant.

This is where two people with many years of gastronomic and product experience meet. Founder André Macionga was head sommelier and restaurant manager at Tim Raue for 16 years before devoting himself entirely to his own line of cuvées and founding his own restaurant. Joining him is chef Sebastian Leyer, who has cooked and managed many kitchens, including Pauly Saal, Le Faubourg and Gut Boltenhof.

Together, the two have developed an informal fine-dining restaurant with a three-part kitchen concept, where you can enjoy a drink as well as a 6-course menu. In the renovated premises of a long-established Italian restaurant, a well-thought-out spatial concept opens up, which does everything right at once.

With a few alcoves, it offers plenty of space without seeming too crowded, the lighting is clear without being uncomfortable, and the abundant artwork on the walls is so cleverly placed that nothing seems cluttered.

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During our visit, we are enlightened about the three-part kitchen concept over a glass of Negroni. In addition to à la carte, the best cuisine can be enjoyed in the 6-course original menu (95 euros). But those who come with a small appetite but are thirsty can also enjoy the pub menu at the bar. On this first visit, we opt for this menu with wine accompaniment (68 euros).

The first course is an elderberry-infused beetroot with whey and oxalis (stauklee), accompanied by a glass of Riesling - of course, a cuvée from Macionga, which André pours himself, as he does with all the other drinks.

We continue in a more rustic style with home-baked sourdough bread, butter and wild garlic oil. We love wild garlic, as does chef Sebastian, who, as we learn while pouring the sauce, also collects his ingredients himself in nature. But that's not all.

Sebastian also runs a three-acre farm in the Uckermark, where he grows some of the vegetables for Macionga himself and has also supplied other restaurants such as Nobelhart & Schmutzig and Frühstück 3000. So both the operator and the chef have brought their own products into the gastro concept. A nice basis.

As much as possible is homemade here, be it fermented, pickled or farmed. While preparing the next course - roasted leek with pickled fennel seeds and a fish nage - we are allowed to snoop into the kitchen and taste some special ingredients, for example, pickled young spruce cones.

The menu continues deliciously with celery, egg and a lovely jus, followed by our highlight dish of the evening: a mushroom course with mussels and mustard seeds. The mushrooms are grown in the cellar itself and taste extremely intense. Thinly sliced, they form a small tower and are visually and tastefully impressive. They are accompanied by a 2020 La Bégou from Maxime Magnon.

Orderly and almost reminiscent of a Wes Anderson film in its visual simplicity, a trio of Danish bell pork, carrot and coriander follows. The pork is exceptionally tender and, as the only meat component, rounds off the menu perfectly.

We close with a fresh, light dessert of shaved pumpkin, double cream and flower Tagetes. While the wine accompaniment was previously limited to white - apart from a cheeky sherry with the bread - André Macionga now pours an intense 2012 Numanthia red wine. And thus proves once and for all how wonderfully the skills of two men mesh at Restaurant Macionga.

A happy Creme-Guides team remains, which is already looking forward to the next visit to Restaurant Macionga, then perhaps to the pub menu.

Maximilian Zeh

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