Sacrebleu! Smoking good wine bar in Neukölln

Wine bars are very popular with me personally: small places where you can enjoy a relaxed glass of wine and also try out the menu of suitable food accompaniments - what more could you want? I can create sympathy with many concepts. From standing tables at the oak barrel in the wine shop to rustic traditional restaurants to modern restaurants with innovative wines and cuisine. One such place is Sacrebleu! in Neukölln.

The pretty wine bar in the Schillerkiez only opened in November and is already the talk of the town. It was founded by three people who came together at the right time. Philipp Mogwitz, who lives in the neighbourhood and works at Vioneers, was looking for a location for a wine shop. In the process, he fell in love with the pretty premises with the semicircular window and the long room with the large openings.

When the wine shop didn't work out, he got together with Sven Breitenbruch and Lena Gessner, operators of Trufflepig and Kautz und Kiebitz, who wanted to open a new location. That's how the idea of a wine bar came about. Sven had the name Sacrebleu in mind for a long time. Since his time in France, to be more precise.

Straightforward and fresh, with a touch of classicism, they specially designed the interior. Rich blue and creamy white complement each other on the walls with discreet wood panelling. Behind the long counter, the only painting tastefully evokes 1920s Berlin. Opposite, above the long, dark marble counter, a wall hung with various wine bottles.

Nothing more is needed. The cleverly placed light illuminates the seating areas well without taking away the room's cosiness. Without overstimulating the senses, you can concentrate on the heart of Sacrebleu!: the exquisite low-intervention selection by sommelier Alexandre Fleck. The Parisian is an old acquaintance of Creme Guides, whom we already had the pleasure of meeting at the Fish Klub, which has unfortunately since closed.

His selection of fine yet unusual wines is chosen to accompany Ahmed Omer Ahmed's French-Japanese-inspired cuisine. Ahmed learned his trade in Michelin-starred gastronomy and was most recently head chef at Tisk. For Sacrebleu!, he has developed a casual yet refined kitchen concept, combining his background in French gastronomy with his love of the Japanese philosophy of perfection on the plate.

Oeuf mayonnaise (7 euros) with peanut cream, nut butter and chives will especially please Berliners, as it is reminiscent of a noble, elegantly presented mustard egg. On the other hand, there is an amberjack sashimi with crunchy, spicy walnut sauce with parsley oil. Alex complements the delicious bites with a Chablis from La Meulière, which, with its mineral notes and nutty velvetiness, complements the slightly fattier fish and its sauces perfectly.

The second round comprises spicy glazed carrots with miso and smoked buckwheat (8 euros) and steak tartare on toasted bread (17 euros). The classic wine dish is spiced up here with a Japanese twist using shiso and shimeji mushrooms. In order not to weaken the taste of the tartare too much, Alex pours a low-tannin Gamayhameha Beaujolais from David Large to go with it - a real low-intervention wine.

Low intervention, Alex emphasises, not natural wine makes up his wine list. Natural wines often go in a direction that is too specific, too daring. "With low intervention wines, you look for natural production with as little accelerating, artificial intervention as possible, without being dogmatic or compromising the taste of the final product."

Alex's selection knows how to please. After a small snack before dessert - fried enoki mushrooms (10 euros) - we end the evening with a fluffy Basque cheesecake (10 euros), accompanied by a glass of fantastic yuzu sake, which at eight per cent is more like a light soda than alcohol and elegantly completes the French-Japanese concept.

We say kampai and santé!