The Grain A fluffy piece of heaven

"A slice of heaven" is written in illuminated letters on the wall. Otherwise, The Grain pizzeria in Prenzlauer Berg has a restrained design: Cream colours, pink tones, round Memphis lamps, and a proud fig tree next to which we take a seat on the premium seats directly by the window.

On this hot summer day, the floor-to-ceiling window is open, allowing a light breeze to bring at least a touch of cooling. A bright orange spritz and an orange soda to go with it help better. 

Regarding summer: you often feel like eating a light salad. At The Grain, crisp lamb's lettuce is dressed with balsamic dressing and served with gorgonzola, walnuts and figs. And because tomato-mozzarella is always good, we also try the burrata on a pesto of semi-dried tomatoes - an elegantly modified and spruced-up version of its slightly duller but tasty original.

So far, so delicious. But we're actually at The Grain for the pizza, of course. Here, Sarah and Musa pursue their vision of great pizza in a friendly and pleasant atmosphere - in other words, great pizza with friends. "We love good food, especially Italian food! It's a passion we want to share." A few trips to Naples further fuelled the newly wed couple's passion for gastronomy; Musa learned the art of Neapolitan pizza making there at the AVPN Academy. 

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And because even as a pizza baker, you are first and foremost a baker, the dough is the focus here: "Musa never stops working on the dough. In the evenings, he continues to puzzle, ponder and research how he can make an even fluffier pizza crust.  That's a philosophy in itself, and he could talk about it for hours," Sarah reveals.

At The Grain, the dough is light, tasty and very digestible because the use of certain flours, techniques and a biga, a yeast pre-dough, binds even more moisture in the dough. This makes it even lighter and easier to digest than traditional Neapolitan pizza dough - hence the name "Contemporary Pizza".

Of course, you drink a glass of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo or Primitivo with pizza. For pizza, we choose the Marinara Gialla with sun-yellow tomato sauce and piennolo tomatoes from Vesuvius of the same colouring, with basil and salty-aromatic anchovies from Cetara on top of creamy stracciatella cheese. We also find the yellow San Marzano tomato sauce on the Diavola pizza with Fior d'Agerola mozzarella and spicy salami. It is milder, a little sweeter than the red equivalent and thus gives the other ingredients plenty of room.  

The base is wafer-thin in the middle, the edge curves upwards, and it is large and incredibly fluffy. And that pizza crust...I'm the kind of person who has no understanding whatsoever for people who leave their pizza crust lying around! At The Grain, the crust is the secret star of the evening: lusciously risen and soft as a cloud.

And because it's so nice, you can follow it up with another fluffy tiramisu or one of the enormous pistachio ricotta cannolos before setting off with a light step - elated by a good time with friendly people - and not weighed down by the pizza.

Ronja C. Kolls

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