Hi gang.
Swinging through town I made the pilgrimage to Qing Hua.
As I was paying they told me they're opening a new location in November in the old Chinatown, on St-Laurent just up from Viger, east side (between Pho Bang and Hong Kong).
Enjoy!

er, I did say I was surprised how (very remarkably) *different* they were… ;)
(considering they are neighbors. despite the fact that they are on and off at war with each other. anyways.)

Surprised because I do know a fair bit about the culture/history/etc of the region. ;)

In any case, all good. Mmm I think I may go there for dinner now! :D

here's a photo of our lunch :)

Just had lunch at Zula.
Very very good indeed!

Had the "hummus vegi" which was basically a layer of hummus, a layer of tahini, a layer of olive oil and a tomato/cucumber/onion salad on top. Basket of pitas and a glass of OJ and omg I am stuffed. :)

Worth adding to our lunch list (work nearby-ish).

(Just to say: I must have been quite naïve though to be surprised by the remarkable difference between israeli and lebanese hummus and pita… all things—like um war?—considered.)

Was just told that Dusty's (diner on Parc, corner Mt-Royal) closed.
Is it true? :(

Thanks to both of you for the info!
Azzam is quite far and I rarely make it out to even Kreuzberg, but I'll definitely go visit sometime!

I've heard of the Israeli on Kastanienallee. I think I'll drop by there this week. Mmmm :)

Hi lagata
I haven't yet found a shop where I can buy the stuff. Plenty of various middle eastern bistros, but no shops.
To be fair though I haven't gone into a lebanese place and asked for a bag of pita either. So much other stuff to eat and I'm so busy with work I'm not exploring much in any case.
:)

To pick up on the "asian food" scene:

Wok Show in Prenzlauerberg and Selig near Savigny platz are quite authentic northern chinese and very good and very reasonable. Jiaozi, while with limited stuffings, are on offer and hand made.
Selig has an excellent beef and lamian noodle (handpulled noodles) soup, complete with sichuan peppers in the broth.
http://www.exberliner.com/restaurants/wok-show-china-restaurant
http://www.qype.co.uk/place/22744-Selig-Berlin

I've not been yet but I've heard only good things about Lon Men, a taiwanese noodle joint.
http://berlin.unlike.net/locations/302778-Lon-Men-s-Noodle-House

Cocolo on Gipstrasse is considered the best ramen in europe by some Japanese tourists and expats.
http://berlin.unlike.net/locations/301834-Cocolo

While we're on Japanese, Heno heno on Kantstrasse has excellent gyu don and udon noodle dishes. The "real deal", so to speak.
http://www.iheartberlin.de/2009/03/10...

I'd rant about the lamentable state of vietnamese and thai here but to be honest I've not dug in too deep yet. The sad experiences so far have me traumatised...

:)

Thank you so much. Terribly appreciated.
So, I live in Bötzow Kiez, but work in two offices, one on Shönehauser (near Sennefelder Platz) and the other right near the Nordbahnhof, so near Gesundbrunnen and Wedding.

I'm less concerned with journey times, since as soon as the snow melts I will be freeee on my bike again! ;D but more concerned with knowing where to look. Your tips help point me in the right direction, certainly, and again many thanks!

What I meant by "real hummus"... forgive me for the "real" part. I knwo everyone makes it different. The stuff I've found in the high end shops in P-Berg and at Kollwitz on Saturdays was terrible. One was totally dry, the other really heavy/oily.

Ideally I am hoping for one of the middle easter shops to make their own and sell it in little packages, as I am used to but hey, my food processor will be delivered this week so no problemo I will make it myself.

The pita problem. I guess I'll just have to go explore Xberg. I moved here in November, and have been working like mad since, and so haven't really poked around at all yet.

In any case, many thanks for the pointers! If you happen to see fresh flat pita, do let me know! ;)

Hellos
Title pretty much says what I am looking for. :)
I'm looking for real hummus, or else a jar of tahineh so I can make it myself.
I also sorely miss having thin, unleven pita (should be thin, 25+cm in diameter)

I live in P-berg which turns out not to be the place for such stuff.
Googling I found http://www.ozgida.de/ which looks like it may answer all my prayers, but it's a bit of a trek at the moment. (Will likely head over after work tomorrow mind you.

So I guess what I am asking is: does anyone know of any other such places? Also, less Turkish perhaps, more, say, Lebanese, for example? (Just what I am used to, not against adapting of course. :)

(Moved here from Montreal recently, where there is a huge Lebanaese and Middle Eastern population. Daily fresh pita and just about everything else, always on hand. Sigh. :)

thanks!

for posterity, and to add to linguafood's recommendations:

- Italian: Donath (Schwedter Straße 13) no nonsense, high quality, reasonable. One of my all time favorite italian places.

- German: Fleisherei (Schönhauser Allee 8, http://www.fleischerei-berlin.com ), Meierei (Kollwitzstraße 42, http://www.meierei.net sorta café-ish) and Gugelhof (Knaackstraße 37, http://www.gugelhof.de ). All excellent. I've had things at these places that taste just like my mom used to make.

- Mexican: cannot beat Maria Bonita. They will have a proper sit-down resto in Kreuzberg too apparently.

Bars: Yes Bar, Beckett's Head (old style cocktail bar), Club der Republik... dunno, so many...

Coffee: Bonanza Coffee Heroes and God Shot.

Furusato is japanese for "hometown."
I was also told it's the same owner etc.

The food there has always been very good and authentic homey japanese. They only serve sushi because of market pressure ("hunh, why would a japanese restaurant not serve sushi?! hunh?!"), but I have always found them to have excellent fish and the chef knows what he is doing. (If you want "fancy rolls" and all that jazz, go elsewhere).

Try the hamachi kama shio yaki (salted grilled yellowtail neck) and saba yaki (grilled mackerel).

Pretty much exactly the same can be said about Azuma up on St-Laurent Blvd, only they have dimmed lights and more "nice dinner out" seating and self-imported sake. :)

gah I miss Montreal. ;)

You want authentic, high quality sushi? Go to a japanese restaurant. (Azuma and the-restaurant-previously-known-as Osaka come to mind: the fish is as good as anywhere, since they all get it from the same place, and it is cut by someone who knows the art.)

You want fancy creative "wow" maki ("rolls")? Go to any of the sushi joints in town, alternatively owned and operated by vietnamese, koreans, chinese, lebanese, etc etc...

The problem here is the market and what it wants and what it considers "authentic". Westerners seem to think sushi is about colourful rolls, the more artfully assembled the better. Agreeably, they are nice, and tasty an denjoyable. But japanese, they are not. :)

Tri is vietnamese.
He and his staff make wonderful rolls. But there's nothng "authentic" there.
Besides which, the entire concept of sushi, as westerners undertand it, is not authentic. So whatever eh? ;)

there is precisely nothing authentic about Kaizen.
It may be good food, upscale atmosphere, artful preparation etc but I would be surprised if they've ever even employed a japanese person (that is, after Koji left).

ah good to know.
this photo is from Maison du Nord.
the beef in that soup must have been stwed or roasted separately because it was melt-in-your-mouth quality... ;)

I don't think it's the same guy. Qing Hua made "a thing" out of the noodles (oooh magic!) but it's fairly a standard way if making them. Maison du nord advertises on their sign outside having various noodle dishes, and this you can see on the menu as well.

However, you have to ask for beef noodle soup, which is not on the menu. YMMV but I got mine the other day. See? :)
I was asked if I wanted spicy I said sure, and so it came with a dose of chili oil. Yay!

Found Sumo to be dismally worse than Ramen-ya.
and neither is anywhere near authentic. Ask any japanese person. They'll say "yeah well... when I need my fix I'll do it but it's not ramen really"

Cela dit, go to Maison du Nord, the place you all love the pork sandwich at (had it, found it to be dog food in an under-cooked nan-type bread. uhh?) and ask them to make you a beef noodle soup. *that's* a soup, and a worthy ancestor of japanese ramen.

weird how the intel is inconsistent! I stopped in around 1:30pm, chatted with her and she said, and I did hear clearly: they open tomorrow, wednesday.

@afoodyear, she told you 5pm tonight? dang. I'll have to swing by and check ;)

Rented out Les Trois Bouchons last year for a large group dinner. Of course everything was awesome, and for dessert they dropped large baing pans of poudding chomeurs on the tables. Memorable.

That said, I wouldn't say TPB do modern takes on quebecois clichés, but they do great stuff with mostly locally sourced ingredients. Anyways, thought it was worth mentioning :)

re: jenga poutine. hmmm I wonder... forgot his name but a few years ago a local young chef who'd been working in one of the upscale restos replaced the head chef at Laika while the latter took his summer holiday... and one day he made jenga poutines. they are very neat. made everyone happy. :)

Visiting my mom in the West Island I stopped by La Bernoise, a swiss-german store on St-Charles Blvd. to get a piece of smoked bacon to nom on. (My dad used to buy this ll the time.)
Anyways, it struck me I'd never seen the stuff anywhere else. At least I don't think so.

This stuff is killer. Think of smoked meat but using pork belly instead (and no spices in this case). It is incredibly good. If you have wheels, it's worth the trip.

I've attached a photo and a screencap of an entry in a book about shopping in Montreal.

La Bernoise
3988 Boul Saint-Charles
Pierrefonds, QC H9H 3C6
(514) 620-6914

amen hallelujah!

yeah mostly chinese concordia students, chowhounds and CCA employees. All known to be quite quiet folks. :)

Any news on it's reopening?

any signs yet? would love some dumplings :)

ohhh... where did you get the raw milk? pllleeeeeaaaasse? :)

also, I've been partial to the stuff they sell at Qui Lait Cru (Jean Talon) (I've also seen it at Valmont on Mt-Royal):
http://www.fermegroleau.com/

Eden's a bit pricy but definitly carries a very good selection of korean and japanese products.
We recently found a super fine rice flour there which we could find no where else.

they still take shots straight from the machine into the jugs. Instead of pouring the cold coffee straight in your glass, they put it in the granita machine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granita

(notice it is not slush. granita is more corse ice crystals.

they used to make sweetened and unsweetened versions... and if you're an old regular and know what to say, you can still get it un-iced. (hurts my teeth that stuff. ;)

Rumi saturday evening. Their "Sultan" plate, which is basically a hunk of roasted lamb so moist and tender, well, you know. Excellent Sunna (I think that's what it was called; pumpkin, tahineh and maple syrup dip) and yes believe it or not I am always happy with the wine at Rumi. ("Life is too short to drink bad wine.") She had the grilled yogurt-marinated chicken which was also excellent. $75 for two.

Lunch today was at Sumo Ramen. Which was... serviceable.

Sumo Ramen, in Chinatown, on St-Laurent just south of De La Gauchetiere, on east side.
Definitly chinese run (the way they write "japanese" in kanji is chinese).

Menu looks interesting enough. Chashumen!!! Hoping it's good. :)

Sumo Ramen
(514) 940-3668
1007 St Laurent

open every day except tuesday IIRC.

the banner outside said they are on Facebook (heh) but I couldn't find em.