La Côte Restaurant & Bar Parisian joie de vivre in Neukölln

La Côte - the coast - the red neon sign lights our way through the dank February grey into the small neighbourhood restaurant in Neukölln's Schillerkiez. It conjures up memories of weekends of feasting in Paris. This feeling is confirmed again when we enter the small but beautiful place.

The terrazzo tables are close together. So you shouldn't be too opulent to take a seat on the bench. But it is very cosy and intimate. At second glance, La Côte turns out to be bigger than we thought at first: It's especially great for birthday parties, wine tastings or when a group of friends is simply allowed to get a bit louder: In the séparée below the guest room, there is space with a table for 6 to 14 people, where you have some privacy. 

However, we start upstairs at our table for two with drinks that seem quite creative and sing the praises of the city of love: Sage French 75 with grappa and sage, for example. We opt for Joie de Vivre because, in our opinion, you can never have enough of that. Yellow chartreuse, pear and aniseed, cognac and lemon make for a wonderfully refreshing glass - like a day at the seaside.

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A perfect choice, not only on a rainy February evening - which is what La Côte in Neukölln is anyway. There are noticeable hints of Paris, but the cuisine here is also Southern European. The name suggests it: the focus lies on delicacies from the sea, often French-inspired, like the delicious snails in garlic butter. But other southern European culinary delights are also on the menu: creamy burrata (very fine with pumpkin and crunchy khaki fruit), pappardelle, vitello tonnato or panipuri.

The deep-fried pastry shells filled with either aubergine, tahini and mustard seeds or with beef tartare and aioli are trendy not only in Nepal and Pakistan but also in northern Italy. On the recommendation of our very attentive and charming service, we choose the latter and are blown away.

We are also recommended the scallop ceviche with tomato consommé and Tulum cheese as a signature dish - excellent: fresh, tender, sweet, delicious. It almost satisfies the longing for the sea. Naturally, you would expect to find oysters at La Côte, but they arrive at the table completely unadulterated, but with chilli and lime or chives and tarragon.

The smaller plates are excellent for sharing, eaten at the small tables or the bar. Particularly great for a date with either the great cocktails, lots of natural and a few select conventional wines, or with the Brooklyn Brewery or Kronenbourg on tap - we're back in France again.

However, there are also larger plates on the small menu, which changes regularly. We choose the pulpo and agree: a perfect choice. It tastes tender and fresh, the likes of which we have rarely enjoyed in Berlin. Its refined sweetness is excellently underlined by the baked parsnip and especially the macadamia nuts, while the sourness of the labneh complements everything. It is an elegant dish that is as beautiful to look at as it is to taste.

To accompany it, we choose two natural wines that know how to convince despite our natural wine scepticism: Le Coup de Jus from Alsace is almost reminiscent of a Rosé Fuori Misura, juicy and fresh. Frei.Körper.Kultur from Schmitt in Rheinhessen has convinced us with its juiciness (please forgive us for not remembering where it was). 

If we couldn't see the dark grey façades through the windows, we could dream of the French Riviera, sipping an oyster, or a bite of cheese for dessert, a sip of vino - that's it, the Joie de Vivre in the middle of Neukölln. 

Ronja C. Kolls

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