Brikz Restaurant The Lightness of Fine

"I don't give a fuck" is written on the brick wall. We have made ourselves comfortable on cosy benches, our table is set in white, and cutlery is taken from a box. But this is not meant to evoke false associations with fast-food restaurants and snack bars. The cutlery is as delicate as the glass from which we enjoy a wonderful Spätburgunder Rosé Brut Nature. Restaurant Brikz in Charlottenburg stands for fine dining after all.

Here, we finally managed to visit Arne Anker. The restaurant in a former jazz café started last November, like some of the Corona gastronomy stories: with cooking boxes. Nevertheless, it didn't take long for Arne Anker's own restaurant to attract attention, and soon after, he made it to up-and-coming chef of the year at this year's Berliner Meisterköche. His cv is impressive anyway. 

The extremely charming team of five all come from Michelin starred restaurants, but what is much more important at Brikz is the pure joy of cooking. And so "the boys" cook what they want every day. Their claim: There's no such thing as tasty. No pressure, but constant development. Exactly one menu that changes daily, and "if something is gone on Wednesday, it's gone on Wednesday - if it's gone today, it's gone today," as Arne Anker explains.

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It is also important to have close relationships with small regional manufacturers and suppliers. The meat comes from Kumpel und Keule (we are served, for example, the special goose breed from Lower Saxony). Most of the herbs come from Werner's Kräutergarten at Markthalle Neun. The latter also gets "homework" from time to time, as Anker calls it. That could result in their own kaffir limes in 2024.

Anker also maintains close ties with 25 Teiche. The fish blood sausage, for example, was developed in close cooperation and is only available here. "We were sitting here with Mr Engels from 25 Teiche and the topic came up of whether he would like to make a fish blood sausage. It took a while, we experimented a bit, because not everything works out at the first attempt. We worked on it for six or eight weeks. The result is really something to be proud of," says Anker. We agree.

Fish blood sausage may not sound particularly tempting at first, but for us it is probably one of the best and most exciting dishes that evening. It therefore finds its way into the menu every now and then. It reminds us a little of a particularly tender and exquisite fishcake. Served with black garlic, from Werner of course, and pickled watermelon skin.

"We stumbled across it in a cookbook, had watermelon in the kitchen, tried it and it's really cool." True enough: It has a great crunch and tastes nice and fresh thanks to complementary flavours of orange and chilli. In combination with other ferments, anyway, it's a wonderful complement to the savory fish blood sausage. 

Acidity plays a big role in the Brikz kitchen anyway, as there is a lot of fermenting and pickling to produce as little waste as possible. Low waste is definitely an approach at Brikz, albeit undogmatic. The grilled pickled bean, along with pickled white strawberries and various herbs, is therefore also acidic. It tastes wonderfully like summer and creates associations of Italian antipasti. A treat, especially when it's freezing cold outside.

Chrsyanthemum, marinated oxalis flowers, kafir vinaigrette with Mexican tagetis oil, infused in an ultrasound bath, nettle powder on top. "That's all there is to it", claims Arne Anker, and you can't blame him for his mischievous grin. There's quite a lot going on here on the plate. The technique is spot on. The individual components on the plate come together delicately. The wine and non-alcoholic accompaniments are also consistently convincing. 

Luckily, in the relaxed setting of the Brikz, no one looks at you strangely if you lick some of the excellent Beurre Blanc, the classic accompaniment to salmon trout from 25 Ponds, off your finger. We can have it as much as we want. And we want to, because it's a real treat and harmonises wonderfully with the fish, the roe and the caviar from Altonaer Kaviar Import in Hamburg, which is available on request.

Cosy, straightforward, genuine. Who wouldn't give a fuck about that?

Ronja C. Kolls

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