SodaZitron Fine guesthouse cuisine in Kollwitzkiez

What do you associate with Austrian lodge cuisine? Probably feel-good dishes, preferably as a reward after a day of sporty hiking or a stopover from the ski slopes. From schnitzel to Kaiserschmarrn, it enjoys great popularity.

But does the concept of lodging also work in Berlin? Even more so in Prenzlauer Berg, known for its discerning clientele? Of course! Because SodaZitron, which opened in March 2022, shows that it is possible to bring simple Gasthof cuisine to an upscale level with fine workmanship and high-quality ingredients.

This is due in no small part to the concept of Bernhard Moser, whose many years of gastronomic experience, including as a critic for Gault & Millau and as the operator of eat! Berlin, he knows the recipe for successful restaurants and always brings his home country of Austria to Berlin, at least in culinary terms.

After a warm welcome from restaurant manager Pia Negri, we take a look around the restaurant. An open, curved room with dark floorboards, simple tables set in white and red theatre curtains, complemented by a few paintings by Austrian and Berlin artists such as Katharina Ziemke, Hermann Nitsch and Ludwig Rauch.

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Simple, chic and without chichi - that's all it needs. In keeping with this, the menu also reads stringent and not overloaded. We start with the mixed bread basket (8 euros) and reflect on our summer stay in Austria.

The snack at SodaZitron is much less crude. On the board are Obazda, pumpkin seed butter, lemon cornichons (much less sour than pickles), some venison ham and Happy Foie, an unstuffed duck liver from species-appropriate farming in Austria. Accompanied - how could it be otherwise - by a SodaZitron, the eponymous Austrian soft drink made from soda water and lemon.

Great importance is attached to the quality and origin of the ingredients. The producers are handpicked, and there is good contact with them. For example, there are team excursions to the regional producers, such as the 25 ponds and the Marihn estate in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where cattle are kept in a species-appropriate manner and slaughtered in very small margins. SodaZitron buys half of it and uses all parts of the animals.

You can taste this quality. In an Austrian restaurant, the schnitzel (29 euros) is the measure of all things. It is tender and airy and just as convincing as its vegetarian equivalent made from oyster mushrooms (19 euros), which is juicy and without too much flavour of its own and offers a welcome alternative.

Our main course is accompanied by a bottle of 2021 Grüner Veltliner from Ried Limberg, which is full-bodied and fruity without being too sweet or acidic. The menu and wine list are put together by Bernhard Moser himself, who also runs a wine school in Berlin as a sommelier.

My absolute favourite, however, is the freshly caught Brandenburg char, available only on Thursdays and Fridays, with paradeis (tomatoes), potato gratin and a fine Vogerlsalat (lamb's lettuce) (29 euros).

It may be due to the excellent husbandry at 25 Ponds or the short distance the fish travels to Berlin; in any case, the result speaks for itself. The char is exceptionally tender, juicy and aromatic and the dish that stays in my mind the most.

What also remains is a happy feeling after dessert: a decidedly fluffy Kaiserschmarrn with plums (15 euros) followed by a Zirben schnapps. The SodaZitron concept works. High-quality feel-good cuisine and Austrian hospitality also know how to convince in Berlin.

Maximilian Zeh

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