Bandol in Berlin - short review
Went to Bandol with a friend the other night. We needed to eat early due to scheduling issues and at 6:30pm, were pretty much the only diners in the place. Neither one of us was hugely hungry so we both ordered two appetizers rather than entrees. She went with a salad with roasted beets and muenster cheese plus steak tartare, I chose housemade terrine with a quail egg and a provencal fish soup with wild shrimp and rouille.
They brought a basket of decent bread to the table with butter and some sort of housemade cheese spread - it was okay, just kind of bland. Terrine (pork with pistachios) came served with a small salad and cornichons - was definitely good but nothing special. Sunnyside up quail egg was sort of an afterthought and totally unnecessary. Friend's salad looked great and she was pleased.
Next came tartare and soup. Beautiful presentation on the tartare, but quite a small portion for 16EU, I thought. Friend was delighted, though, especially with the small snifter of cognac that was meant to be mixed into the meat along with the raw quail egg. My fish soup was very tasty - a thick tomato based soup that seemed to have been thickened with bread? Large chunks of whitefish and shrimp, plus a very tasty rouille and a smattering of cheese on the side if you wanted to add it. Again, good - but nothing that blew me away.
We ordered a small cheese plate and creme brulee for dessert - the cheese plate was quite generous, with decent sized portions of 7 or 8 cheeses and a nice chestnut puree - for 8EU, a steal (although the cheeses weren't really anything out of the ordinary, they were nicely ripened). Creme brulee with fig compote was good but unremarkable.
Bill was 85EU including 3 or 4 glasses of wine and a carafe of water. My food total (no wine for me) was around 31EU - not bad, but more than I would have spent in NYC for something similar, especially considering the exchange rate right now. Main dishes were all in the 20-30EU range, and I would have been REALLY irritated if I had paid that much for non-spectacular food. I'd go back, but not until the dollar is a LOT stronger.
biondanonima
Nov 01, 2009 03:44AM
I was pretty underwhelmed when I went there for my birthday last year. We went for the late seating, so the (tiny) place was busy. The service was pretty sucky. The food was alright, but overpriced.
The place just got so much hype b/c Brangelina went there a couple times a few summers ago... undeserved, in my opinion. Like most hyped places, I might add.
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