Chaomin-Congee Restaurant — Restaurant in Berlin

Wow, where do I begin…

Chaomin was one of the most amazing – if not the best - Asian cuisine experiences I have ever had. As an Asian food enthusiast, I do not say this lightly.

I stumbled across it by chance one evening whilst exploring the streets of Berlin by foot. It immediately caught my attention with its breathtaking interior. As soon as I walked in, I felt like this was going to be a great experience. And it was!

Here are my thoughts:

Great and quick service: Meal was ready within 10-15 minutes. Staff checked up on me throughout the evening. I didn’t find myself waiting or having to get their attention. To be fair, they weren’t incredibly busy the day I went, I imagine when they’re busy service might differ. But my service experience was great.

Chicken melted in Mouth: The crumbed chicken I ordered as part of my meal was amazing. Great flavour and it literally melted in my mouth.

Amazing Rice: One of the best rice I’ve ever had! The consistency, the softness, the lightness, the gentle stickiness. Overall great rice! I never thought I’d be complementing someone’s rice, but it deserved recognition at it cohesively brought the entire dish together.

Beautiful interior: Often restaurants try too hard to modernise and end up overshooting to the point of looking trashy. Chaomin however achieved, in my opinion, one of the best balances between traditional and modern aesthetic. The interior design was beautiful; elegant and tasteful. Great thought and effort was put into the entire space. The lighting was gentle and welcoming. The flow of colours and décor was in perfect synchronicity. The warmth and hand crafted décor made me feel at home.

Great menu: Fantastic menu with good variety, yet not overwhelming. The menu felt complete and looked amazing too. It touched on Vietnamese history and traditional dishes. Overall it felt complete and was beautiful to look at. I also left the restaurant knowing something new.

Great Staff: The staff was very friendly and attentive. I enjoyed their presence and struck up several conversations with two of Chaomin’s staff members.

Great homemade drinks: I enjoyed their homemade drinks. Had some traditional and exotic flavours that let me feeling refreshed.

Consistency: The entire flow of the space - from the menu to the interior to the meal itself and even to the bathroom – was in alignment. You can see a great deal of thought and detail went into this space. It is rare to find a place that ticks all these boxes. And yet this unassuming little restaurant gave me one of the best culinary experiences ever. I highly recommend Chaomin’s and will definitely visit again when next in...

Chaomin Congee: Where the Ratings Don't Add Up Alright, gather 'round, folks, because I'm here to spill the tea (and sadly, not the delicious kind) on Chaomin Congee. Seriously, who's been leaving these glowing reviews? My taste buds are sending out an SOS!

Let's start with the appetizers: tiny, but mighty... in price, that is. You get about two bites for the cost of a small nation. Then there's the service: think "human statue" meets "creepy staring contest." One woman seemed to be perfecting her art of standing still, which was less helpful and more "is this performance art?"

But the real showstopper? The main courses. They looked like supermodels on a plate, but tasted like... well, absolutely nothing, drowned in enough oil to power a small engine. It's like the menu description was written by a different restaurant entirely.

Honestly, I'm starting to think those five-star ratings are as fake as a three-dollar bill. Unless, of course, "tasteless and greasy" is the new culinary trend I missed. Save your money, folks, unless you're into expensive, oily...

Surprisingly disappointing at the end.

To be honest, the service and vibe is really really good. The people are friendly and they've done a great job of setting up the restaurant to be cozy and nice.

The quality of the ingredients seem good too, with good rice, a realllly good chicken broth, and decent portions. But the overall price to value doesn't make sense (particularly having had congee as a cheap comfort food for years)

Base price of 7 EUR + 2 for broth + 3 for most toppings brought a chicken broth congee with mushrooms and fried bread to 15eur which is really expensive in my opinion, and though it was tasty and comforting, as congee should be, I felt it really was on the very expensive side (especially considering the little jar of mushrooms weren't seasoned and cold, and the breadsticks were a tiny portion for 6 small pieces)

Real shame because there aren't many congee places, and the people running the place were really...