Holly Gastrobar — Restaurant in Berlin

This is gonna sound hyperbolic but please bear with me. It's actually THAT good.

I don't know even know where to begin.

Please pinch me.

Is this even real? Did this just happen? Or am I dreaming?

First of all, fellow restaurant goers tonight, can we please say with reasonable confidence and out loud that the service and hospitality here are completely unrivaled, and I'm someone who goes out to eat at least twice a week in Berlin to all sorts of places, so that's saying something.

Just genuinely good-natured, honest and well-meaning hospitality of the highest caliber, right here. True, sincere, sweet, spontaneous, unpretentious, instinctive and empathetic.. I feel like I'm transported somewhere else for 2 hours, a place of pampering, a cozy, homely place, which brings me to a strange feeling of comfort mixed with a touch of disbelief.

The Pork tartare with fermented apple and chili was just pristine, paired with a beautiful slightly prickly orange wine (Tragolargo Blanco 2021, Finca Casa Balaguer, from Alicante, Spain) that complimented the tingling sensation of the chili very well. Huge melt-in-your-mouth factor here, too.

There is a varied arsenal of natural wines that were administered wisely, in keeping with the rhythm of the meal and the fluctuating wits of the undersigned.

I had a very high quality lamb rack with golden beetroot puree, beer crumbs, red cabbage chutney and miso bone jus that...OMG, Il me fait tourner la tete! The raw material stands on its own for its texture (probably from appropriately reared free-range and well fed animals) but it's very elegant in its execution. It's all perfectly balanced, paired with a discreet red (Carreton from Roussillon, France, the grape is Mourvèdre if I remember correctly).

To top it all off, I had possibly one of the top 5 desserts I've ever had in Berlin, pumpkin based, multifaceted and multilayered paired with two wines (a sweet one and a not so sweet one) that complimented two different parts of the dish. This is unprecedented to me. Two pairings for the same dessert, and it actually worked ?!

The window lets you take a peek into the kitchen theatre and I sensed calmness, discipline, poise and precision, not to mention a certain degree of handsomeness, which doesn't hurt.

Not to mention, at 52 EUR for the tasting menu (excluding the wine), you get a lot of bang for your buck. I'm completely sold here and I cannot wait to go back as soon as the menu changes.

Wholeheartedly recommended, would be an...

We had a truly fantastic dining at Holly Gastrobar. Surely a surprise and my very best experience in Berlin in a long time. Starting from the friendly, polite and truly caring service, this was excellent! Do never change, it's a true rarity in Berlin! We tried the full meat dinner menu, we had the veal tartare for starter, followed by the baked camembert with beetroot, duck breast and the caramelised pear dessert. It was an ascending climax of flavours and tastes. Every course was a surprise and it was part of a great culinary journey. My best compliments to the chefs! The wine selection was another great service, they made us few matching wines at every course, before making our choice. They even spoiled us with a couple of extra small tasting dishes outside the menu. For us it has been 'love at the first dine' with this little gem, a rarity for Berlin standards which I truly hope it'll not change and decay. The place is cosy, there are about 10 tables, so you will surely need to book in advance to dine there: I do not recommend to just pass by and try...

Absolutely phenomenal! If you want to treat yourself nice go visit this lovely place! The menu is amazing also for vegetarians 🌱

We have visited Holly Gastrobar in Mid August 2022 and were greeted by the lovely team that immediately started to make us feel welcome.

Since we couldn’t decide which wine to enjoy the crew gave us some of them to try until we were settled 🥳

The menu is carefully crafted to play with visuals and taste and is absolutely mind blowing. It might change but I have included a snapshot of when we visited!

Holly Gastrobar isn’t one of those pretentious places, where you leave hungry after your visit. We went for the vegetarian options and let me tell you - wow I still have tears in my eyes how great and absolutely mind blowing that was. There isn’t much to say but - absolutely phenomenal food, caring staff that complements this journey paired with fair prices makes this a spot on my absolute favs for Berlin.

Thanks for the wonderful experience ❤️ and the...