ernst Berlin

32/40 Beetroot, cigarette sauce
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Another visit to @ernst.berlin last year. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better 🤷🏻‍♂️🤯
Rightly climbing up the @oadtop100 and @theworlds50best rankings. This is basically my perfect restaurant.
A 40 course feast. And what amazes me the most is that I could return a couple of days later and have a completely different 40 courses (believe me as I have done this)
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Michelin Guide - ⭐️
OAD - 23
W50B - 55
Best Chef Awards -
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#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar #oad #worlds50bestrestaurants #worlds50best #eater #michelinguide @michelinguide @theworlds50best @oadtop100 @thebestchefawards Less

31/40 Sancho pepper, picanha Wagyu
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Another visit to @ernst.berlin last year. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better 🤷🏻‍♂️🤯
Rightly climbing up the @oadtop100 and @theworlds50best rankings. This is basically my perfect restaurant.
A 40 course feast. And what amazes me the most is that I could return a couple of days later and have a completely different 40 courses (believe me as I have done this)
.
Michelin Guide - ⭐️
OAD - 23
W50B - 55
Best Chef Awards -
.
#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar #oad #worlds50bestrestaurants #worlds50best #eater #michelinguide @michelinguide @theworlds50best @oadtop100 @thebestchefawards Less

15/40 Sea snails, asparagus, dashi jelly
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16/40 Scallops, kohlrabi, last summers peaches
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Scallop, Rhubarb
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Another visit to @ernst.berlin last year. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better 🤷🏻‍♂️🤯
Rightly climbing up the @oadtop100 and @theworlds50best rankings. This is basically my perfect restaurant.
A 40 course feast. And what amazes me the most is that I could return a couple of days later and have a completely different 40 courses (believe me as I have done this)
.
Michelin Guide - ⭐️
OAD - 23
W50B - 55
Best Chef Awards -
.
#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar #oad #worlds50bestrestaurants #worlds50best #eater #michelinguide @michelinguide @theworlds50best @oadtop100 @thebestchefawards Less

9/40 Leeks, dashi
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10/40 Kaffir line, White asparagus, soy milk
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11/40 ?
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12/40 Navel oranges, smoked juice on juniper wood
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13/40 Razor clams, Japanese pomelo
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14/40 Green asparagus, first cream of the season, caviar
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Another visit to @ernst.berlin last year. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better 🤷🏻‍♂️🤯
Rightly climbing up the @oadtop100 and @theworlds50best rankings. This is basically my perfect restaurant.
A 40 course feast. And what amazes me the most is that I could return a couple of days later and have a completely different 40 courses (believe me as I have done this)
.
Michelin Guide - ⭐️
OAD - 23
W50B - 55
Best Chef Awards -
.
#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar #oad #worlds50bestrestaurants #worlds50best #eater #michelinguide @michelinguide @theworlds50best @oadtop100 @thebestchefawards Less

4/40 Omelette, caviar
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5/40 Kohlrabi
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6/40 Tokyo Turnip, fig wood oil
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7/40 Turnip greens, Wagyu bone marrow
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8/40 Favas, homemade soy milk sauce
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Another visit to @ernst.berlin last year. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better 🤷🏻‍♂️🤯
Rightly climbing up the @oadtop100 and @theworlds50best rankings. This is basically my perfect restaurant.
A 40 course feast. And what amazes me the most is that I could return a couple of days later and have a completely different 40 courses (believe me as I have done this)
.
Michelin Guide - ⭐️
OAD - 23
W50B - 55
Best Chef Awards -
.
#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar #oad #worlds50bestrestaurants #worlds50best #eater #michelinguide @michelinguide @theworlds50best @oadtop100 @thebestchefawards Less

1/40 Radishes, Rhubarb, ponzu and rhubarb juice
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2/40 Lettuce, Ponzu sauce, yuzu skin sauce
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3/40 Kombu dashi, Japanese pomelo
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Another visit to @ernst.berlin last year. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better 🤷🏻‍♂️🤯
Rightly climbing up the @oadtop100 and @theworlds50best rankings. This is basically my perfect restaurant.
A 40 course feast. And what amazes me the most is that I could return a couple of days later and have a completely different 40 courses (believe me as I have done this)
.
Michelin Guide - ⭐️
OAD - 23
W50B - 55
Best Chef Awards -
.
#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar #oad #worlds50bestrestaurants #worlds50best #eater #michelinguide @michelinguide @theworlds50best @oadtop100 @thebestchefawards Less

Winter spinach, mushroom, 60 day aged caviar
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Last cherry tomatoes of the season, shiso, dashi jelly
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Two visits to @ernst.berlin in three days back in November last year. Ernst is one of my favourite restaurants in Europe. Their repertoire is incredible, on the second visit we had 30 or so completely different dishes than the meal we had had two days prior. Different wines aswell. Awesome stuff.
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Michelin Guide - ⭐️
OAD - 19
W50B - 62
Best Chef Awards -
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#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar #oad #worlds50bestrestaurants #worlds50best #eater #michelinguide @michelinguide @theworlds50best @oadtop100 @thebestchefawards Less

Another fantastic meal at Ernst in Berlin last month. I am really becoming a bit of a fanboy about this place. And to preempt the inevitable couple of people who historically have always piped up about portion sizes when I post my meals from here, remember that there are between 30 and 40 courses. No one leaves Ernst hungry.
I can’t really think of an example outside of Japan where the chefs are being so pure to the product. I think most dishes have 3 or less core ingredients here, sometimes just a single ingredient ! There is such confidence in this style of cooking, with really nothing to hide behind. You may go to a restaurant and have you breath taken away by the beauty and intricacies of a dish with complexity of layers and presentation, but you absolutely have the same thing here. The dishes, in my opinion, are beautiful to look at and the complexity comes from the time taken to source the absolute best ingredient at the exact moment in time that it is at its peek and deserves to be showcased. Then to find a way to enhance that ingredient and show it’s true potential through ageing, fermenting, curing, seasoning or any other of a myriad of techniques employed by Dylan and the team.
Ernst will close towards the end of April (possibly sooner with the current situation developing) to redesign the space. I have been told it will reopen with just 6 covers, giving Dylan more opportunity to focus on the cooking and the customer. So what is currently a tough reservation will become even harder. I think there was talk of doing 2 sittings but I would be interested to see how that works as the meal in it’s current format takes a good 3 hours and that it at quite a fast pace. So you would either be seated very early indeed or finishing very late but we will see. There is also talk of opening a wine bar across the street with a more casual offering. Exciting times ahead for sure.
My Facebook feed is currently 90% corona virus related stuff and I of course realise the seriousness of the current situation. There is a split between my friends with some saying to self isolate now and others encouraging to support your local small businesses by still going out to eat or to shop unless you fall into the higher risk percentage of the population. At this stage I will go with the later and continue to eat out as long as I am allowed to although I fear that here in Germany we are just a few steps behind Spain, Italy and other countries that are now on full lockdown. One thing that I would say is that if you have restaurant reservations that have to be cancelled because of travel restrictions or the restaurant having to close down for a while then rather than ask for a refund (if you’ve prepaid) just try to move the reservation or get a voucher for a future meal. Indeed, if you haven’t prepaid then if you can, buy a voucher for a future meal anyway. Businesses like this who run on very slim margins and rely on steady cash flow are going to be in real trouble very soon so I would encourage you to take this into consideration. But most of all, pick up the phone and talk to each other and lookout for one another. Stay safe everyone 🙂 Less

2 granites, plum wine & preserved strawberry juice .

Quince lightly steamed to set the pectins before roasting for 2 hours continuously glazing in their own juices served with some 70% cream

Apple paired with honey .

Physalis with calamansi, beurre monté & citrus gel .
Cake with lightly fermented plums, plum Schnapps .

Plum, apple, physalis, wild blackberry .

Another visit to @ernst.berlin
I have a lot of time for @dylan1watson and the team at Ernst with their intense focus on what is the very best, in-season product at that moment. Finding it through actually visiting the forests, fields and farmers themselves maybe the morning before your meal. Seeing the potential in a humble ingredient like a simple salad leaf that is tentatively pushing it’s way out of the Earth, and pouncing on that product and transforming it into something wondrous to eat, without the aid of luxurious ingredients like truffles, caviar and uni. Seeing the potential in the very last raspberries of the season, the ones that even the farmer refuses to waste his time picking so they just pick’em themselves.
Taking just simple plates of food where using superb knowledge and technique, that one salad leaf, mushroom, piece of fish or cut of meat is able to shine brightly.
With the menu evolving and changing day after day and even during services on the fly, it’s great to know that you could visit Ernst one week later and most likely get 40 dishes all of which are different from your previous visit. According to Dylan and the team, the number of dishes that are in their repertoire since opening relatively recently is now in the thousands. You really get a sense of energy and fun when seated in front of this team. They are all extremely focused and clearly love what they are doing and this transfers on to the plate. Don’t be fooled by the simple presentations either, there is extraordinary depth of flavour in these dishes, a true skill. .
Michelin Guide - ⭐️
OAD - 18
W50Best - 118
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#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar Less

I almost forgot the amazing wine pairing @ernst.berlin by the hugely knowledgable sommelier @christophgeyler
The restaurant only works with small wineries and dedicated winemakers whose agricultural philosophies echo that of the farmers that they use. 🍷 .
You can read my full review on my FB page. Link in bio ☝️
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Michelin Guide - ⭐️ OAD list - 62
W50Best- coming soon I’m sure
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#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar #oad #worlds50bestrestaurants #worlds50best #eater #iphonexsmax #michelinguide #foodlepro #influencer #influencers #culinaryworld #ernst #berlinfoodies #winepairing #wine Less

The dinner last night was so good that I refused to leave......so they had to carry me out😬
Thanks @ernst.berlin for a fantastic evening 🙏🙏🙏
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Michelin Guide - ⭐️ OAD list - 62nd (top European restaurants 2018)
W50Best-coming soon 🤫
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#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar #oad #worlds50bestrestaurants #worlds50best #eater #iphonexsmax #michelinguide #foodlepro #influencer #influencers #culinaryworld #ernst #ernstberlin #ernstrestaurant #berlinfoodie #berlineats Less

Last week I managed to secure a reservation at Restaurant Ernst in Berlin which, from what I had been hearing, would be worth the 4 hour flight from Turkey. I was not disappointed.
Canadian born wunderkind Dylan Watson-Brawn was previously cooking for just six people from his Berlin apartment (at the age of 19!!) under the project name ‘Jung, Grün & Blau but has now opened a 12 seat counter around his open kitchen in the area of Wedding. He was awarded his first michelin star last year and I am certain that more accolades will follow, including (I predict) him breaking into the W50 best list. Not that he really cares about such things. Speaking to him during the thirty course meal, which is served by the five chefs and one sommelier who represent the entire staff (no pot washers here), he made no bones about expressing his opinion about such things as the Guide Michelin, Opinionated About Dining and Worlds 50 Best. His opinion is not necessarily one of disdain but more one of indifference. His and his team’s focus is very clearly within the four walls of the restaurant during the four services they perform each week or out in the fields, woods, farms and forests with their multitude of suppliers whom they spend time visiting when the restaurant is closed. There is a name and a relationship that comes with each ingredient you are served. The first salad of the year is from David (the names have been changed to protect the innocent, and because I can’t remember them) down the road and is served with the colostrum of Mary’s cow on a plate made by Matthias etc etc.
The focus lies on seasonality and quality and not necessarily locality with Mangalitza pork from Austria and some other ingredients coming from Sicily, but you can bet that there will be a very close and personal relationship between the restaurant and that supplier no matter where in the world they are.
Some more local ingredients are donated because other restaurants simply don’t use them but the supplier thinks that rather than throw them away, let’s give them to Dylan and his team who crave not the fashionable and for show ingredients but whatever is excellent and tasty in that moment. The salad I referred to was the first of the year and pulled from the ground a couple of hours before service. Hence the ever changing menu and a service that is more like jazz than a fully orchestrated affair. Dishes can change during service as the menu evolves before your eyes. They come thick and fast but you never feel rushed in any way as each chef presents each plate in a friendly and relaxed way. They chat to you as they cook and within minutes you feel totally at ease and more like you are at a friends house than a michelin star restaurant.
There is certainly an air of arrogance to Dylan, who is now only in his mid 20’s, but I think it is refreshing to talk to a chef who cuts straight through all the crap and tells you exactly what he thinks with no filter. At one point during the meal he overheard me and my dining companion wandering out loud how exactly they make any money when they only serve 48 covers per week. He came over and said “This isn’t London Neil, I pay xxx euros per month in rent....that’s how we can make money”.
It was a factor that we had not considered, the area of Wedding, where the restaurant is located, is....erm...’colourful’ to say the least. Gentrification certainly has not reached Wedding. As I walked to the restaurant from the nearest station I strolled past three riot vans full of police gearing up for something and the restaurant is surrounded by boarded up businesses and graffiti. I was escorted from the restaurant to my taxi by one of the chefs at the end of the evening which was very kind, if a little emasculating.
There is not a huge amount of dining in Berlin that is worth a special journey, but Ernst may be one of the first Berlin restaurants that people will get on a plane to travel to. A restaurant that will be the centre piece to their visit to the city with the rest of the trip planned around this one focal point.
I guess you can see that I like the place. I do. You should go. Soon. Less

The small team at Ernst is truly exceptional. Somehow, they managed to serve 33 courses in just under 3 hours. The timing and pace was remarkable. So much of what makes Ernst special is the passion they express through their food and the respect they have for their raw ingredients. Ingredients are foraged and locally farmed in Berlin and its surrounding regions. A large portion of the menu changes daily. Ernst is quickly becoming one of the best restauarnts in the world. In April, Ernst was named 2018's Best New Restuarant in Europe by the Opinionated about Dining (OAD) survey. Less

Ernst in its current form is only 3 moths old, however it used to operate as a pop up restaurant in Chef Dylan Watson’s apartment. Now they stopped this format and have opened their own restaurant. And it is about to become the first true destination restaurant in Berlin.
These guys are really good, they have a concept loosely based on the kaiseki dramaturgy, tell a story and surprise you with great flavours. Dylan unpacks his experience working in the three star restaurant Ryogin in Tokyo in his new place. He focuses on simplicity of his dishes and sources locally without getting dogmatic about it so for example his pork comes from Austria and his citrus from Sicily.
The menu contained 30 courses of which only two are not a vegetable or a fruit. The chicken course was a 8 months old bird, 21 days dry aged, roasted and then gently smoked over hay. The hairy crab is interestingly local seafood, escaped from Chinese ships and made a local river their new home. Unlike China and Japan nobody in German eats them and they normally will be thrown away as bycatch of a eel fisher.
Maybe the most surprising characteristic of ernst of its complete discarding of the world wide fine dining trend of over indulging on luxury products. His extraordinary potato dish would easily lend itself to add caviar but Dylan does not veer off his line!
Great experience. Less