“Na servas!” Strudel Dreams in Sprengelkiez

If they want an Apfel­schor­le, they order an “Apfel­saft gspritzt” (“spray­ed apple juice”) – Ber­li­ners are often con­fu­sed by Aus­tri­ans. In one regard, they speak the same lan­guage, though: When­ever it rela­tes to food. Aus­tri­an food tas­tes like ski holi­days, cosi­ness… and a diges­ti­ve Schnaps.

The per­fect exam­p­le of Aus­tri­an deli­ca­ci­es is Stru­del, the famous sweet or savou­ry pastry. “Stru­del­ka” offers exact­ly that: Rita Ples­sing, the owner of the new café at Sparr­platz, is from Aus­tria (to be more exact, from Sty­ria) and also a proud Wed­din­ge­rin sin­ce 2010. Tog­e­ther with her brot­her Ezra, she bakes up to four dif­fe­rent types of Stru­dels per day – and you can tas­te all the pati­ence and love that goes into the food. The dough used for the Stru­dels has to be rol­led out until it is almost see-through and is then fil­led with straw­ber­ries or quark or red cab­ba­ge or min­ced meat.

Vienna Coffee

The café in Sparr­stra­ße com­bi­nes the typi­cal Ber­lin mix of second hand fur­ni­tu­re and bare cei­lings with a clas­si­cal Vien­na cof­fee shop. Oh, the cof­fee – ‘Klei­ner Brau­ner’ (‘litt­le brown’), Melan­ge and Ver­län­ger­ter lea­ve no space for over-pri­ced, arti­fi­ci­al­ly fla­vou­red pro­ducts by Ame­ri­can cof­fe shop chains. The name ‘Stru­del­ka’ ori­gi­na­tes from the famous café ‘Hawel­ka’, a Vien­na institution.
Admit­ted: You won’t find the typi­cal Vien­na audi­ence. But last weekend, the owner’s par­ents arri­ved from Sty­ria to finish off the café. While Rita’s mum was sewing the curta­ins, her Dad plan­ted the sal­via he brought from Aus­tria. Stru­del­ka is a fami­ly-owned busi­ness – and you can tas­te that.

Cau­ti­on: The aut­hor is from Sty­ria, too – may­be she is a bit bia­sed when it comes to Strudels…

Trans­la­ti­on: Danie­la Hombach

STRUDELKA

Sparr­str. 19

13353 Ber­lin

Wed-Fri: 12- 7 PM (or longer)

Sat/Sun.: 11 – 7 PM (or longer)