RollinRestaurant invaded Unter den Linden

Last Saturday Paul, Paul and I opened our second pop-up Restaurant. Like the first time in BetaHaus, Kreuzberg we invited 20 guests that all brought a friend with another nationality than themselves.

We switched the location from a rough cool former industry plant to a showroom in the fancy Unter den Linden.  Base_camp made it possible and the Team from Mokador set a fabulous table that impressed all tourists passing by the windows in the sunny afternoon.

We welcomed our guests with a strawberry cocktail. Apparently, that helped to secure a perfect atmosphere even before the amuse was served. Like the first time, it turned out to be a great noisy evening with a lot of laughs and many new acquaintances.

We had a challenge preparing the dinner – the Base_camp does not provide a kitchen. The solution: a cold menu that we could prepare at home. Isn’t a cold dinner kind of boring? Well, have a look at the pictures below.

Last preparation at the location.

If you want to try the courses, here are the recipes. They are all for 4 persons:

Starter: Marinated scallops, champagne glaze, truffle creme and spring salad

Ingredients

• 6 scallops
• 1 dl finely chopped dill
• 1 dl finely chopped chives

Glaze

• 3 tarragon leaves
• 1 shallot
• 2 dl pink champagne/sparkling wine
• 1 leaf of gelatin

Truffle cream

• 100 g Philadelphia cheese
• 50 g finely grated parmesan cheese
• truffle oil
• zest from half a lemon
• salt, pepper

Decoration

• spring salad
• olive oil
• lemon juice

Start with the scallops. Fry them very short in butter on each side. Let them cold and then mix them with dill and chives. Flavor with salt and pepper. Put the whole marinated scallops in the freezer for 2 hours. They should get firm so that you can slice them into very thin slices.

Champagne glaze: Half the onion and get it to boil with the champagne and the tarragon. Let it simmer for 5 minutes and then remove the onion and herbs. Put the gelatin in cold water for 5 min and then whisk it with the fluid. Put cold until serving.

Truffle crème: Mix Philadelphia cheese, parmesan, lemon zest, salt and pepper to a crème. Add truffle oil carefully. The crème should get a taste of truffle but, you should also be able to pick out the other ingredients. We used a teaspoonful.

Serving: Cut the scallops in very thin slices and arrange on a plate. ‘Paint’ the scallops with the glaze. Flavor the spring salad with lemon juice and olive oil. Arrange the creme and a spring salad on the side.

Main course: Vitello Tonnato goes Salade Nicoise

Ingredients

• 400 g fillet of veal
• 400 g  Tuna of sashimi quality
• 12 green asparagus
• 6 quail eggs

Tomatoes

• 6 cocktail tomatoes
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped + a tbsp olive oil

Herb oil

• 1 dl olive oil
• 30 g rocket salad
• 30 g basil

Tuna sauce

• 0,5 dl mayonnaise
• 0,5 dl crème fraiche
• 1 dl can tuna in oil (oil removed)
• juice from half a lemon
• 1 garlic clove

Decoration

• 2 tbsp capers

Start with the cocktail tomatoes. Half each tomato and put it on a oven plate. Sprinkle olive oil and chopped garlic on top. Put in the oven on 80° for 4 hours.

Veal: Fry the meat very short on each side. Put the whole fillet in the oven on 120 ° C until the meat temperature reaches 56 °. Remove and let it rest for at least 30 min.

Tuna sauce: Mix the canned tuna, mayonnaise, crème fraiche, lemon juice and the garlic clove in a blender. Flavor with salt and pepper and put cold until serving.

Herb oil: Mix the olive oil (1 dl) with rocket salad and basil. Strain so that just the nice colored and flavored oil remains.

Tuna: Cut the tuna in rectangles with the height 3 cm and the depth 3 cm. The lengths depend on the tuna piece you got. Fry the rectangles on four sides very short. Should get nice fried surface but be raw inside. Put the rectangles directly in the fridge. Before serving, cut the rectangle on the length so that you get nice cubes 3*3*2 cm. See the picture.

Asparagus. Boil or steam the asparagus al dente (ca 3 min). Put them in ice cold water to avoid them getting soggy. Just serve the top of the asparagus.

Boil the quail eggs for 2-3 min. Peel and half.

Arrange the cold ingredients as in the picture.

Rhubarbs cooked in syrup, white chocolate mousse, rhubarb soup

Ingredients

• 200 g white chocolate
• 4 egg yolks
• 50 g sugar
• 3 dl cream

Soup and rhubarb

• 500 g+200 g rhubarb
• 5 dl water
• 2 dl sugar

Decoration

• 2 tbsp minced pistachio

Start with the mousse: Whisk yolks and sugar to a foam. Melt the chocolate carefully. Whip the cream to a light foam. Add the chocolate (not too warm) into the egg toddy and stir. Add the chocolate cream to the whipped cream and stir. Put cold for at least 3 hours.

Rhubarb: Heat the oven to 150 ° C.  Cook the water and the sugar to syrup. If you have thick rhubarbs, peel, otherwise place 500 g rhubarbs on an oven plate and cover with the warm syrup. Bake for 10 min. The rhubarbs should be firm but hold together.  Remove from the syrup and keep cold. Taste the syrup. If too sweet add water, if not enough taste from the rhubarb, add the rest (200g) and boil for 5 min. Let the rhubarb+syrup get cold before straining the syrup so that only the fluid remains. Keep cold until serving.

Servings: Cut the rhubarb in 4 cm long pieces. Arrange on a soup plate. Add the mouse on top or on the side. Top with pistachios. Pour the soup into the plate on the table for a nice special effect.

Even though some guests had three portions of the chocolate mousse, there was some left for the chefs.

A great thanks to Sachar and Robin for hosting us with such ease and to Tobias from Mokador who made the co operation so uncomplicated and professional.

If you like to take part the next time the RollinRestaurant open its doors, this is the place to keep updated. You could also follow me on twitter or send us a Email and we will let you know when the next event takes place.

Asian Tasting Menu

The menu was seven courses in the following order: (recipes and pictures below)

1. Edame beans with homemade garlic oil and salt (Fleur de Sel)
2. Tuna tartar with  wasabi cream and soy sauce
3. Steamed sugar peas with walnut dressing and scallops fried in walnut butter
4. Dumpling filled with shiitake mushroom, spring onions, garlic and lemon grass on a bed of marinated red onions and shiitake mushrooms
5. Filet of beef tataki style
6. Asian ribs with Kimchi
7. Ginger granite with ginger cream and fruits

Edame beans with homemade garlic oil and salt

• Peal the beans and steam them for about 5-10 minutes
• Pour 0,5 decilitre olive oil together with 2 cloves of garlic in a saucepan – warm up the oil until you feel the garlic scent – let it cool of a bit
• Dish up the beans on a plate, add as much garlic oil as you want and sprinkle salt over the beans

Tuna tartar with wasabi cream and soy sauce

Tuna tartar with wasabi cream

• 200 g Fresh tuna (sashimi quality), chopped fine
• 1 decilitre Crème fraîche
• 1 tablespoon Wasabi
• 1 tablespoon Icing sugar

Whisk crème fraîche together with wasabi and icing sugar. Put the finely minced tuna in four (4 portions) steel cooking rings and flatten the tuna with a spoon. Add the wasabi cream on top. Place the steel cooking rings on plates and carefully remove the cooking rings.

Soy sauce

• 2 decilitre Japanese soy sauce
• 1 piece of Ginger, peeled
• 1 Lemon grass
• 1 Tomato
• 1 Celery stem
• 3 tbsp Lemon juice or Ponzu
• 1 Orange, the juice
• 3 tbsp Mirin (sweet vinegar)
• 1/4 Cucumber, peeled

Mix all ingredients together with a mixer or in a blender. Strain the mix and you have your soy sauce.

Steamed sugar peas with walnut dressing and scallops fried in walnut butter

Walnut dressing

• 50 g Walnuts
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Saké
• 2 tbsp Water
• Salt
• Ground black pepper

Steam the sugar peas for a few minutes or boil them for half a minute. Rinse them in cold water so that the cooking process ends.

Mix all the other ingredients to a dressing, use a mixer or a blender.

Use a mortar and a pestle to pulp 3-4 walnuts and add them together with butter in a frying pan. Fry the scallops briefly in the walnut butter. Use frozen or fresh scallops, one for each guest, depending on their size.

Dumpling filled with shiitake mushroom, spring onions, garlic and lemon grass on a bed of marinated red onions and shiitake mushrooms

Dumplings

• 4 Wonton wrappers
• 6 Shiitake mushrooms
• 1 Spring onion
• 1 clove of Garlic
• 1/2 Lemon grass

Chop mushrooms, spring onions, garlic and lemon grass. Put it in a frying pan together with butter and fry shortly. Add approximately 1 – 1 1/2 teaspoon to each wonton wrapper. Use an egg yolk as glue on the wonton wrapper, gather the corners together and make a little swirl.

Put the wontons in a bamboo steamer and steam for 10-12 minutes.

Marinated red onions with shiitake mushrooms

• 1 Red onion, in thin slices
• 1-2 tbsp Water
• 1/2 Lemon, juice
• 1-2 tbsp Hoisin sauce

Put the red onion slices in the marinade for about 30 minutes. Fry the shiitake mushrooms in a pan with butter. Add the fried mushrooms to the red onions and let them soak for a couple of minutes.

Filet of beef tataki style

Rub

• 1 tbsp Lemon grass, dried
• 1 teaspoon Chili, dried
• 3 Kaffir lime leaves, dried
• 1 teaspoon Coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoons Coconut flakes
• 1 teaspoon Brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon Rose hip powder
• 1 tbsp Fruit tea

Mix all the ingredients to a powder.

Sesame sauce

• 2 tbsp Soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 2 tbsp Red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon Sesame oil
• 1 clove of Garlic
• 2 tbsp roasted Cashews or peanuts
• 1/2 teaspoon minced Ginger
• Tabasco
• 1 teaspoon Sesame seeds

Mix everything together except the sesame seeds to a smooth sauce. Stir the sesame seeds in to the sauce.

Soy sauce

• 1 decilitre Soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Ponzu or lime juice

Stir together.

Rub the filet of beef ( 200 gram) with the rub and fry it quickly in oil in a frying pan. Put the fried beef int the freezer for 30 minutes, then cut thin slices of the beef.

Add sesame sauce and soy sauce to the beef and decorate with Galia melon and spring onions.

Asian ribs with Kimchi

• 300 g Pork belly
• 2 Cinnamon sticks
• 5 Star anise
• 2 tbsp Sichuan pepper
• 3-4 Chili fruits, dried
• 30 g minced Ginger
• 1/2 decilitre light Soy sauce
• 1/2 decilitre Hoisin sauce
• 1/2 decilitre Soy sauce
• 1/2 decilitre dry Sherry
• 1-2 decilitre Water
• 1 decilitre brown Sugar
• 2 tbsp Red wine vinegar

Cut the pork belly into 3 centimeter dices, put everything in a pot and boil for 30 minutes under a lid, remove the lid and let it simmer for another 30 minutes. The meat shall be beautifully glaced from the sauce.

Serve together with Kimchi.

Ginger granite with ginger cream and autumn fruits

Fruit

1. 6 Plums
2. 2 Pears
3. 2 Blood oranges
4. 2 Nectarines

Cut the fruit in nice looking variable sizes.

Granite

• 2 cans of Root beer
• 1 Lime fruit, juice
• 1 decilitre Syrup (50/50 sugar – water)
• Fruit pulp, (“left overs” from the fruit cutting)

Mix the lime, the syrup and the fruit pulp in a blender, strain it and add the root beer. Freeze it, in a baking tin or a dish.

Ginger cream

• 5 Egg yolks
• 20 g Maizena flour
• 2 1/2 decilitre Milk
• 50 g Sugar
• 15 g Butter
• 1 centilitre juice from fresh Ginger
• 2 decilitre Whipped cream

Whisk the egg yolks, the sugar and the maizena flour until it’s white. Boil the milk and the butter and add it to the egg-mixture while stirring. Pour the mixture into a new casserole and boil it until it thickens (approximately 5 minutes), it’s very important to whisk the entire time so that the mixture don’t burn. Strain it and let it cool down.

Add the ginger juice and whip the egg cream together with the whipped cream so that it has a light, fluffy consistency.

When serving add a little fresh ground black pepper on top.