‘The best food you get at home’ – ‘Zuhause schmeckts am besten’ is a popular German saying that could have been invented by guests of the Zuhause Berlin supper club. Just that Kristi’s and Dave’s Zuhause has nothing to do with traditional home cooking, very much the opposite. Their basic style can be described as sophisticated European, with an emphasis on Italian-French maybe, but always open for inspirations from other countries, continents or preparation methods like molecular cuisine. The outcome is a 6-8 courses firework of flavours, textures and colours that most of us probably couldn’t afford if it was served in a restaurant. Zuhause suggests a donation of €69, wine and everything else included. That may be rather at the high end of Berlin’s supper clubs, but just from looking at the photos on the website seems a real bargain in terms of the value for money. What further adds to the value is that Kristi and Dave are very conscious about the sustainability of the ingredients they use. As far as possible, they go for regional, organic produce and meat from free-range animals.

Started in September 2011, the Zuhause Berlin supper club in Kreuzberg has turned into one of the city’s most buzzed about underground restaurant addresses. Whilst in the beginning hardly any German guests were coming, they make about 60% now. The other 40% are international tourists or like the hosts foreigners who live in Berlin. Canadian-born Kristi is by profession a graphic designer and besides her passion for food in charge of the visual appearance of Zuhause. Dave is a trained chef from Ireland. He has worked for premium restaurants and every now and then sets sails as a private chef on super yachts. Once a month if time allows, the couple throws a dinner party for the 12 lucky ones who are fastest to respond when a new date gets announced. The only way to get a foot into the door is by subscribing to the mailing list. However, that list has grown pretty long over the past 1½ years. And because they feel sorry about having to turn down so many people, Kristi and Dave have started thinking about buying a bigger table.

But that is something to be decided later. Right now they are extremely busy with taking Zuhause ‘outdoor’ and hardly ever find the usual 2-3 days preparation time for their monthly weekend supper clubs. The project in question is Berlin’s first street food market at Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg, the latest talk of the town amongst Berlin foodies. It’s being co-organized by Kitchensurfing (meet again Kavita Meelu from Mother’s Mother) and taking place every Thursday night. Kristi and Dave are offering their freshly prepared steamed buns there, filled with maple-glazed pork belly and pickled red cabbage that sell like, umm, hotcakes, so to say. No doubt, they are making a lot of new fans.

So, what comes next? Whatever it is, let’s just hope that Zuhause won’t disappear like other highly popular supper clubs whose owners have taken the chance to open a proper restaurant, a catering company or some other type of food business. Fact is that the entries on the Zuhause website have become a little sporadic compared to the early days. However, this is nothing but reading the leaves. Zuhause’s promise posted a couple of days ago says “…we’ll be back to normal in May…!”. So NOW is the moment to get your email address onto the mailing list. Or keep in touch with Zuhause Berlin on Facebook.