Berlin, Germany (Gastrosofie). Bolle, as the well-known couplet runs, came to Pankow on Pentecost. Probably he didn’t grasp any Rodizio, but being Brazilian soccer fan you do and know like Bolle that the best place to drink, eat and be merry at an event is here in Pankow, better Prenzlauer Berg, at a brewers villa of fore day now aptly named Villa Rodizio. And even if the Seleção is beaten, sorry to say, in the world cup as it was when we were there, the feasting with the meat will go on tenfold to enjoy plus a surprise and yes, a dessert to sum up a sumptuous dinner in admirable ambiance.
Whether you come at Pentecost, to watch soccer or just to spend a outstanding evening in the company of friends, for instance, it’s „all you can eat“ every time. And this means not just the meat but also the buffet filled up to the brim with salad delights right over to Brazil. Be brave then and let the Cortadores, as the waiters are correctly called, brandish the skewers and serve delicious Gaucho style specialities. Like at home, in Berlin’s first Rodizio restaurant.
Restaurants, where grilled meat (churrasco) is the name of the game, are usually called „Rodizio-Restaurant“ in this country. If the restaurant is named „Villa Rodizio“, then you can look forward to something very special. And rightly, not only at the bar and at the tables of an elongated hall, connoisseurs of the Brazilian grill specialty can take a seat, but also lounging in the lounge chairs, sitting in the Blue Salon and on a cosy backyard terrace. Or where Christoph Groterjan liked to dine.
The Villa Rodizio is located on the ground floor of the old Villa Groterjan, which was built in 1905 by the entrepreneur and malt beer brewer Christoph Groterjan as an ensemble. It is truly one of the most important Art Nouveau buildings up on Prenzlauer Berg. And the “Prenzlauer Berg” was particularly popular with brewers, because in the cellars on this „mountain“ of Berlin out towards Prenzlau the beer could be stored cool. By the way, the cellars of the breweries on Prenzlauer Berg were all connected by passages. So if you’re an amateur archaeologist, you might dig deep into it!
The approximately 250 seats above the earth are „fully booked every day,“ says owner Evangelos Raptis. And the 160 seats on the terrace in summer are very popular – especially when it’s soccer World Cup and Brazil plays. If you want to be sure that you can sit, you should play it safe and make reservations. This is possible by phone and online.
Villa Rodizio serves a whole range of Brazilian food in a special atmosphere, but Rodizio is has to be. Ten courses of various meat specialties including all-you-can-eat buffet and two-course dessert are offered for 26.90 euros. Children between 6 and 12 pay only 9.90 euros.
We’re in for „Churrascari Brasil“, but also „Cantina Mexicana“ and „Argentinian Steakhouse“ are on the menu. The order of the individual courses is arbitrary and if you do not want, you can also leave out a course, explains Evangelos Raptis and adds: „We serve as long as a guest wants to eat.“ So long then the meat of the spits in front of the guests is cut off with the knife.
At the end of a long evening, a hearty surprise is served, then the dessert comes. Not only wonderfully warm and sweetened with sweet chocolate sauce bananas with grated coconut arrive on the table, also, in front of our eyes, a pineapple flambé sets our senses in delight. Looks great. Tastes delicious.
The event gastronomy on Prenzlauer Berg is at its peak. To top the experience could be possible – if only with a malt beer from grand old Groterjan.
Villa Rodizio
Milastrasse 2, 10437 Berlin
Telephone: 030 44046900, E-Mail: info@villa-rodizio.de, Website: www.villa-rodizio.de
Remark:
Christopher Prescott – article based on a text by Ole Bolle
