Gourmet
[ɡɔː.meɪ]#14
Ryotei 893 (a.k.a Japanese Mafia restaurant!) [Berlin, Germany]
This place called 'Ryotei 893' is the Japanese restaurant, which I mentioned in my previous post. Now if you are a Japanese person, when you see the number, 893, it should instantly link in your head to a word.
Ya(8), ku(9), za(3)..... Yakuza!!!
Basically, 893 means Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) in Japanese - what an interesting way of naming a restaurant... As predicted, this place is not run by Japanese people, but instead by a rather famous guy in the Berlin restaurant scene called Duc Ngo. He is a Vietnamese-born chef who successfuly runs multiple restaurants in Berlin. Berliners love his restaurants.
It was my first time to visit his 893 restaurant. When my friends and I got to the address, we were standing in front of this very dodgy-looking building totally covered in graffiti... yeah ... full of Berlin vibes... this can't be the cool restaurant everyone is talking about?
By the way, if you zoom in this above picture, you see a guy looking at me taking a pic of this bizzare building, oh my gosh, he must be the famous chef Mr. Duc Ngo! lol
Anyway, we walked into a lowly-lit room, and voila, inside there is lavish marble counter tops, an open kitchen and a bar! The chic interiors and the stylish atmosphere are completely opposite of that horrendous exterior.
The food was absolutely impressive.
You can get full of Berlin vibes in this restaurant. I would definitely recommend if you fancy Japanese food in a stereotypical Berlin setting. It should be a great idea for a first date also.