East Side Blick - Friedrichshain
Last week, as
I happened to cross the Admiralsbrücke on the way back home, I found myself
stuck in the middle of a loud demonstration of dreadlocked young Berliners.
They were the angry, disenfranchised youth of a city in turmoil. They needed a
well-earned outlet for their anger. But instead of doing something useful like
occupying the Reichstag or Potsdamer Platz, they decided to demonstrate against
the tourists.
It may only
be my problem, but why this burning hatred for tourists all of a sudden? True,
I occasionally make fun of lard-assed tourists. I will be the first to frown at
drunken Spaniards vomiting in front of the few available Berliner landmarks
after a night out at Berghain. Moreover, I refuse to go to touristy places and will
always make a point out of showing I actually live here, thankyouverymuch. But
from here to demonstrating against tourists? Why on earth?!
At the end
of the day they bring in money, experiences and impulses. And we also enjoy
being tourists in other places. The only reason I am here is because I once had
the chance to enjoy this city as a tourist. Imagine what would have happened,
had I landed straight on to an anti-tourist demonstration? Of course, you may
say I have always been a good tourist. I respect the locals, try to embarrass
myself ordering things in their language, I never vomit on the pavement (just
on a cat once, but it was a mistake and it was inside a flat. So there you go).
But this is all beside the point. Tourists have rights too.
The point is,
however, that tourism changes cities. City centres become appropriated by shops
catering for people who will not be coming back anytime soon. Aesthetics and
quality usually suffer as a result. This often means locals avoid the most
representative parts of their cities, leaving them instead to hoards of people
who buy “My sister went to London and all she got me was this lousy
T-shirt” T-shirts. When was the last time you heard about a Parisian going for dinner
at the Eiffel Tower? Or a Berliner going out for a fun
evening at the Brandenburg Gate? You haven’t, not in a long time, and that’s
because these places have been forfeited to tourist-aesthetics and prices. But
isn’t it a pity? Wouldn’t it be nice to dine and simultaneously have one of
these views that are usually reserved for tourists?
A new
mission thus materialised: to find a spot where locals can feel like tourists
and enjoy a Berlin landmark. For some reason I had the bad idea
to start by testing the East Side Blick on the Spree-bank just next to the Eastside
Gallery. I know, the daft name “East Side Blick” should have sent me a clear
warning. When I entered the place and saw the bored expression on the face of
the girl behind the counter I should have turned on my heel and left. The final
straw should have been the menu (somewhere between a bad canteen and a bad idea
of a restaurant) or maybe just the plastic ambiance? But I stayed nonetheless.
We should
begin with the positive vibe. On a sunny day, the location actually is as
stunning as Berlin gets. Being on the Eastside-Gallery bank, you
don’t get any of the bleakness of the actual Eastside gallery or the O2 Arena.
You get to sit on the riverbank, look towards a couple of nice buildings in
Kreuzberg and even more importantly: the Oberbaumbrücke in all its glory makes
for a truly pleasing setting.
And now to
the less positive things. We started with the antipasti (priced at 6.80 €) and
a Kartoffelsalat (for nice 1.60 €). The potato salad might have actually been home
made. The antipasti was nothing but. Take a chunk of frozen mix of antipasti
vegetables (mushrooms, courgettes and the lot), heat them up in a microwave (to
get that extra soggy feeling) and sprinkle soy sauce all over them.
 |
| Antipasti |
 |
| Kartoffelsalat |
Main
courses? Ahem... they didn’t have any real salmon in stock (the only real main
course on the menu was a salmon-steak. Probably hadn’t found any at Lidl?), so
we ordered one dish of penne with smoked salmon and rocket salad (8.80 €) and
another dish of pasta with shrimps and tomato sauce (8.70 €). The shrimp pasta
was edible. The sauce had come directly out of a can and there were a few
shrimps to be seen lurking in it. The smoked-salmon dish, however, was nothing
less than horrifying. Dried/burnt strips of salmon, a bit of olive oil to make
it sound Mediterranean and lots of dry rocket leaves.
 |
| Truly horrid pasta |
 |
| Bad pasta |
I know, I
should have known. The only place around Eastside Gallery is basically there to
exploit tourists. So why would anyone take advantage of a splendid location and
actually make something out of it? It doesn’t have to be pretentious. It
doesn’t have to be posh. But even basic studenty pasta can be done right, and
if it is done right, it can be enough to make people come and savour the
presence of Berlin’s central waterway. Unfortunately, however,
there is no reason to stop at East Side Blick.
Overall Mark:
East Side Blick
Mühlenstraße 70-71, 10243 Berlin
Größere Kartenansicht
Did you consider giving the food back?
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