“My biggest fear,” says chef Gal Ben-Moshe, “is that a journalist will come in here and think that I am making it up.” He leans over a bowl of steaming liquid oxygen and the metallic tablecloth which is doubling as a plate sprung with various sweets.
GLASS may only be the latest in a long line of innovative new restaurants currently opening in Berlin, but Gal, with this restaurant, is an innovator among innovators. Set slightly back from Uhlandstraße in Berlin’s elegant Charlottenburg – where the city’s pre-war grandeur flickers brightest – the restaurant makes a tranquil impression. The interior is tasteful and minimal; the focus is on the food. A neon sign reading ‘GLASS’ – appropriately given a halo by the surrounding glass – is a pleasing touch, as is the metallic curtain shielding the half-open kitchen. The curtain balances the glass walls, and holds the room in a delicate equilibrium of vague and soft reflections that befits the restaurant’s name.
Just as the restaurant itself might suggest Gal as an aesthetically-minded chef, there are dishes in his eight-course menu that make a distinctly visual impression. His STADTGARTEN would not look out of place on canvas rather than on chinaware; it looks more like a Kandinsky than like a salad. The dish is a highly stylised arrangement of vegetables, flowers and edible earth that draws inspiration from the city gardens at Berlin’s Templeholf field. The flavours – earthy and fresh, then sweet and flowery – do well not to be entirely overshadowed by the presentation.
Like STADTGARTEN, many of Gal’s dishes have a clear point of inspiration. The beetroot starter – dubbed LAKESIDE VIEW – arches artfully across the plate: a red sunset recalling an afternoon by the lake. The meal gathers pace and ends climatically when Gal unveils his show-piece desert, CANDY BOX. Cutlery is swept aside and a silver tablecloth – in keeping with the curtain – laid down. Gal himself deposits caramelised chocolate in a cloud of liquid oxygen and sets the scene: a picnic one Sunday, twenty years ago, searching his mother’s handbag for sweets, tipping out its contents, eating the sweets off of the picnic blanket.
It seems that Gal has lived his life through food, and his desire to reflect that and the creativity it entails is his chief interest. That is not to say, though, that his handling of flavour or that the quality of the food itself suffers. Gal bears all the marks of a technically talented chef and his success in reworking traditional dishes shows this. The gazpacho – especially – with a scoop of iced mustard in its centre, is as good as you will find outside of Spain. Likewise his Japanese take on a traditional French beef-and-vegetables style dish is a memorable success. In some cases, perhaps, the food – while brilliant in its own right – falls down behind the bold concepts underlying the menu. Gal’s biggest challenge lies in bridging this gap.
What is so pleasing about GLASS and Gal’s menu is that it is clear that he is not making anything up. His menu is deeply personal and sincere, and can convey nostalgia – like the CANDY BOX does – or a moment of serenity – as does LAKESIDE VIEW – just like the best art does. The restaurant’s design, the presentation of the food and inspiration behind the menu all suggest Gal’s artistic tendencies and, while he remains a chef before an artist, he is pushing those boundaries. As his first restaurant GLASS is a remarkable achievement, and Gal finds himself ideally placed: not yet 30, with the creative freedom of Berlin as his setting, and a brand new restaurant at his disposal, he could well be on the verge of something notable.
Harry Strawson
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