There is nothing better on a Saturday morning than go somewhere for breakfast. Just to sit down in ni(e)ce company, to order and lean back makes for a beautiful beginning of the weekend. I decided on a nearby place which had been on my go-to list since quite a while. It’s not easy to find great places within my vicinity especially with winter around the corner when I don’t want to walk so far. As you know I might not be a picky eater but I can be hard to please. I love a good breakfast as much as the next one but what is good is up for me to decide.
So last Saturday my niece and I entered “Das Kolin” to find it half-empty in the front room and a large group in the back. We settled down at a corner table with two upholstered seats. The used dishes of the previous customers were still on the table though. When the waitress finally came to clear the table she told us to take any of the others. That one was reserved for someone else. The next one we chose was near the door (something we had wanted to avoid due to the draft) but it also had upholstered seats for both of us and needed clearing as well.
We had to wait for another couple of minutes until the waitress found the time to clear this table as well and provide us with the menus. Eventually we were able to order though and got our drinks within a couple of minutes. The food was a different topic. After 30 minutes or so I inquired politely when we would receive our breakfast and was told that our waitress had already asked the kitchen (love it that she was so pro-active!) and that owing to the large group in the back room it would take unfortunately another couple of minutes.
15 minutes later I inquired again and was told that everything was ready but that the eggs still needed cooking (excuse me, everything we ordered was ready-made except for the eggs). Meanwhile would we like something else to drink on the house? We ordered more orange juice thinking we would each get another small bottle of juice. Far from it, we got our breakfast within a couple of minutes and ten minutes later we got half a liter of freshly squeezed orange juice. What a nice gesture! That the retail value of the juice stood in no relation to what we ordered, was a problem of the manager.
The breakfast itself then was totally underwhelming after the long wait. My niece had the “Viennese Classic” with two rolls, butter, jam and a soft-boiled egg while I had ordered “Little Orient” with hummus (which turned out to be beet hummus), two poached eggs and tomatoes with buffalo bocconcini. Why the bocconcini was called oriental is beyond me but I am sure the Italians would take a different stand.
Anyway, the cheese was bland. Although marinated with pumpkin seed oil, it didn’t have enough tomatoes in it, and the hummus was plain wrong. Neither enough red beet nor enough hummus. Actually I am not a fan of all the hummus varieties. I like my hummus the traditional way. It tasted as boring as it looked.
That doesn’t mean though that I won’t give them another chance. The place is cozy, well decorated and invites to linger (and it’s near my place). I can see myself spending dreary winter afternoons reading by the windows. Besides then I won’t order anything out of the kitchen. Yours, Pollybert
