House of Small Wonder Berlin

Somehow, the House of Small Wonder right next to the Berlin Friedrichstadt Palast has always fascinated me. It took several attempts before I was really inside. You have to know that you could not reserve for a long time which could lead to very long waiting times. That scared me off.

In the meantime, you can at least reserve a table for dinner. That makes things much more relaxed. The restaurant is also very relaxed. Its team exudes an insanely calm and lovingly cares for the guests.

The ambience

I don’t know how to describe the style exactly. But let’s start with the stairs – the restaurant is on the first floor. To get there, you can climb a wonderful spiral staircase lined with lots of plants. An excellent photo motif!!!

Wood also dominates the rest of the place. Most of the tables are located along the window front, which is given this Asian touch by interior blinds with wooden slats. In the rear part of the restaurant there are some high tables in addition. The House of Small Wonder is not bigger than that.

This also explains the waiting time that you should plan for a brunch visit. But an elegant solution was also found for this. Upstairs in the restaurant and at the foot of the stairs there are seating areas for those waiting. Some of those chairs are reminiscent of cinema chairs, where you fold down the seat. In the meantime they have opened up a bar on the ground floor. I have not visited it yet, but here you can certainly pass your time waiting for a seat in the restaurant. We’ll get to the drinks a little bit later.

Finally, colorful wallpapers with floral motifs round off the Southeast Asian style of the restaurant.

The Food at House of Small Wonder

As I indicated earlier, the day at House of Small Wonder is divided into the brunch – from 10 a.m. – followed by lunch – from 12 p.m. – and finally dinner – from 5 p.m.

Brunch and Lunch

… flow smoothly into each other. For European terms breakfast dishes are e.g. egg dishes such as biscuit Benedict and croissant French toast. You can also get miso soup or salad in the morning. The menu changes again and again, so I recommend that you look at the online menu before your visit. You can find the link to the website below in the info box. The dishes mentioned here may no longer exist. But don’t be sad, I’m sure there is an equally good replacement.

From noon there will be other dishes that focus on Japanese cuisine. There are always at least two or three vegan options. Incidentally, these are characterized by two bright leaves, vegetarian dishes get a dark leaf. In addition, gluten-free dishes are marked with a crossed-out ear of wheat.

Dinner

In the evening, it feels even more relaxed. As I said, you can reserve for dinner. The dishes are often cross over from popular European or American dishes and Japanese cuisine. As starters there are “BBQ Chicken Wings” marinated in a Japanese BBQ sauce or cole slaw with Japanese influences.

The same goes for the main courses. Japanese carbonara is on the menu here, for example.

But there are also typical Japanese dishes, such as the garlic edameme as a starter or an onigiri set and a don.

The evening menu also always has two or three vegan dishes to offer and one or two gluten-free dishes are also on the menu. The latter include, for example, the Miso Honey Mustard Ribs (see photo).

And the vegan category includes the Koumiyasai Avocado Don (also with a photo).

Everything I’ve eaten at the House of Small Wonder has been delicious. My companions were also always very happy with their food. We are in the middle of the price range. Main courses currently cost between 8 and 21 euros. So there is also something for the smaller wallet.

Dessert

Unfortunately, there is nothing vegan on the current dessert menu. But of course all desserts are vegetarian. Thanks to my company, I can give you an example of a dessert. The photo shows a cheese cake. Sounds ordinary at first, the special thing about it was the sweet balsamic sauce. And there were also a few fruits.

By the way, the only dish with a Japanese touch was the Matcha Roulade.

The price of all desserts is on the same level and is exactly 5 euros.

Drinks

I find the small but fine cocktail menu particularly worth mentioning. Some of them are on the menu – like this Yuzu Sour in the picture – and a few more on a blackboard.

Speaking of the menu. Apparently due to Corona pandemic it is currently only available online. For this purpose, there is a QR code on each table that leads you directly there. So you can conveniently look again afterwards what exactly you ate there.

Apart from a non-alcoholic Warsteiner, there is only one beer on the menu. But at least the Asahi beer comes from Japan.

In addition to the usual soft drinks, there is also homemade lemonade and Earl Grey iced tea.

The selection of wines is somewhat larger and very international. And if you like, you can treat yourself to a glass of Cremant.

Conclusion

Definitely worth a visit. The good Japanese and Japanese-inspired international cuisine was convincing. I can also highly recommend the small, fine selection of cocktails.

Nice ambience, attentive and loving service. A place to feel good.