Last Thursday, October 3, restaurateur Nawid Samawat and award-winning bartender Tarek Nix kicked off their tiki-style takeover at Bellboy’s Pink Room. Titled Casa Don Papa, the pop-up, hosted in collaboration with Don Papa rum, offers cocktails and food inspired by Caribbean, Polynesian and Filipino cuisines every Thursday, Friday and Saturday throughout October.
Bellboy, the Mitte speakeasy posing as a 1920s hotel – complete with a fake lift and receptionists handing you a room key in exchange for your coat – might not seem the obvious choice for a Caribbean pop-up, but next to elaborate food and cocktail menus, Samawat and Nix also brought ambitious decor to make the space their own. Think surf boards, a fountain overflowing with large pearls and soft but humongous plant-like structures that transform the already ostentatious dining room into something reminiscent of Avatar’s rain forest.
Once you’ve taken in the lavish surroundings, it’s time to turn your attention to the culinary offerings. The focus lies on food and drinks in equal measure, with a whopping 10 different rum-, gin- and vodka-based cocktails (all €13; €10 for the two non-alcoholic options). In keeping with the tiki theme, the drinks are consistently sweet, fruity, milky or acidic – sometimes all of the above. Thanks to Nix’s mixology expertise, they’re also brilliantly clear; a prime example of this is the Ti Ra Mi Su Punch, a clarified dessert cocktail made with rum, cocoa, coconut, mascarpone and Vietnamese coffee, adorned with a delicate chocolate butterfly resting its weary wings atop an ice cube.
In the kitchen, Sawamat is not letting Nix steal the show. The owner of Chicago Williams BBQ cooks up Caribbean-European fusion featuring fresh tropical ingredients like plantain, mango, lime, passionfruit, jackfruit and papaya.
Standout starters include the beef tartare with deep-fried plantains, jalapeños and crispy corn (€18) and the pho-infused arancini drizzled with XO mayo and topped with king prawns (€14). The mains menu boasts a Filipino fish curry (€16), a bold but delectable combination of oxtail ragú on a waffle (€23) and surprisingly mouthwatering jackfruit Adobo (€14). For dessert, Sawamat plates up the German classic Spaghettieis (€12) and a give-me-three-more-plates mango sticky rice with a dollop of mango sorbet in coconut sauce (€10).
If you can handle George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ endlessly looping in the all-pink bathroom (and stuck in your head for the next two days), Casa Don Papa offers some much-needed escapism to warmer climes and a reprieve from the bone-chilling days of autumn. Mahalo!
- Casa Don Papa, Bellboy, Pink Room, Mohrenstr. 30, Mitte, through Oct 31, details.
