
It’s not just a matter of diet. Of course, Sauvage in Neukölln is the place to go if your body cannot tolerate the staples of our brave modern world (gluten and lactose primarily). A grain-free, sugar-free, all organic diet can’t hurt (it helped owner Boris come to terms with years of asthma and poor health).
But frankly Sauvage’s Sunday brunch is better than healthy: it’s delicious. Take the Hunter and Gatherer Plate (€13.50): the wild leaves and flowers (handpicked in Dahlem) are beautifully dressed with fresh citrus and olive oil. The homemade grass-fed beef sausages taste as ‘wild’ as boar (perfect with the sour pickled apples). The dairy-free cheese made out of fermented almonds is something of a revelation. The egg is organic, of course, as is the bacon. Even the chocolate-cherry muffin (included in the price as well as tea or coffee) is miraculously tasty (Gula Java coconut blossom sugar and Erdmandel or ‘chufa sedge’ convincingly stand in for the sugar and flour).
Of course the grain/ flour-free ‘bread’ (a concoction of veggie seeds and eggs, oven-dried for five hours) has only its name in common with our western breakfast staple, but who cares? Tasty it is, with or without the excellent ginger marmalade. Don’t shy away from the paleo pancakes: served with bacon, a fresh dark berry sauce and succulent roasted pears and peaches – awesome!
Latte addicts, have no fear: they do serve your milky caffeine fix; the lactose-shy have a choice of almond or cocoa milk (or tea!). In summer, sit outside their cosy cave, on the shady side of this fashionably shabby Neukölln side street.