
Since finding success at Markthalle IX last year, baker Johannes Hüsing and partner Michael Fritz have brought their Spluffin, a flaky, sweet or savoury cross between a muffin and the Berliner baked good Splitterbrötchen, to the next level: now, you can buy more than 20 kinds of Spluffin online and in their store at Revaler Straße 12 in Friedrichshain. They originally came up with the idea for the pastry in Paris, but Hüsing feels that the little bulging titbit brings a breath of fresh air to the German bakery market.
So, why Spluffins?
We wanted to create a different kind of baked good. When people bite into a Spluffin and taste everything that’s inside, they say, “Wow, what an experience”. We don’t use any processed foods, only organic spelt flour, for example. And we make sure that the other things are processed as little as possible and that most of it is regional. Sixty to 70 percent of the ingredients are organic, and we also have vegan variations.
The food trend you hate the most?
Actually, I think vegan cooking has developed in such a way that people automatically think they’re getting something different, something fresher, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes people buy something vegan even though it doesn’t taste particularly good. A sort of blindness has developed.
The best-selling item at your restaurant?
The rhubarb cheesecake Spluffin is number one. Then comes Nuss-Nugat-Lauge, a vegan flavour. Some people come by two times a day to buy that one. Of the savoury flavours, potato sour cream and Mediterranean are really popular. We started with about 10 types of Spluffin and we’re always developing new flavours.
A cooking tip…
Give yourself plenty of time. That’s my motto.
A dining tip (other than your own restaurant)…
Recently I was in Parker Bowles on Moritzplatz – a deli mixing classical German food with transcontinental recipes. I can really recommend that.
The best thing about having your own restaurant?
Working with good ingredients, the love of handcraft, and simply making other people happy with tasty things.
The worst…
When people are dissatisfied, when people don’t appreciate what you do – which doesn’t happen often, though.
The Spluffin Store, Revaler Str. 12, Friedrichshain, U-Bhf Warschauer Str.