Situated in Ehemalige Jüdische Mädchenschule, the same former Jewish Girls’ School as the recently featured Pauly Saal, Oskar Melzer and Paul Mogg do for 1930s American delis, what the aforementioned restaurant does for Berlin’s ‘Golden Twenties’ heyday; namely offer a perfectly considered slice of retro, but never forgetting it’s the 21st century. There’s echoes of the classic Jewish-American delicatessens, with New Yorker Joey Passarella overseeing home-smoked pastrami and salt-pickled pickles à la Katz, but the duo – whose backgrounds are in nightlife and DJing – ensure it never feels overly retrospective – this is a very à la mode little spot.
Mogg & Melzer‘s location means there’s a close relationship with their neighbour Pauly Saal too, their products (such as kosher salt or wine) being sold, and with galleries accompanying the restaurants in this inspirational Berlin space, the Jüdische Mädchenschule is creating serious waves as one of the city’s hottest spots. You’d just think, that having created a space so frightfully brilliant, that the duo would look a little happier with themselves…