Aaron D. Allen » Berlin Restaurant Consultant http://aaronallen.com Global Restaurant Consulting Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:26:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 KaDeWe Berlin, Germany http://aaronallen.com/blog/travels/kadewe-berlin-germany/ http://aaronallen.com/blog/travels/kadewe-berlin-germany/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:40:05 +0000 Aaron Allen http://aaronallen.com/?p=579

KaDeWe is very unassuming from the outside. Each floor is an American football field though. There are 7. The top two are dedicated to gourmet food.The fish, and eels, and all sorts of other sea life are fresh and aptly displayed.The bell you see in the right of frame is a replica of the Liberty Bell. And yes, that’s solid chocolate.I’m not sure when I’ve needed live eels as part of my home menu planning, but if you need them, get them from KaDeWe.Fresh seafood stretches farther than many can hit a golf ball. It’s packed thick and plentiful. You see here 3 square feet of what must be 5,000 square feet dedicated to seafood.Imagine the center-field to the goal-line and it is crammed with coolers that look like this one.On the top floor, chefs preside over rows and rows of pay-by-weight cuisine.Shellfish flies in daily from all corners of the world. Take as little or as much as you like.Dream of a fruit and it is likely juiced and on ice awaiting you.I opt for a quite table in the atrium. And a half-dozen plates of food! Anchovies, lobster, shrimp, pate, and even beef tartar for breakfast. Heaven!After “breakfast”, I head back out for more shopping. It’s only 11AM by now and I have 5 more floors to explore.Cosmetic stores may have a corner dedicated to Revlon. Here, Bacardi gets its own corner. Yes, a “department” dedicated to Bacardi.I am surprised that oysters from my home town in Florida have a “department”. I’m on another continent and want for nothing whether from here or from back home.In morning the Champagne “department” is busily setting up shop. Elevators whisk you from fantasy to fantasy, all to the sound of corks popping and to the aromas of the foods you lust most to have.

Any foodie should have Berlin’s KaDeWe high on their list of travel destinations. Opened in 1907 by Berlin merchant Adolf Jandorf, KaDeWe is the largest department store in Europe. Up to 180,000 customers visit daily and make their way through the 7-story shopping paradise. The store is 60,000 sm (approximately 650,000 sq ft!).

The top two floors are dedicated to food. During my trip I spent 3 hours mulling around in fascination. I don’t think I was nearly as amazed as a kid on my first trip to Toy’s R’ Us as I felt to walk around KaDeWe as an adult.

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