Treasure in a bento box

Through my job in the media world I tend to hear a lot of tips on where to go and what to do in Berlin. The ones that interest me the most are the food tips... and this last one was golden! We met our friends D and S at Gobento in Prenzlauer Berg, hoping for great Japanese inspired food –  the bar was set high. We didn't expect to also love the owner who welcomed us warmly, even if he was busy, and who passionately explained all the details of the dishes to us. There are no menus at Gobento, just the bento boxes (€10 each) filled with a variation of small dishes and condiments that depend on what the chef decided to make that day. Asking for a vegetarian or fish-free  bento box wasn't a problem and as we waited we enjoyed the complimentary jasmin and green tea. The food at Gobento is as beautiful as it is delicious and we almost didn't want to ruin the pieces of art by eating them. Mercifully we were given permission to tuck in and be messy! For dessert we were offered a selection of glutinous rice balls with a white chocolate dip – the peanut-butter treat was the unanimous winner. I'm dying to go again to see what new ideas have come to the chef's mind!

Tips for buying presents in Berlin

Buying heaps of presents at once, like at Christmas, isn't always easy or fun. We got really excited to bring home carefully selected organic, fair trade and even raw chocolates from Bitterveld in Prenzlauer Berg. The most interesting – and delicious – chocolate we bought was their self manufactured goat's milk chocolate, flavoured with blood orange.

At Vom Fass you can buy oils, vinegars, wines and spirits "vom Fass", i.e. on tap. We chose cool, old fashioned looking bottles and wrapped up Scottish and Irish single malt whiskies as Christmas presents – they were a hit!

Vegan restaurants with mom

After a week-long visit I walked my mom to the TXL bus stop on Alexanderplatz. Depending on how you see it, my mom is a really easy or a really difficult guest: she doesn't want to do much and has no demands. She's been to Berlin four times and prefers to stay local and take it easy. For me it's really trying, because it means that we sit around our flat a lot and all the little things that annoy a daughter about her mother stew. But all in all I was a well behaved adult for the whole week – I found that a glass of wine worked wonders on the nerves!

We did do something; a visit to TK Maxx in Charlottenburg (the Neukölln shop is nicer and less crowded), coffees with my friends who are learning Finnish, watched Christiane F. – Kinder vom Banhof Zoo, spent a Sunday afternoon at Mauerpark... And I managed to lure my mom and A with me to try two new vegan restaurants in Berlin: Lucky Leek in Prenzlauer Berg and Kopps in Mitte.

Lucky Leek
Lucky Leek offers sophisticated vegan food in a cosy, candle-lit, basement. We arrived early and the only other diners were a tourist couple, seated in a candle-lit corner. I realised that they, too, are Finnish and they try to stay quiet as not to get caught. That's how I know, because that's how Finnish people react to meeting other Finns abroad. The menu is short and sweet: four starters (€4.90-7.90) and four mains (€11.90-12.50), two dessert options (€6.50 each) and the daily specials. Tofu, seitan and soy are given the spotlight in only one or two dishes. In order to sample as many dishes as we could, we went for starters, mains and desserts. My Balinese spiced tofu, topped with a chive pancake and apricot chutney, was refined and hit all the right notes in terms of balance and texture. A's essence of shitake mushroom turned out to be a bitter broth with root vegetables and pearls of barley – the only disappointment of the evening. The mains were all wonderful: linguine with zucchini mini-schnitzels, pumpkin maultaschen with fried mushrooms and a creamy (vegan!) hollandaise and a roasted aubergine and bell pepper picatta served with thick chestnut noodles and a flavourful ragout of tomato and orange. Our plates were practically licked clean when our waiter came to clear up. Asking if the amazing nougat-chocolate tiramisu really was made in-house was clearly an insult: all the desserts are home-made. My mom said the tiramisu was the best dessert she ever had. I would not recommend anyone to skip dessert at Lucky Leek!

Kopps
Yesterday we tried Kopps, a vegan restaurant and bar that opened in September. It's great that vegan restaurants don't settle for a homely or a hippie look: Kopps looks like a designer hotel bar with soothing dark wood tables, sleek blue walls and upholstery in sophisticated greens. The menu sounds generic, mid-range: tuna salad, schnitzel, goulasch, roulade, mashed potatoes, serviettenknödel and blaukraut. The difference is of course, that Kopps serves only vegan food – not even your milchkaffee will be made with cow's milk here – which means that the menu has a lot of soy in different forms. The service is prompt and comes with a smile from the healthy looking, tall, german guys, all clad in black. As our drinks arrive, we have already gotten a basket of bread and a bowl of an interesting, butter-like spread that tastes of eggs and fresh onion – but apparently made of chick peas and pasta. I went for the three-course evening menu of pumpkin soup, cordon bleu and a selection of desserts (€19.50). This time it was A who had the highlight of the meal: battered fresh field mushrooms with a dill-remoulade and lemon (€5.90) – the best battered mushrooms I ever had! I'll go back just for those, I think... And they set the tone for a rustic, hearty meal. The braised vegetables with polenta (€8.90) represented the vegetarian dish that you would find on the menu in many ordinary restaurants: not very exciting (except that the roasted polenta comes in slices cut to look like toast halves – fun!). To my joy the cordon bleu did not taste much like processed soy and the crispy breading together with the beefy mash made the dish into real comfort food. The goulash (€11.50) that had me so excited before our visit, had great flavour, but the soy pieces had an unpleasant texture and that distinct taste of cupboard that soy has. The trio of deserts was plenty for the three of us: a little bowl of cremé brulee, marinated pears and a chocolate-orange brownie. The cremé brulee was amazing, the other two were unnecessary: just get me another bowl of the brulee, please!

Paleo dining with the inlaws

When we bought Blitzdeal vouchers for three course dinners at Sauvage, we decided to take A's parents out for a special dinner when they visit. The parents were here last week, with A's nieces in tow, but it was the middle of print week for me so I didn't get to see them much. But we did go for a paleolithic dinner, and I do think we gave them something to talk about at home!

Sauvage opened last spring in Neukölln and is the first paleo restaurant in Europe – probably even the only one. The concept is home-made, sugar-free, gluten and grain free, organic and transfat-free food, and  nothing is processed, sprung from agriculture or a domesticated origin. Be prepared for a whole new dining experience!

The menu is short but sweet. On the night we visited, the mains ranged from about 12-19 euro and for a vegetarian option the rump-steak, chicken fillet and swine medallion could be swapped for fried mushrooms to accompany the inventive side dishes. This was a bit surprising since the portion became considerably less filling. Three of the four vegetarians among us instead opted for the large antipasti selection for a main dish, but that, too, had to be specially ordered as vegetarian. I didn't think cavemen had access to so much meat.

While we waited we curiously tasted and analysed the starter of crackers served with rucola and tomato dips and a tapenade. One of the most exciting things at Sauvage is really their breads: held together by vegetable puree, nuts and seeds replace the wheat and grain you'd usually bake with, and the taste is nutty and full. The main dishes were all delicious and I can warmly recommend the adventure that is the antipasti plate. The only disappointment was dessert – maybe we were just too full to appreciate our hefty slices of carrot, orange and ginger cake, but it tasted like cold baby food mash, spiced with cinnamon. Next time I'll order the intense, unsweetened, coconut-milk hot chocolate and share the big glass with A for a dessert instead.

The atmosphere is very cosy and we didn't even realise that we'd spent four hours at the restaurant until we had to hurry to the U-Bahn to make sure we caught the last train home.

Vegan weekend in Berlin

Last weekend our mutual friend K was visiting E here in Berlin and since she's pretty much vegan, it turned into a vegetarian delight.

One of the best breakfasts Berlin has to offer is the Sunday vegan/vegetarian brunch at Morgenrot in Prenzlauer Berg. We sat down there at just after 11.30 – exactly the same time as everyone else seemed to have arrived. And by 1pm, when we were done, the place was all quiet again. Lesson learned!

We continued to Mauerpark, where I found a really pretty but useless hand made glass bowl for two euro. Unfortunately the park is so popular now that it's not a very relaxing Sunday afternoon spot – but you can always skip the market and just enjoy the sun on the grassy slopes.

Thanks to K I also tried a few new things this weekend. Since we were already in P'Berg, we walked a bit further up north and checked out the vegan supermarket Veganz that's opened on Schivelbeiner Straße – one of the first ones in Europe! It turned out that the shop actually isn't open on Sundays, only their café is, but the girls there were nice enough to let us shop a little anyway. I was happy to find gluten flour because we've been searching for it around Berlin's organic shops in order to attempt to make home made seitan.

For dinner we ended up at Yoyo in Friedrichshain, where we decided to finally try the vegan pizzas – we always say we will, but end up getting one of their amazing burgers instead. To get the full experience we all ordered different pizzas: one salami, one tuna and one with rucola. They were all ok, but the pizza without any processed fake meat was the best one (of course). Also, the tomato sauce was in need of some more love. Next time I'll order a burger.

After a late night with white wine yesterday, today we hung out for one last coffee before K had to fly back to Finland and managed to make that a vegan affair at Cupcake, the American cupcake café on Krossenerstraße in Friedrichshain. I must say that this pink raspberry cupcake was the best one I've ever had and the fact that it was vegan was just unbelievable! It was fluffy, moist, creamy... delicious. The frosting was on the hyper sweet side for us non-Americans and so the cupcake was perfect for sharing.

"The girls" are coming for a visit to Berlin next week and I'm hoping we'll get to try out a few other new veggie haunts then, like the newly opened Lucky Leek in Prenzlauer Berg, Vegikreuz near Ostkreuz, the legendary Cookies Cream restaurant/club and the much applauded Café Vux cake café in Neukölln... And, and, and... :)

The shoestring budget

After a trip to London we decided to tighten our belts and spend less money. On Monday we went to our local Bio Company branch and bought ingredients for pita breads (with hummous, tomato, avocado and smoked tofu), a miso soup, a potato salad with salmon, and a bulgur salad. No more shopping needed this week, we decided. But what happened budget-wise? On Wednesday I went for a coffee, that turned into beers, with S. On Thursday I drank posh blueberry smoothies over a Sprachtandem in Prenzlauer Berg. On Friday we had invited friends over for dinner, and as the last two girls standing, M and I spontaneously decided to go clubbing at 4am! I suspect that it's not the occasional sushi from downstairs, or midnight pizzas that use up the money. But a good social life is worth paying for :)

Kaffee und Tee on Frankfurter Allee.

"Happy Christmas, see you next year!"

The spirit of Christmas is stress, yes? To get evereything done at work, to find presents, over how much money it all costs – and for us expats; stress over managing to see everyone one more time before we all fly off to our respective home countrys.

I can tick all those boxes: I finished work yesterday, but had been working pretty much 24/7 before then. I still have to buy a present for my best friend, we just emptied our bank accounts at TK Maxx and we've been meeting up with friends for "happy christmas, see you next year"-dinners every few days. At least we have gotten some excellent meals out of it :)

On Wednesday last week we met M and N at Spaghetti Western on Torstraße (it's a lot nicer than the website looks!). Just a few weeks ago they revealed that they are having a baby, so this was also kind of an celebratory meal. I must confess that all I could think was: "it was nice knowing you, see you again in three years". But the restaurant was excellent! Everything cost about an euro or two more than I thought it should, but: when in Mitte... I ordered spaghetti with tomato sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil (€5,50) – a simple dish it was everything you could hope for. I'm already craving another visit! For dessert (all €3,90) we wanted panna cotta, but it was out, so we chose cremè brulées instead. They were tiny and the sugar crust was really thick and tasted burned, so the meal didn't have the great ending it deserved.

On Saturday we had a Prenzlauer Berg breakfast in German with S, D and S. Schwarze Pumpe is an old favourite, but we have only tried their Sunday brunch before. On a Sunday you need a reservation, but this Saturday at 11 o'clock the place was empty. We enjoyed our veggie plates, several milchcafés and some Heiße Zitrone. Afterwards we visited the Trendmafia Christmas market on Brunnenstraße. Before I had to run off to work we managed to pick out a cool t-shirt for my brother. This market is definitively worth a visit, it's on every first weekend of the month outside of the holiday season, too.

Today we emptied our wallets at TK Maxx Neukölln, found pressies for my dad (he wished for a plain black t-shirt), for A's dad and loads of other tricky people. And I got winter shoes, finally (two pairs, I don't know if I will have to be reasonable and return one pair...). Then we met M, M and little J for gift exchanges and Thai food in Mitte. Thai Inside seems like a place that I'd be suspicious of: too chic, too polished, too close to Alexanderplatz and higher-than-average prices. It turns out it's quite the popular spot; I think we were the only English speakers in the room! Our dishes were all good and beautifully plated and the service was terribly friendly – so 27 euro for a starter, a soup, a main dish and two drinks isn't that terrible, is it?

Now I only need to buy two more presents, wrap them all, buy wine to bring home, get a hair-cut and then it's Christmas bliss!

No shopping, just brunching

Brunch buffet at Morgenrot, Prenzlauer Berg

 

On Thursday A's friends from Finland were going to fly to Berlin to see Suicide Commando at K-17. Their flight was cancelled, because the Berlin airports ran out of de-icing fluid – unbelievable! It's winter every year, you wouldn't think it would cause such chaos. The boys flew in on Friday instead, and got tickets for Monster Magnet at Postbahnhof. I had a "girls night in German" with S and S, and at 2am we decided to meet up with the guys for a beer at legendary Paules Metal Eck on Simon-Dach-Strasse. I was home at 5am, and needed to be at a photo shoot on Saturday at 11.30.

After the very successful photo shoot some colleagues and I decided to go to Morgenrot on Kastanienallee for breakfast – I still hadn't eaten anything and was feeling pretty weak. Plus I haven't been there in ages and I looooove their vegan/vegetarian brunch! A and I still made a half-assed attempt at Christmas shopping, but were too tired and too uninterested for it to go well. At least I got to visit the new English books store at Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann – thank god I was too tired to shop, even for myself :)

Today we talked the Finnish boys into trying our favourite brunch at Datcha with us. We all agreed, once again, that it really is worth to pay €9.80 per person for. I don't think I'll have to eat all day now! The guys wanted to still make an effort as tourists, so instead of coming to our flat for a nap, they went to the Erotikmuseum in Charlottenburg. I opted to go visit our Kiezweihnacht Christmas market at the Samariterstrasse church. It wasn't very big or special, but I did manage to buy a great Christmas present there... But it's for the secret santa present at next weeks Christmas get-together, so I won't reveal it, at least yet!

Kiezweihnachtmarkt, Friedrichshain

Christmas, shopping, Berlin

My mother is in Berlin again for the weekend, and I've kept her busy. We have ignored the snowy sidewalks and been shopping and eating well, mostly.

We started off on Friday by designing my mom a custom made perfume at Frau Tonis Parfum in Mitte, a scent of roses and lily of the valley (€65 for 50ml, €22 for 15ml). Then we dropped in to my fave clothing shop, Cyroline, on Alte Schönhauser Straße (they also have shops in Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain). I always find cool and comfy clothes there and this time both mom and I bought tops. This all accidentally happened on our way to check out a friends' exhibition at the very interesting Haus Schwartzenberg on Hackescher Markt.

On Saturday we had a date with S to go check out TK Maxx in Charlottenburg together – I had heard that the shop there was a lot bigger and a lot better then the one in Neukölln. Other people had clearly heard that too: it was super crowded! We did manage to find some Christmas presents and I bought a hoodie. S had a very successful shopping day and declared that she'd found "her shopping paradise" :) Everyone loves TK Maxx <3

Since we were in Charlottenburg – possibly for the first time – we decided to go see Schloss Charlottenburg and the Christmas market there. Sure, it was big, pretty and had free entrance, but it was also a bit kitchy and crowded for our liking.

When we found ourselves in Neukölln today, we decided to take advantage of the shopping Sunday (the shops in Berlin are closed on most Sundays of the year), and check out the TK Maxx there, too. It was a lot less crowded, so we could really engage in rummaging around and two hours later we walked out with more Christmas presents and two sweaters for A. Dangerous place, that is!

Old/new brunch favourite

There are a few things I knew I would miss when we moved from Prenzlauer Berg: the salty licorice from Bärenland, the excellent Chinese dumplings at Wok Show, the amazing pizzas at A Magica and, finally, the festive Sunday brunch buffet at Pasternak. This brunch is unbelievable: there's so much food, it's so good and it's so beautiful.

Since we moved to Friedrichshain I have wanted to try Pasternak's sibling restaurant, Datcha. On Sunday we finally did, after four months of thinking about it. The brunch costs €9,80 per person (compared to €12,40 in P'berg) and it's the same spread that I remember from Pasternak – the only difference I noticed was that it's a bit louder and busier in the Friedrichshain branch, which some might even prefer. When we finished our meal I could hardly button up my coat anymore! Dangerous place :)

Home alone

I have no camera and no boyfriend for almost a week. A is in Finland to play a gig with his old band at a festival in our home town. I wish I was there too, but alas, it's too busy at work right now.

The weather was pretty nice today, I cycled around a bit because I met S in P'berg for a Sprachtandem in our favourite café, Slörm. Unfortunately the weather forecast suggests a miserable, rainy weekend. I'm invited to a party on Saturday night, and I would finally like to go check out the monthly Homeless Veggie Dinners (terrible name!) in Kreuzberg: you receive a vegetarian meal for a small donation that goes towards helping the homeless in Berlin.

When will I have time for all the Grey's Anatomy marathons I planned? ;)

Kiezgefühl

Next Saturday there's a Soupport your Kiez (Kiez = hood) party in our neighbourhood and I'm quite excited to see a different side to our new neighbourhood and the people here. There will be music and soup, too, which sounds like an interesting idea.

Since we moved to Friedrichshain I have often been thinking to myself about the differences to Prenzlauer Berg.

For one thing, there's a LOT more dog crap on the street here than in our old neighbourhood – I wonder if there are more dogs here, or just untidier people? I have also noticed that there are a lot of Kitas, kids and children's clothes shops around, so it didn't surprise me to read that Friedrichshain has become the most child dense part of Berlin. In Friedrichshain we see more punks, in Prenzlauer Berg we noticed more hipsters. Friedrichshain has more clubs and loudness: the only club in Prenzlauer Berg, Icon, is now closing because the inhabitants of a new apartment building next to it don't like living next to a club (well why did you move there, then?!). Maybe the much feared gentrification is further along in P'berg. In Friedrichshain our neighbours, too, are noisier: they play dubious music and a lot of techno throughout the weekends, day and night – where as in P'berg we were mostly disturbed by garden parties and children singing badly and too early in the Innenhof. In our new Kiez we greet the staff at the downstairs restaurant, the seamstress, the artist who has a gallery in the courtyard and random neighbours of course – that didn't happen i P'Berg, although that could of course just have been our own fault. One big difference seems to be that there are clearly more German speakers in Friedrichshain – for better of for worse.

Maybe in another year we should move to Kreuzberg to know what it's like there?

Karma

We had a really nice bye-to-P'berg barbecue in Mauerpark last night. We were around 10 people, ate veggie-skewers, halloumi sandwiches, cakes and strawberries hand-picked by S.


After some left over Schrippen for lunch this afternoon, we headed to Mauerpark to find cutlery for our new home. We pretty much only own clothes, some books, our bikes and our laptops. We were in a hurry to see the Germany-England football game and by the time we had left the house, queued at the worlds slowest Berliner Bank cash machine, S and D were already at the kneipe fending for a table, so we skipped the Flohmarkt. After the game (Germany won 4-1) we picked up the broken, crazy-pink bike that our Spanish friend S is semi-permanently lending us. A promised to fix it so that my mom will have a bike to zoom around on when she's here. On the last stretch home, cycling with three bikes, we found a pile of "zum verschenken" (give-away) stuff, with basically everything we wanted to find in Mauerpark today! Cutlery, a mirror, a big floor-pillow and a coat hanger. Pretty good karma, huh?

(We immidiately paid back by helping a guy who lost his keys outside our door. There is a hole in our doorstep, covered with metal bars, that looks into the cellar of the building. I've lost my keys there once, and we figured out that our cellar key works to that cellar, too.)

Midsummer

Today is midsummer's eve. After work and dinner we went for to Caramello for organic ice creams and then to Kaiser's to prepare for tomorrow's barbecue. It wasn't meant to be a Midsummer BBQ, rather a goodbye-to-Prenzlauer Berg picnic... We invited pretty much every one we know in Berlin via Facebook – and about half of them can make it. It should be fun. We bought tree disposable grills (very un-ecological, I know...), halloumi, courgettes, bell peppers and corn on the cob, and I'll make chili-chocolate cupcakes tonight. The weather forecast could be better so we'd get a really warm night; right now it's predicting +23°C.

Eis eis baby

For this issue of the magazine we compiled a list of our favourite ice cream places in Berlin. I didn't have one, I just usually grab a spontaneous Eis from Eisbar on Kastanienallee 10, who serve a decent scoop for 80 cents.

Caramello

I happened to read about Caramello, an organic ice cream manufacturer in Prenzlauer Berg, and decided that I found my new favourites then and there. Caramello has a second location in Friedrichshain. Amid the frenzy of looking for apartments, we made a point of making a stop-over on Rykestraße 7. The Caramello café is cute, and they have a mind-boggling selection of flavours (at least six variations on chocolate alone). I went for a Yogi Indigo (blueberry yoghurt) and A had a Going Nuts (nuts and nougat). One scoop costs €1,20, but it's worth it when you can pretend it's healthy.

Eisfabrik

When we went to see an apartment on Frankfurter Allee in Friedrichshain, we turned the corner and found ourselves on Samariterstraße, where we had never been before. With ice cream on my mind, I straight away spotted the jungle-themed facade of Eisfabrik (Samariterstr. 34a). When we found ourselves on on the same street again the next week, it was a sign: eat more ice cream! It is now my absolute favourite ice cream in Berlin, maybe the world; it's home made, the texture is soft, the scoops are big (cost 80 cent) and the "Grün Apfel" was everything I hoped it would be (although not green in colour). I hope to try all the flavours before the end of summer :)

The weather forecast bodes well for an ice cream weekend!

A lovely lunch

We were working hard at viewing apartments last week, and to make matters even less fun, we have been trying to be very prudent and boring, too. On Tuesday, after viewing an apartment on Rheinsberger Straße, in Mitte, with 30 other people in +30°C, A hoped to cheer me up by suggesting we treat ourselves to lunch, al fresco. I jumped at the chance to finally try the much-talked-about Vietnamese restaurant Onkel Ho around the corner from our house.


I had a fresh, slightly spicy papaya salad with shrimp, A had noodles with spicy shrimp and fresh vegetables – the krupuk and the dessert were complimentary. Unfortunately we only found one actual vegetarian dish on the menu, so I don't know if we can become regulars here.

It was a lovely meal, on a lovely day, and only cost €16,50 (I love their style of pricing: small beer €2,20, big beer €3,30, salad €4,40, warm dish €6,60 and so on.) There's no separate lunch menu, so prices are especially affordable for dinner, and there's always a few daily specials on offer.

Shopping for men

I hate buying gifts for boys: it's always so difficult! Men are a little bit like kids: they want toys and gadgets with buttons and cords. Clothes and books can be popular, but how do you know which ones? I bet most women end up buying men bestseller books, colourful socks or funny t-shirts as presents – I know I do. Every Christmas, every birthday. It's my dad's birthday on Friday, and because I've been working hard, I didn't get around to even buying a card yet.

Not far from our house is a funny shop called Männer Gift, gifts for men. I've always thought it's a bizarre concept, but today I decided I have to go in and see if they have a quick fix for me: a nice card and something I can mail in an envelope. I was pretty impressed: it's a big shop and they sell kitchen knives, frying pans, chocolate, towels, bathrobes, books, notebooks, underwear, bags, interior design knickknacks and jewellery. I bet I could have found many presents for my dad, my brother or boyfriend here – but nothing very cheap. I ended up buying a card and some "Louisiana Barbecue Spice Rub" for fish and meat (€9,50) in a convenient metal tin, because my dad loves to barbecue all summer long. Phew, I'm glad that's sorted (until next Christmas)!

I found out I like Chinese food

I have never been a huge fan of the greasy, gooey, slimy and mushy things served in our European Chinese food restaurants, but a few weeks ago, I changed my mind. We googled for a suitable, cheap restaurant to meet M&M and their little J in. We ended up going to Wok Show on Greifenhagener straße, in the northern outskirts of Prenzlauer Berg.

Wok Show is famous for it's delicious Chinese dumplings, jiaozis, that make an affordable meal at 20 pieces for €5,50 or 40 for €10 (+€1 if you want them fried). They also serve really interesting cold starters, so far my favourite is a cucumber and garlic salad – us vegetarians are quite well catered for. We were there again last night with friends and I had every intention of trying one of the other portions on the menu, but we ended up sharing the dumplings – again. I'm addicted! Also: what a nice change to not see a single "hipster" or exchange student in the restaurant!