On a quiet side street in the otherwise buzzing Berlin-Neukölln is what looks like just another cosy vintage cafe: exposed brick, mismatched furniture, candles in jam jars. But Restlos Glücklich is Germany’s first anti-food waste restaurant, serving delicious dishes using discarded food.
It was opened in July by a group of volunteers, including an environmental scientist, an engineer and a bank clerk, and cooks almost entirely with surplus from farms or supermarkets. The food is not past its sell-by date, but rejected because vegetables are oddly shaped, packaging is damaged, or there’s a lack of storage space.
“We are 12 people who are united by one passion: the battle against food waste,” says co-founder and educational manager Leoni Beckmann. The not-for-profit organisation also runs harvest tours of farms, and classes in cooking with leftovers at home (€60pp).
Twice a week, the team collects discarded food from a total of 10 farms and organic supermarkets. With no control over what produce is available, founding chef Daniel Roick, who has a fine-dining background, has to be constantly creative. He does so with delicious results. Changing daily, the menu focuses on vegetarian and vegan dishes, such as seitan burgers and chilled cucumber foam soup (€6-€8).
A €22 three-course weekend menu might include goat’s milk panna cotta with thyme and honey, coriander rice cakes with smoked cauliflower cream, and wild berry chocolate cake. All items are also available in a smaller portion to avoid any leftovers.
• Kienitzer Straße 22, restlos-gluecklich.berlin
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