On my last night in Berlin, my friends and I decided to take our hosts out for a nice dinner, since we were allowed to stay at their house during the World Cup, free of charge. the place that we decided on was the Restaurant Maxwell (www.mxwl.de/maxwell_gb.htm) would be the best place.

Luckily, that evening, there was on one really at the restaurant, so the 10 of us asked for a table outside in the courtyard. Now, this place is the remnants of an old brewery that has been converted into a fancy, out of this world restaurant. When our table was finally set with its fine white linens and multiple pieces of silverware, we were off. The first order of business was the wine. Now this place has such an extensive wine list that it is amazing. We started with one bottle of white and one of red (very reminiscent of a Billy Joel song).

As we perused the menu, which was way out of our leagues in the money department, we figured, why the hell not? We are on vacation and how often can you splurge in Berlin?

I started my meal with the Spring salad with fried leeks and almonds and dates wrapped in bacon. It was unbelievable! My next course was to die for; the Guinea Fowl Breast stuffed with Shiitake mushrooms over vegetables. Amazing! Everyone got something different but this was awesome.

As the night ran down and the tally of wine bottles increased, we realized that it was time to go. With our bill only hitting 350 euros (not bad for 10 people with apps and entrees and multiple bottles of wine) we let the dent hit the wallets and moved on down to the late night festivities that Berlin has to offer. But if you are in Berlin, try to make a stop here, its amazing and worth every euro.