Rogacki Delicatessen – Charlottenburg

I was still mulling over the decision to move to Berlin or stay put in London when I came across Antonio Carluccio’s article on Rogacki in the Jaime Oliver magazine.  Carluccio was cooking in London way back when you could only by olive oil from the chemists.  I am lying, that was Elizabeth David but eating out options where nevertheless pretty bleak back then.  To see this jolly grand daddy of Italian cooking in the UK get all excited about a deli in Berlin was surprising.

A few months later when I visited Rogacki, I instantly agreed with him!  If this place was in London, it would have already had 6 face lifts, the people serving would all be students that didn’t understand your order and there would be a sushi bar in the front window – maybe with a conveyor belt.  That is one of the great things about Berlin, it’s not in such a hurry to modernize that they throw out the baby along with the bath water!  Shoppers can appreciate an old-timer and although most Rogacki customers were over 50, there were plenty of young people as well.