The Naveena Path (Tegeler Straße 22, 13353 Berlin) is in what The Friends of Hector have come to call The Garden Suburb of Berlin. Others may refer to it as Wedding. It was last year when Hector was determined to discover more Deutsche Curry Houses worthy of this Blog that the Naveena Path bubbled up. That it was literally 30m from the Pension Regina Braun where we have stayed the last two summers for the Berlin Bier Mile, was a major irony. We left the accommodation to the left, the Naveena Path is to the right. Had the Hausbrauerei Eschenbräu been open earlier in the day we would have discovered this. Last year Hector had to settle for a superb Sunday brunch at the adjacent Schade, the Naveena Path was never open at a suitable Curry time.
There is no truth to the rumour that Hector planned his route home from Greece just to have Curry at the Naveena Path and Bier at Eschenbräu (Triftstraße 67, 13353 Berlin-Wedding). Once the route was decided, this of course was the plan.
We played at being tourists for a while, the rain eventually drove us underground. The U Bahn took us out to the Garden Suburb. Tegeler Strasse is a five minute walk from both Wedding stations. The Naveena Path was open, we were the first customers, and no others joined us.
A Chap greeted us and issued the menus. A lady was evident in the background.
This is very much a South Indian/Sri Lankan set up. The menu was quite limited. Hector was tempted to go for a Fish dish, but Lamm as usual won out.
Marg likes her Butter Chicken or Chicken Dahiwala as it is called here. Hector, ever mindful of Curry with no distractions went for the Mutton Subji Lamb with various Vegetables in an Indian Sauce. I asked for it to be Scharf.
Rice is included as is the style in Germany. We ordered two Chapattis and an Onion Baji to share.
The cooking was done in an area immediately before us. The Onion Baji turned out to Onion Rings served with a small Salad and a spicy sauce. These were devoured. It had taken us much less time to eat the food than it had taken for the couple to prepare and serve it.
Sri Lankan Delight
Hector recognised Marg’s Curry as that served up during up seventeen days in Sri Lanka in 1993. The Masala was creamy, thin and there was plenty of it. As ever I dipped a bit of Chapatti into my own Masala, very good was my instant judgement. The Lamb dish worked because of the array of included Vegetables: Courgette, Peas, Eggplant, Cauliflower. And add to this more Rice than two could eat, and one could tell they were out to feed us.
This was a thoroughly pleasant Lamb dish, however Marg started to become exuberant about her Chicken Dish. She has stated that we are definitely coming back to the Naveena Path. This is quite an endorsement from Marg.
Hector will definitely have a Fish dish next time.
The Bill
€27, one can have no complaints over this. We turned down complementary teas.
The calling card again did its trick. We had quite a discussion after the meal about the make up of the Curry Houses in Glasgow. Maybe there is room for a Sri Lankan style outlet.