my last meal Wim Wenders Profile Venue Born in 1945 in Düsseldorf, Open since 1982, Florian is Wim Wenders is among a west Berlin institution. Its Germany’s most-acclaimed Franconian cuisine – dishes film-makers and an icon of such as Schweinebraten auteur cinema. His work (sausages and sauerkraut) – is includes Paris, Texas and one draw. Another is that the Wings of Desire, ground- unpretentious lived-in interior breaking documentaries such spaces (old carpets, an oak Box-office as Buena Vista Social Club bar) feel like home but better. and Pina, a 3D film on The restaurant’s name comes material German choreographer Pina from Florian Geyer, a freedom Bausch, for which Wenders fighter who led peasants Berlin was nominated for an Oscar during the German Peasants’ in 2012. His photography – War in the early 1500s. A pho- Preface largely of lonely landscapes tograph of a young Wenders The esteemed director extols and, to a lesser extent, hangs on the wall. 06 07 the virtues of German cuisine cityscapes – has been at his favourite haunt. exhibited in major art venues Tt 50 such as the Centre Pompidou Menu Writer and Hamburger Bahnhof. He To start: Kimberly Bradley teaches film in Hamburg and Matjes (soused herring) salad in 2012 founded the Wim with red and yellow beetroot. Photographer Wenders Foundation. Silvia Conde Main: 01 Franconian pork roast with a potato dumpling and gravy. “My first memory of food is sitting on the To finish: back of my dad’s bike. My mother was on Mousse au chocolat. a bike as well and we were cycling out of To drink: Düsseldorf, which in 1948 was flattened, Château Lilian Ladouys, bombed ruins. We took a ferry to the other Saint-Estèphe bordeaux side of the Rhine and rode for a couple and water of hours in the countryside to meet farm- 10 ers. My father traded jewellery for a bag of Photography doesn’t coincide with my potatoes. The bag ended up on the back of film work anymore. As a film-maker I’m a his bike and I rode back on the front bar social animal with 100 people around and between his knees. I was crying because have been quite adventurous with digital I was so uncomfortable. But the precious production and 3D. But as a photogra- potatoes were on the back and we ate them pher it’s essential I’m alone and I shoot for weeks. I was three years old. 03 analogue. There’s nothing retouched. On I’ve had an office and apartment in a long day of shooting I’ll travel with a Berlin since the early 1970s, even when Thermos; most of these places are lonely I lived in America. The culinary aspects and I can’t get a coffee. Every now and of the city then were pretty grim. There then I’ll bring a Stulle: a small sandwich. were Prussian places where the main food The [Blain|Southern Berlin] gallery was greasy sausages and heavy German is around the corner from Potsdamer things; they’ve disappeared. Platz, a place that is still a mystery to me. I discovered Florian when it opened. 02 08 09 In the first two pictures in the exhibition It serves southern German cuisine from I don’t like fancy cuisine too much. There’s Recipe onions and apple, then you can see its transformation. They show Franconia, a region in northern Bavaria. one big photograph in my show [an exhi- boil in broth with other Potsdamer Platz as a junkyard. For a long ingredients (except Their speciality is Rostbratwürstchen [small bition at Blain|Southern Berlin]: it’s a pan- Franconian pork roast apple, prunes and flour). while it was just that; pieces of the Berlin roasted sausages] and sauerkraut. The oramic wide image of an asparagus field. Serves 4 Marinate meat in broth Wall and leftover trucks. It didn’t belong to ingredients come from Franconia and it’s White asparagus is my favourite food in for two days. anybody. Then it was a huge lake, because Ingredients special here. When friends visit from far Germany; it grows next to Berlin but also groundwater came up during excavation. 1kg pork neck (single piece) 2 Remove meat from broth away, like America or Japan, I take them in the Rhineland. We always had it when I 04 200ml white wine and pat dry. Strain broth. 11 It was amazing to see the centre of the city here because they don’t know German was a kid with potatoes and melted butter. 200ml apple juice 01 Espresso before lunch transform from no-man’s-land to a junk- food; it was long underrated and not really Later, when the Wirtschaftswunder [post- 250ml apple vinegar 3 Sear meat in hot oil. 02 Florian’s entrance yard, to a lake and now a place with high- famous for anything except sausages. war prosperity] came, we had ham with it. 4 onions Separately, brown 03 ‘Matjes’ salad to start rises and movie theatres – in 25 years. 1 bunch soup greens (car- vegetables, stirring con- 04 ‘Berliner Morgenpost’ – Even in the sausage department, this res- I’ve taken pictures since I was six. My rots, parsnip and parsley) stantly. Pour broth back with cover star Wenders The independent film world is shrink- taurant is better than anywhere else. The father gave me a camera; he was a sur- 1 sour apple into a baking tray, add 05 Tucking in to pork roast ing fast and can only survive if a need Tafelspitz – boiled beef – is amazing. geon but also an amateur photographer. I 15 prunes meat, cover and braise 06 Takeaway lunchbox – for narrative films remains. Blockbuster I don’t even have to look at the menu: wanted to become a painter so photogra- 1 tbsp juniper berries at 180C for 2 hours. presented to Wenders cinema offers formulas; every second Pinch allspice during the meal – of I know what I want. I lived around the phy was nothing special, it was just there. I 5 cloves 4 Remove from oven; strain sausages with sauerkraut movie is a seventh or eighth sequel. It’s corner and for 20 years I ate here almost only took it seriously from the early 1980s. 1 tbsp black peppercorns juices and gravy. Heat and mustard like with food: it’s a matter of what you are every day. Once I find something, I am It was spring of 1983 when I was travelling 1 tbsp flour latter again, thicken with 07 Mousse au chocolat offered. The more you get a certain kind very loyal. I now live in Mitte so I only a lot in the American southwest and I had flour and reduce by half. 08 Lunch is served of food, the more you depend on it. Slow The method 09 Florian’s bar come once a month or so. Last meal? I’d to get used to these bright colours; I wanted 5 Serve with baked apple 10 A familiar face food is a luxury, fast food is not. And have it here because it’s the place I have to lose my fear of this light. Until then I’d 1 Finely chop soup greens, slices and prunes. 11 The day’s menu that’s the same with blockbuster films. the longest relationship with. only photographed in black and white. They’re fast food for the eyes.” — (m)

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