At noon, Prenzlauer Berg locals don’t just meet up for a flat white or a green quinoa bowl but also for a fresh roll with warm Leberkäs’ and sweet mustard at Terese, the quaint transalpine delicatessen in the Gleimviertel district. The friendly owner, who serves the rolls personally and gives detailed product advice and seems to have a personal connection and anecdote for each of them, is not called Terese but Martina. Terese is her grandmother, with whom Martina spent half her childhood on Lake Constance. Terese was an excellent cook, and so, true to the motto “the way to one’s heart is through the stomach,” she cooked for everyone and served an extra portion of comfort food on top. It makes sense that this woman is the namesake of the small store because, like Terese’s home, cozy is a very good way to describe the atmosphere here. The shelves are stocked with dried flower arrangements, natural wines, clay plates, fondue sets, tomato sugo, Bricelet cookies from Savoie, Kaminwurz, bacon, and Alpine cheese. But also enamelware, grissini, dried porcini mushrooms, gin, and chocolate.

Martina knows the producers of each product, small artisan businesses, and manufacturers, all from the Alpine region. It’s a perfect place to fill up your pantry with local or vacation treats or to give as a gift to a friend. But you don’t have to take anything home or give anything as a present; you can enjoy dumpling or pancake soup, raclette rolls with pickled organic vegetables, or cheese platters on the spot. According to Martina, however, Leberkäse is the absolute bestseller, which she gets delivered fresh every week from the Bavarian town of Trostberg. She discovered the best Leberkäse in the world at the local butcher’s at the weekly market there. How nice that Martina has spared no effort to make the logistical effort to bring this world’s best Leberkäse to Berlin.

Text: Laura Luisa Iriondo / Photos: Robyn Steffen

Terese, Rhinowerstr.10, 10437 Berlin–Prenzlauer Berg; map 
Tue–Fri 11–19h & Sat 10–17h

@terese_transalpin