Rote Gruetze is the summer Berlin and northern German dessert: a thickened compote of red summer fruits (raspberry, redcurrant, cherry, strawberry) served warm or cold with vanilla cream.
Rote Gruetze (literally red groats) takes its name from the 16th-century practice of binding the fruit compote with semolina or oat groats. The modern Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein version uses cornflour instead. The dish is the canonical Brandenburg summer dessert: a use-up for the red fruit glut of June and July from Werder's strawberry farms and the local raspberry and currant patches. By tradition, every Berlin Gartenrestaurant serves Rote Gruetze through the summer season; the vanilla-cream pour (Vanillesauce) is non-negotiable. Lutter und Wegner has plated the version unchanged since the 1990s; many Berlin bakeries sell the jam-jar take-away version year-round.
3 editor picks for Rote Gruetze in Berlin, ranked by editorial score. All Berlin signature dishes · Rote Gruetze across every city.
Borchardt ★ 4.3
mitte · Franzoesische Strasse 47, 10117 Berlin
Borchardt on Berlin's Franzoesische Strasse has cooked the city's defining Wiener Schnitzel since 1992; the 1850s dining room runs 200 covers and the political-class lunch crowd.
Lokal ★ 4.3
mitte · Linienstrasse 160, 10115 Berlin
Lokal on Berlin's Linienstrasse in Mitte cooks a short daily menu of seasonal Brandenburg produce; the Spargel and Rote Gruetze are the calendar anchors each spring and summer.
Lutter und Wegner ★ 4.2
mitte · Charlottenstrasse 56, 10117 Berlin
Lutter und Wegner on Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt has cooked the city's traditional Wiener Schnitzel since 1811; the wood-panelled room runs the long lunch and Sunday classics.