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Daily Warteg serves up taste of home in Berlin
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Southeast Asian fare: Daily Warteg, a small eatery specializing in Indonesian and Singaporean food run by chef-owner Gabriele Winata, is located close to Berlin Central Station in the German capital. (Courtesy of Daily Warteg) (Courtesy of Daily Warteg/Courtesy of Daily Warteg)
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em>At Daily Warteg in the German capital, Gabriele Winata serves home-cooked meals using family recipes to an eclectic crowd of office workers, tourists and foodies, as well as patrons from the Indonesian diaspora looking for a taste of home.
Perhaps the time to open a new eatery, albeit a small one, was never more challenging than it was in 2021, when the pandemic still held the world in its grip and the food service industry was reeling from the impacts of the COVID-19 restrictions, with many restaurants, cafés and bars struggling to stay afloat.
But Gabriele Winata wasn’t deterred. In June 2021, more than a year into the pandemic, she opened Daily Warteg at a spot only a stone’s throw from Berlin Central Station. An outdoor seating area helped to attract customers during the summer months and for the colder seasons, she converted the storage area into an indoor dining room with a handful of tables.
Born to cook
Born in Sulawesi, Gabriele moved to Batam with her family as a young girl. After graduating senior high school, she decided to continue her education abroad. She lived in Dessau in the state of Saxony-Anhalt for a year before moving to Berlin in 2013 to study chemistry.
While juggling university classes and learning a new language in unfamiliar surroundings, Gabriele resorted to cooking for herself at home on most days. It was hard to find Indonesian food in Germany, she recalled, but love for food and cooking runs in her blood.
