German cuisine has all the makings of perfect comfort food: potatoes, stews, spätzle with melted cheese, flammkuchen (a sort of pizza/flatbread) and so much more. But much German cooking is uninspired and unflavorful. Chez Gino works at undoing the wrongs of so many herb and spice wary cooks of yore and presents some of the finest southern German cooking around.

Instead of a flammkuchen with the normal speck and onion combination, Chez Gino offers one with arugula and delicately cured meat. And while one can hardly go wrong with potatoes and mushrooms, the restaurant offers a more interesting twist with truffled sweet potatoes.

The food is always solidly interesting, but never too playful and over-the-top. And the slightly kitschy forest themed wallpaper, as well as the occasional celebrity, reminds you that you’re in Berlin and not Baden.