Sadly Chez Ojan is no longer in business.
Calling all Canadians! Do you have a hole in your heart that yearns for the Montreal-style gravy-soaked, cheese-curd-topped French fries of home? New restaurant-café-gallery Chez Ojan is doing its best to fill that hole with Berlin’s most authentic – and one of the only, if you don’t count a sporadically appearing street stall – poutine. For €5.70, you get a moderate portion of fluffy fries with imported Québécois cheese curds and gravy, available in either traditional duck or vegan mushroom varieties. It’s good, but kind of blends into the tacky metallic gold/gravy-coloured decor in this odd little space, whose walls display canvas prints of Canadian cityscapes alongside kitschy posters of Monroe-era celebrities (owner and Montrealer Monica Shaykhi says the “gallery” bit is still in the works).
Don’t come here for the ambiance, but for the Canadian stuff you can’t get anywhere else, like (real) maple-syrup-topped pancakes (€5.70) accompanied by a Bloody Caesar (Bloody Mary with clam-tomato juice, €7.70). This can also be ordered vegan, with a version of Clamato that uses clam juice flavouring. (Is that good or bad? You decide.) You can also try one of the six flavours of Vancouver-brewed beer by Steamworks available, including pumpkin ale and jasmine IPA (€3.90), or – sit down for this one, you crazy Canucks – a freshly brewed Tim Hortons coffee, available from December for just €1.80.
