TV series: 50 Kitchens, one City – Cuba

A cross media film production about Berlin based restaurants

Ropa Vieja in Schöneberg – that's the kind of discovery you only make if you know where to ask. For our TV series »50 Kitchens, one City«, produced for Deutsche Welle euromaxx, we followed tips from insiders rather than tourist guides, and found La Pequeña Habana tucked away in a quiet corner of the neighbourhood. What looked unassuming from the outside turned out to be one of the warmest episodes of the entire series: a Cuban couple cooking their national dish with the kind of passion that no script could have written.

Fifty episodes like this one – each researched, filmed, edited and delivered broadcast-ready by our Berlin film production team. The camera was always rolling at the right moment, and the story always came from the people, not the other way around.

TV and web series with the Cuban restaurant »La Pequena Habana«

Finding a restaurant in Berlin that serves good Cuban food wasn’t exactly easy. Thanks to a tip from a chef friend, we discovered La Pequeña Habana in Schöneberg. Rather unassuming from the outside, inside guests are treated to excellent cuisine and a great deal of passion for gastronomy. Iris Garofalo embodies this in the service, her husband Eric in the kitchen. For the TV series 50 Kitchens, One Home, we cooked the Cuban national dish, Ropa Vieja, together – a beef dish prepared in a special way.

But the avocado salad and the daily fresh fish dish are also absolute delicacies. For Iris and Eric, running their own restaurant is an absolute dream, they tell us. “Food plays a huge role in Cuba. We’re family people. We love eating together and we enjoy our food. We all gather round the table and tell each other how our day went, chatting about everything. No matter what happens, we enjoy our food.” During our filming, lots of Cubans ate at Iris and Eric’s, sharing stories and enjoying themselves. A good sign, we think.