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Maru is a small and cosy Korean restaurant, which offers quality sushi. You’ll get a good portion of nigiri for about £5, you’re not stuffed but not hungry anymore as well. You can choose this place for a late dinner - they serve food till midnight. Korean sushi is a nice option, if you don’t like the typical Japanese sour rice; it comes with a well flavoured smooth sauce.
I especially liked the atmosphere, they haven’t chosen the typical Asian interior and it matches will with the small size of the place and friendly people working there.
It is a place to meet for a date, as well as for a business lunch. If you want to show up with a group, I recommend to book, as the space is very limited.
Rigaer Str. 74, 10247 Berlin
+49 30 26545652
Di-So: 12-24h
Berlin in a nutshell. Peculiar mix of people - 70 year-old ladies in old-fashioned evening dresses and gentlemen in suits, urban bummers in Hugo Boss as well as crazy hipsters are to be seen in this old ballroom (existed since 1913) in the centre of Berlin.
Situated in a scraped building surrounded by numerous art galleries, the place was visited by Tom Cruise during his search for old-fashioned shooting locations for the film 'Valkyrie'. Good food and delicious home-made cakes. Music changes depending on the day (cha cha, swing, waltz and tango). In the summer, the garden is an additional attraction.
If you walk down the Auguststr (Berlin Mitte), you'll spot an enchanting garden and the scraped building behind it.
Clärchens Ballhaus, Auguststraße 24, Berlin Mitte.
www.ballhaus.de/
Nice American-style cafe bar serving delicious food in the hip Schlesisches Str area in Kreuzberg.
Near Schlesisches Tor u-bahn
An amazing restaurant on Bleibtreustrasse.'The Twelve Apostles', introduced Berlin to 12 types of pizza named for the 12 apostles. The most popular version is the Judas. I have never eaten food so tasty in such perfect surroundings. It is always very popular, so booking is recommended.
Bleibtreustrasse 49, Berlin, Germany 10623 · +49-(0)-30-3121-433
CHARLOTTENBURG - WILMERSDORF
The 12 Apostel is housed under the arches of the S-bahn railway in the heart of the 'Mitte' part of (what used to be East) Berlin. Every last square centimeter of the walls and ceiling is covered in sumptuous murals, and every so often the whole place shakes as a train passes overhead. Irresistable reminder of Liza Minnelli screaming at Michael York in 'Cabaret'. Often crowded, unsurprisingly, as the food (pizzas) is terrific too.
Georgenstrasse 2, S-bahn Bögen 177-180, Berlin 10117. Phone 030-2010222. Nearest U- and S-bahn stop: Friedrichstrasse.
The Shima restaurant is a place with excellent Asian food and a lovely atmosphere.
Schwäbische Straße No. 5, D-10781-Berlin
www.shima-world.de/
An excellent little Vietnamese restaurant in the heart of Kreuzberg.
The menu is limited, but there's a daily specials board in English along with a range of tasty lassi drinks.
The service was impeccable with the food cooked right in front of your eyes.
The best thing is, a meal and a lassi only cost me 8 euros.
Bargain.
Skalitzer Str. 103, 10997 Berlin-Kreuzberg. Across the road from U-Bahn stop Gorlitzer-Bahnhof
Atmospheric cafe/restaurant inside an old villa. Walk through the dark wood and red leather interior to the pretty garden courtyard at the back. Serves great coffee and apple strudel.
Kurfurstenstrasse 58
Great French restaurant serving tasty steaks, matchstick frites and a huge selection of wines. Atmospheric lighting, vintage cigarette posters, good service and really low prices given the quality of the food. Stays open late too.
Schutzenstrasse 5, Mitte, www.entrecote.de
The bars and restaurants around Hakescher Markt & Oranienburger Strasse are great: lively venues offering good value with great service. The 'ladies of the night' plying their trade on Oranienburger Strasse was an eye opener.
However, under no circumstances visit 'Dante' in the row of restaurants situated in Hakescher Markt's S-Bhan station arches. We waited 50 minutes before we found that the kitchen had lost our order and a further 30 for the food to arrive, the staff were rude and at no point was an apology offered. This is not the norm as all other retsuarants in the area provided very friendly and efficient service.
In the Mitte. There are countless restaurants situated in and around the railway arches of Hakescher Markt's S-Bahn station, which is on lines; S-5, S-7, S-9.
Local to Wittenbergplatz and, as the name suggests, a great place to eat from breakfast to dinner and later.
Vibrant decor in red and sort of mod with a bit of retro. Appetising and interesting meals served by very accommodating staff.
Motz Str 28,10777 Berlin
Tel 030 23635702
www.more-berlin.de
Fantastic pasta bar near Potsdamer Platz. You pick any pasta and any sauce and then wait at the counter while the chef cooks it for you. They use fresh pasta so you only have to wait a few minutes. They have pots of fresh herbs at the tables that you can help yourself to. When you go in you are given a card, which you hand over to the chef who swipes it for you, then if you want to order drinks or desserts hand the card to the counter staff. When you leave, give the card in at the till and then you pay. This is the best pasta I've ever eaten and prices are really reasonable, from about 5 euros. I particularly recommend the rustica ravioli and pasta with lemon and mint. It's so good I went twice!
Potsdamer Platz 5, nearest U/S bahn Potsdamer Platz (walk up towards the Jewish memorial)
The Opernpalais cafe at Unter den Linden offers an experience unequalled anywhere that I know of. The opulent surroundings are only upstaged by the wonderful choice of delicious cakes. You can imagine being here in a long past era, whiling away your leisure hours with good conversation, kaffee und kuchen. Not to be missed.
Opernpalais, Unter den Linden 5, 10117 Berlin. Tel. 030 2026 83
A restaurant where we ate from the 'Winterzaubermenu' available from October to January. This costs 30 euros for 4 courses - and 3 of them are duck! Duck pancake rolls, duck 'cappucino' soup, leg of duck, and (hooray, no duck) a light mousse with cherries. Basil Fawlty ('the duck's off') has nothing on this! All served beautifully and politely in a warm, cosy environment.
Gendarmenmarkt 5, 10117 Berlin Mitte
030/2291661. www.refugium-bin.de
Nearest metro - Mitte
On our first evening in Berlin, we sought out this restaurant as it had been mentioned in the AA city guide. The name has changed but it is definitely worth a visit. Even though it was only 6.30pm the garden tables in the back were pretty full. Our pinchos (like tapas) were lovely, while the Spanish fish soup was both cheap (£4) and wonderfully fresh with an impressive variety of seafood. My wife's chicken & orange salad was both light and refreshing. The service couldn't be faulted - altogether a very pleasant start to our evening. Well worth going.
Gormannstrasse 22 - just a short walk north west for about 20 minutes from Alexanderplatz;
tel. (030) 285 990 26
A beautiful Italian restaurant, with a very scenic view (the restaurant lies directly next to a bridge which spans the picturesque Landwehrkanal - very romantic in the evenings!!).
It is a busy, but nevertheless charming restaurant which tends to attract younger people who like to enjoy genuine Italian cuisine. The menu is simple (antipasti, pasta, pizza, dolci), but everything (and I mean everything: we went up and down the menu) is of extraordinary quality and taste. Try the desserts and don't forget to make a reservation!
Il Casolare (Trattoria-Pizzeria)
Grimmstraße 30, Ecke Planufer
10967 Berlin-Kreuzberg
U-Bahn: Kottbusser Tor (U8+U15)
Tel.: 030-69 50 66 10
Excellent bar-ish restaurant that is what British gastropubs should be like. The beer and wine are excellent and the food is superb. Short, uncomplicated menu (one starter, five main courses, two desserts). I particularly recommend the fish: last time I went I had halibut, which was superb. Eating perched on a bar stool is the way to go, don't worry about waiting for a table.
Oderbergerstr. in the north-centre of the city, just to the west of the 'wall route'. Nearest stations would be Eberswalderstr or Bernauerstr.
The TV Tower (Fernsehturm) was built in the late 1960s and features a spherical revolving restaurant and viewing gallery at the top. The period decor and fittings were still intact when I visited in 2001, and hopefully this is still the case! The food is good too. Ideal for Saturday lunch before a walk around the city.
Adjacent to Alexanderplatz.
This is a one-off fantastic place, just two stops from Alexander Platz in the lovely Prenzlauer Berg area (which is full of other great bars and cafes too). This place has no name, just a sign outside with a wine bottle drawn on it. It looks awful in daylight - covered with graffiti - but at night, it fills up with Berlin's hip and bohemian crowd.
It works like this: you go in, throw one euro into a small fountain at the door, then help yourself from bottles of wine on the large table - or juice, or hot drinks. Then you can also help yourself to the homemade and wholesome (delicious) food laid out on a sideboard in the back room (salads and a thai-style green chicken curry when we were there, plus still-warm bread). You can have as much as you like - we had seconds!
When you leave, there's no bill, you just 'pay what you feel like paying' (as one of the staff said) in a big vase beside the wine bottles. It is furnished with gorgeous shabby-chic bits and bobs, and fairy lights, and has a unique, laid-back atmosphere.
They put tables and chairs out under the trees at night and it creates a buzz in the whole street. (The Prinz Albert Hotel bar opposite and down a bit is fab on a Sunday - when we were there they had a live jazz band and a fantastic BBQ. The staff are very cheery too!
There's also a tiny, wee retro cafe round the corner which serves ice- cream sundaes and beers. It's got a big Babycham deer inside and there's 1950s pastel-painted tables and chairs outside, with pots of scarlet geraniums. Very pretty. Try the hot kirsch sundae!
The bar with no name and Prinz Albert are on Veteranenstrasse. Best bet would be to get off the underground at Rosenthaler Platz and walk up - it's on the top of the street on the corner. Or you could get off at Senefelder Platz and walk up and round - you'll pass the retro ice cream parlour then.
It may seem strange to recommend a French cafe-restaurant in Berlin, but this place is definately worth a mention.
Just off the Ku'Damm and down the road from the Hotel Bleibtreu (if you're checking out the other tips on this site) this restaurant serves classic French cuisine (the chef IS French, apparently) in an understated, yet stylish decor.
They do a few traditional Berlin dishes too. The cooking is excellent although the clientele can be a bit too trendy and bourgeois for its own good. Worth taking the risk for their food and wine list, though. Reasonable prices too. Advisable to reserve.
Lubitsch Restaurant und Café
Bleibtreustraße 47
10623 Berlin
Tel.: 030 / 882 37 56
Fax: 030 / 88 72 84 99
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