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Home - City Guide - Berlin - Food and Drink | ||
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Food and Drink As befits a capital city, Berlin offers a range of cuisine from all corners of the globe. There are over 5000 restaurants in the city and a further 500 cafÉs and ice cream parlours. Traditional German food tends to be on the heavy side, and is based around beef or pork, with cabbage and potatoes. Unique to Berlin is the Currywurst (essentially a sausage coated with a curry-ketchup sauce and served in a roll), which can be found at an Imbiss (snack bar) until late in the evening. The other typical late-night options are doner kebabs and falafel. Another speciality is the Berliner Weisse, a fizzy, wheat beer with fruit juice. For some reason, grappa is very popular in the city. There are a number of restaurants offering traditional cuisine, and many bars and lunchtime eateries offer similar hearty fare. There is a large breakfast culture in the city, especially on weekends when cafÉs and restaurants may serve Frühstück until 1500 or 1600 or even later. Lunch is usually eaten between 1200 and 1300; dinner between 1800 and 2000. There are excellent French and Italian restaurants, but those used to Indian meals will find Indian restaurants in Berlin disappointing as they do not make very spicy dishes (those in the know ask for their food 'indianscharf'). It is customary to tip about 10% in restaurants, if a service charge has not already been added to the bill. This should be given while paying rather than being left on the table. Restaurants: For traditional German food, Sophieneck, Grosse Hamburger Strasse 37 (tel: (030) 282 2109), offers rustic, reasonably priced (DM20) foods not far from the Hackesche Höfen. Also in the East, Raabe Diele in the Ermelerhaus, at Märkisches Ufer 10-12 (tel: (030) 240 620), serves hearty German fare for about DM15 for a main course (the Weinrestaurant upstairs offers beautiful Rococo decor, and a more expensive and more varied menu). The trendy Florian, Grolmanstrasse 52 (tel: (030) 313 9184), offers a nouvelle cuisine version of standard German fare for about DM25 a main course. The central Savignyplatz location is also a plus. It is hard to find someone who will deny that Rockendorf is one of the best restaurants in the city (and many will insist that it is the very best). It is located at Düsterhauptstrasse 1 in Reinickendorf (tel: (030) 402 3099), and the prices for the international cuisine are not for the squeamish: the set lunch menu is DM110-175 and dinner is DM175-195. Cheaper and more central options are Filou, at Bleibtreustrasse 7 (tel: (030) 313 5543), with a croissanterie during the day and hearty Tuscan cuisine in the evenings (three courses cost DM27, five cost DM43); and Bistroquet, at Pfalzburger Strasse 72a (tel: (030) 882 1808), which offers seasonal dishes (for about DM19 for a main course) in a charming atmosphere. For Italian food, the popular Bar Centrale, Yorckstrasse 82 (tel: (030) 786 2989), offers well-prepared pastas and meat and fish dishes (a main course is about DM25), accompanied by a wide selection of grappa to aid the digestion. CafÉ Aroma, Hochkirchstrasse 8 (tel: (030) 782 5821), is another good bet - an excellent wine list matches the quality of the food. Main courses cost about DM20. Storch, at Wartburgstrasse 54 (tel: (030) 784 2059), is a perennial favourite. Terrific Alsatian dishes are served up on the large wooden tables, and the DM30 price for the main course is well worth it. More traditional French cuisine can be had at one of the bistros near Savignyplatz: Le Canard, Knesebeckstrasse 88 (tel: (030) 312 2645), where main courses are DM20 or Paris Bar, Kantstrasse 152 (tel: (030) 313 8052), with main courses for about DM25. The Französicher Hof is ideally situated on the Gendarmenmarkt, at Jägerstrasse 36 (tel: (030) 229 3152), and offers French and German cuisine in a refined setting popular with those attending a show at the Konzerthaus. The main courses cost about DM30. The nearby VAU restaurant offers top cuisine (DM35 for a main course) at Jägerstrasse 54-55 (tel: (030) 202 9730). CafÉs: Berlin is a city of cafÉs, with styles ranging from the traditional Vienna coffee house to trendy minimalist affairs. Many of the cafÉs double up as bars in the evening, and generally open at 0900 or 1000 and close anywhere from midnight to 0300 (some as late as 0500 at weekends). Although there are some great spots throughout the city, the highest concentrations of cafÉs are around Savignyplatz and the Ku'damm, in Kreuzberg, and in Mitte. CafÉ Savigny, at Grolmannstrasse 53-54, north of Savignyplatz, has everything a cafÉ should have - excellent coffee, pastries and nibbles and stacks of international newspapers. CafÉ Aedes is located under the S-Bahn arches (Hof II, Rosenthaler Strasse 40-41) and features a stylish clientele of designers and architects, who stop by to see the exhibitions in the adjacent gallery. A short walk away is CafÉ Kranzler, one of Berlin's oldest cafÉs, and still popular for its large pavement terrasse on the Ku'damm. Kreuzberg offers a range of cafÉs, from the somewhat scruffy yet nonetheless loveable spots on Oranienstrasse and Wiener Strasse, to the row of cafÉs overlooking the canal on Paul-Lincke-Ufer and the more stylish row of cafÉs on Bergmannstrasse, including CafÉ Atlantic, Barcomi's, Bergmann 103 and CafÉ Milagro. East Berlin offers a similar stretch of cafÉs on Oranienburger Strasse - CafÉ Orange has the nicest traditional atmosphere - and all sorts of hidden treasures in the streets to the north, including the bright, tiled Hackbarths, at Auguststrasse 49a, and the comfortable wooden interior of Kapelle, at Zionskirchplatz 22-24, in Prenzlauer Berg. The most formal cafÉs are Opern CafÉ, Unter den Linden 5, next to the Staatsoper, which offers cakes and coffee to opera-goers, and CafÉ Einstein, Kurfürstenstrasse 58, which seems to draw people from all segments of Berlin society to its Viennese interior and large summer garden. For the historically minded, CafÉ Adler, Friedrichstrasse 206, used to face the Wall at Checkpoint Charlie and still makes a good place to stop while doing the tourist rounds. |