… this blog is about why berlin loves you and why it sometimes doesn`t
Just tried out another Asian place here in Mitte. It`s great. Lots of variety. Try the homemade beef noodles! The noodles with pork a very asian and a bit sour – not bad but very asian! All the other little goodies are great!
So check it out its open till 1am an you find the Transit area on Rosenthalerstr. 68!
When it comes to pizza you are very well served in Berlin. However there are only a view places with goood pizza, good service and a good location. Most of the time at least one of them sucks.
If you are around Prenzlauer Berg you should consider checking out A Magica
Greifenhagener Str. 54, 10437 Berlin
030 22808290
It`s small, it`s cute, it`s warm inside and it has nice staff!
Ok – this one was tough. Whoever has eaten one of those juicy american hamburgers won`t forget them for a long time and probably won`t find them outside the US. This is what I thought when I got to Berlin. Well luckily there is a place – a little american heaven called “The Bird“. On weekends its best if you get a reservation and bring some extra money since the quality is excellent and the Burgers are f****** huge!
THE BIRD
Am Falkplatz 5
Prenzlauerberg
10435 Berlin
030 5105 3283
Opening Hours
Mon to Sat 6pm -late
Sun 12pm – late
Paprika pasta with eggplant, green onions, and coconut curry sauce - yum!
Fresh, organic, ridiculously delicious and highly unconventional, Pasta Presti, a small cafe and restaurant tucked away in Friedrichshain, is one of Berlin’s little culinary secrets. Fresh, house-made pastas are served with an assortment of sauces which change daily; ranging from the classic pomodoro, to more modern coconut-lemon-curry-fig concoctions. The flavor combinations may at times seem a little off the wall, experimental even, but they do not disappoint.
Pasta Presti’s cosy, unpretentious atmosphere, friendly staff, and comfy seating make it the perfect place to curl up with a plate of linguini and a cappuccino on a cold day.
Vegan cream of pumpkin soup... mmmm.
You can find Pasta Presti at Wühlischstraße 39a in F’hain, not far from Boxhagener Platz. More info and reviews can be found here.
Ever wondered why there are so many Vietnamese people in Berlin and especially East-Berlin?
Yes, back in the days the communist goverments of Vietnam and East-Germany had a pretty heavy exchange of “human resources” and some or actually a lot stayed. This is why we have a quite authentic vietnamese culture going on here in East-Berlin. Lots of vietnamese restaurants and lots of convinience stores run by vietnamese families where you will find a lot of authentic parts of vetnamese culture.
Recently Chi Sing opened in Rosenthaler Str. 63 in Mitte. Very nice atmosphere, great service and a little pricy for the small budget but worth every penny for a journey into excellent taste. More vietnamese places will be covered here shortly! 
Ok ok we kind of write a lot of things going on in Eastberlin however there is a lot or maybe even more going on in the west as well. So why dont we start of with a cute little down to earth fair priced original pizza place called “Pizza Factory”. Just get off at Bahnhof Zoo walk down the Kurfürstendamm and then … well find the adress yourself you will see it on the picture below!
Yesterday evening, Berlin was a place just a stone’s throw away from Oahu, Hawaii – at least as far as the spectacular sunset was concerned. When you looked up from street level, you saw people staring at the sky in amazement from their 3rd-floor balconies. Me, I stared up in amazement from a small boat taking a wedding party of about 35 guests along the river Spree in an evening cruise. Those river cruises sound extremely no-go touristy, but every Berliner who has ever overcome his cool and taken one, e.g. forced by visiting parents, will contest that it’s a really striking experience – touristy or not.
In any case: The fact that their wedding day was crowned by such a heart-rendingly beautiful spectacle created by sun and clouds on this autumn evening was pure luck for the couple, Katja and Rainer. However, their choice for that night’s dinner had nothing to do with luck. They had invited a cook they knew from back when to create the wedding dinner in a Kaffeehaus called Zimt & Zucker on Schiffbauerdamm. The cook had brought his team of aides, and when the boat arrived back at the mooring right in front of the restaurant, an array of Amuse Gueules were already waiting for us.
And this is where the story really starts. What followed was an evening of life-changing food consumption (LCFC).
Those Amuse Gueules consisted of: Trout caviar on apple puree and toast; egg-plant crème with pomegranate seeds on home-made sour dough crust bread; and white wine sauerkraut on Pumpernickel with a cumin-honey creme fraiche. Frankly, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The taste of the sweet and sour fruity apple puree with just a hint of cinnamon, combined with the salty caviar on the heartily spiced toast, some fresh herbs added too… words fail me here, I literally felt tears of joy coming to my eyes.
I’m not going to go through every dish that followed. Suffice to say this. We started dinner at 7.30 p.m., and when I left the party at 2 a.m., some of the guests were still having dessert and/or cheese. In between were 6 hours of the finest, most original, most passionate food I’ve had in – what? Ages? My entire life? I have to mention one more dish: a Loup de Mer fillet, broiled in the skin, with a Sechuan pepper-corn flour crust, accompanied by warm spinach with pine seeds and catalan tomato-garlic bread. Dear god! I went over to the kitchen to beg for another portion, my entire table having asked me to beg for them too, but alas, there was no more.
And the desserts! Lord in High Heaven! An iced prune mousse so full of flavours… fresh waffles so juicy and sweet… a creme brulee… and the cheese plate – only the finest, most intense Italian and French cheeses… Do you know the feeling when someone gently strokes your skin with a feather and how that titillating leaves your skin very delicately sensitive? That’s how my palate felt after dinner last night, and still feels like today.
Anyway, here’s the catch. After dinner, at something like 1.30 a.m., I went into the kitchen to throw myself at the feet of the cook, Wayne’s World-style – “I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy”. We talked a while, and it turned out that this man does not work at a restaurant at the moment – he used to run one in Prenzlauer Berg but had to give up a few months ago. The name of this cook is Oliver Sartorius, and I’VE GOT HIS DAMN MOBILE NUMBER!!
That very night, me and the other guys present at the dinner started to plot that cook’s future. We knew we just HAD to do something – someone who cooks so fantastically just HAS to be supported, promoted, revered, given any chance to do it again! My suggestion was to create an invitation-only dinner club around Oliver’s talent. Five, six people throwing in a couple 100 Euros every month and inviting selected individuals to clandestine locations with an adequate kitchen. “Selected individuals” would not be chosen by income or social status but by their ability to savour (so no vegetarians – sorry). After a while, the word will spread and people will KILL to be among the invited.
I will keep you posted.
People always argue about that however All In One Döner right down by the Hackesche Höfe Edeka grocery store is the best one in town. Try it with the yoghurt salad sauce instead of the standard spicy, garlic or hot sauce.
If you have ever been to Thailand you will appreciate the Thai kitchen. However it is very difficult to find real good and especially authentic Thai food. There is a place called Pagode on Bergmannstr. in the well known Bergmannkiez in Kreuzberg. Bon Appetit!
Whether you want to buy fresh fish for homemade sushi, eat the best fish&chips in real british news in town or just have a good old “Fischbrötchen” you should defenatly check out the Fischladen on Schönhauser Allee 129.
There are guys from Hamburg working but also one guy from Bavaria – he must love fish and you will recognize him by his accent! Well Guten Appetit then!
