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Eat in Berlin: Spring Feels & Brunch Tips
Are you frolicking in the sun while reading this? Reveling in the great expectation that is a long, free weekend with tons of sunshine and warm weather? Ohh, me too! Nothing quite like Berlin awakening from six months of depressing grey and remodeling itself into the green oasis we all love and need. After ten days in Shanghai, where I ate excellent food from morning till night (guide still to come), I'm readjusting to the local circumstances by being extra careful where to exchange money for food. So this one's mostly old faves (plus a new highlight all the way at the end of the post). Starting today, I'll be on the lookout for new food spots, and will let you know about the success of my discoveries asap, hopefully. Until then, enjoy the weekend!
Still Delicious: Lunch at Hallesches Haus
You probably know Hallesches Haus as one of the most instagram-ready places in Berlin, with a light filled café space adorned with loads of hanging plants and raw wood and black steel furniture. It makes a perfect background for your next hundreds of sosh-meeds likes. However, it's not only about aesthetics at the Haus, but about serving scrumptious and contemporary breakfast, brunch and lunch fare. I went back to check their new menu und let me tell you, they're currently making my favourite green salad in Berlin.
Lunch in Kreuzberg: ORA
It's time to update a post that has been ever popular, but isn't representative of what the restaurant is currently doing: Ora, the former pharmacy turned stunning café, has been growing so much over the past two years. They evolved the menu, ditched the mason jars and wooden boards in favour of fine china, added more tarts and cakes, and upped their cocktail menu. So it was time to go back on a grey autumnal day to give you an impression of the current menu.
Lunch in Mitte: Qua Phe
I imagine if you live and work in Mitte, you want a delicious lunch and you want it fast – something that's feeding you without making you tired, that's tickling your taste buds without being unnecessarily experimental – all of which you can find at Qua Phe, the Vietnamese coffee house that serves really good lunch fare.
Lunch in Mitte: Ryong
Admittedly, Asian-fusion concepts opening up on Torstraße where rents for commercial spaces have sky-rocketed over the past years, don't necessarily get my hopes up. However, something interested me enough about this new restaurant to put it on my list of the ten new places we all must try, so I went there more or less immediately. And I'm super happy to report: it's delicious and absolutely perfect for cold winter days!
Austrian in Berlin: Feinkost Minutillo
There's a food tradition in German speaking countries that I actually never got to write about before, although it's been such a vital part of my upbringing, it makes me happy just thinking of it. And while it sounds rather simple, it often seems odd to outsiders. Let me say it like this: sometimes, we like to have a sweet main for lunch or dinner. This can be pancakes, or Grießbrei (semolina pudding) or Milchreis (rice pudding), or, as in this case: Kaiserschmarrn, a thick Austrian pancake, plucked to pieces, and served with Zwetschkenröster, baked plums. I had it at a new Austrian deli in Mitte, Feinkost Minutillo, and this is why you should try it too…
Lunch in Berlin: Oliv Eat
This new place on Potsdamer Straße is stemming from the Mitte café, which used to be one of the first beautifully styled cafés in that part of town and quickly gained popularity with the hip crowds back when it was still hard to find a hot porridge with toppings or an artisanal sandwich, which must've been around 2009 or 2010… Anyway, they have a new spot in an area that was surprisingly devoid of chic spots to eat and drink until a couple months ago, and they do what they do in Mitte: serve dainty lunch fare, cakes and coffee in a very good looking interior.
Italian in Berlin: Cecconi's
Torstraße 1, formerly only known as Soho House, and by now also home to the fabulous The Store and its Kitchen, got a new addition: a fancy Italian place going by the name of Cecconi's. Originated in Venice, this Italian restaurant can be found in London, West Hollywood, Miami Beach, Istanbul and now also in Mitte. Serving dishes from Northern Italy in an Art-Deco inspired and quite luxe interior, it's a prime spot for important business meetings, fancy dates and any time you want a decent pizza baked in the most gorgeous marble oven.
Pasta in Berlin: Pastificio Tosatti
After years of average Italian food in Berlin (with some exceptions), German's most loved cuisine is experiencing a hype – with interesting concepts and especially new sources for Italy's biggest pride: fresh and hand-made pasta. And Pastificio Tosatti just off Helmholtzplatz will satisfy your cravings for Italian noodles in all shapes and sizes.
Lunch in Kreuzberg: ORA
Good news! Everyone's favorite place to spend all day, ORA, just renovated their kitchen to serve even better, even bigger plates filled with delicious regional and seasonal dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Just thought you needed to know.
Lunch in Kreuzberg: Pacifico
Sometimes, lunch on an office day can be tough – the routine kicks in and we find ourselves at the same spot, day in, day out. The area around Moritzplatz and Oranienstraße is certainly not short in opportunities. However, a little novelty goes a long way and every opening is greeted with excitement. This new kid on the block is taking everything everyone always liked for lunch, puts it in a bowl and serves it with kimchi fries: welcome Pacifico.
Lunch in Kreuzberg: Hallesches Haus
Hallesches Haus, that gem in the wastelands around Hallesches Tor, just opened their shiny and bright new restaurant area. Twice the size of their shop and beautifully lit by a skylight, it's obviously as beautifully decorated as the rest of the shop: Prouvé lamps hanging over giant Nuts & Woods oak-steel tables, many thriving succulents on used wooden sideboards, tiled floors and speckled enamel lights. With the new space comes a full, open kitchen, where they are preparing simple yet delicious lunch bites, sandwiches, cakes and cookies.
Mexican in Berlin: Neta
Okay, before you say something, I am not very well versed in that kind of food, so Neta might be serving Mexican, or a Californian version of Mexican food, I am not really able to tell – however, their tacos, tortillas, and burritos are delicious! And that means something, considering Mexican is not on my top list, but here in Mitte, the food is fresh, intense and features many delightful textures (which are not all mushy) and thus joins my list of lunch-favs in Mitte.
Lunch in Neukölln: Stella
Lunch on a workday can be tough. You want something healthy yet filling, enough to carry you through the rest of the day. You want something new, yet nothing experimental because time and focus are limited. You want something close by, yet not too close because you need the walk…Or am I only talking about my own needs at noon? Because on paper, that sounds a bit complicated. And yet, there are places catering to such demands, and here's a new one: Stella.
US-American in Neukölln: MJ'S Foodshop (Closed)
After starting the week all zen and light with a post about a yoga-festival, this article will surely reset the/ a balance. After visiting this joint on the bustling Sonnenallee, you're sure to leave feeling heavy, full and more than a little self indulgent. The menu ticks pretty much all of the quintessential, American, comfort-food boxes with serving sizes to match. For the days when your stomach yearns to be filled, and your palate craves carbs and nostalgia (be that real or imagined from years of watching U.S tv): welcome to MJ'S Foodshop.
Lunch in Mitte: The Store Kitchen
This one placed on my list of ten new places you need to try, but has actually been on my to-eat list much longer….
Café in Berlin: Hallesches Haus
Describing this one isn't easy, it's a café serving delicious coffee drinks made with roasts from Tom's Kaffeerösterei, a florist selling beautiful succulents and cacti, a general store stocking nifty items like Stanley pocket flasks and soap smelling like the forests in Big Sur, a furniture show room for Berlin based Nuts and Woods, and it will be a lunchroom and event space any time soon. Altogether it's a gorgeous space managed by dedicated people trying to revive this rather dull area behind Hallesches Tor.
Indian in Berlin: Chutnify
It's not advisable to just walk into any Indian restaurant in Berlin. 99% of them are shit. Seriously, Indian food is badly represented in Berlin, but at the same time it's almost annoyingly present – there are hundreds of places serving bland heavy-cream-curries in heavy-orange-tinted atmosphere. I stopped trying a long time ago and just settled with the fact that there's none (there wasn't even a tag for it on this very blog). However, I obviously wasn't the only one suffering from the lack of tasty paneer – end of last year Prenzlauer Berg welcomed a beautiful addition: South-Indian street food at Chutnify!
Lunch in Kreuzberg: Vabrique
Isn't it weird how quick we are to establish routines and stick to our known routes? Seems like a particular problem when it comes to lunch on office-days. I moved my office to Kreuzberg end of 2013, to an area with a plethora of options to try and it still took me until two weeks ago to eat at Vabrique. It was about time.
Healthy in Berlin: Daluma
The Mitte-crowd is going crazy for a new health-food café on Weinbergsweg – Daluma opened its doors last October and has since collected a huge and very devoted audience patiently waiting to pick up cold pressed juices or enjoying a vegan and/or raw lunch on the spot. I finally went last week to check out if Daluma's food is not only healthy but tasty.