Food & drink
Where Berliners actually eat: classics and Kieznah tips
Every guidebook knows the currywurst under the elevated railway and the tavern from 1902, and rightly so. We show them too. Next to them we put what usually only the neighbors know: our Kieznah tips, marked with a heart. Sorted from cheap to the publisher's signature recommendation.
Cheap and good
01 Konnopke's Imbiss · Prenzlauer Berg
The currywurst stand right under the U2 viaduct on Schönhauser Allee is an institution from the days when this was still East Berlin. Trains rumble overhead while you eat at standing tables below. It is closed on Sundays, and on weekdays service is quick.
02 Curry 36 · Kreuzberg
The West Berlin counterpart on Mehringdamm, open since 1981 and right next to the U-Bahn station. It stays open deep into the night and is busy after people go out. There is a vegan currywurst, prepared separately.
03 Street Food Thursday in der Markthalle Neun · Kreuzberg
Every Thursday evening the old market hall on Eisenbahnstraße becomes a stage for cooks without their own restaurant, according to berlin.de from 5 to 10 pm with free entry. The lineup changes, from tacos and dumplings to barbecue. It gets crowded around 7 pm; come earlier and you get the pick.
Mid-range
The classic
The old Berlin tavern
Roast chicken at Henne since 1907, pork knuckle at Max und Moritz since 1902. The places everyone knows, and rightly so.
Kieznah tip
Goldesel, the pub that feels like a living room
A small neighborhood pub in Charlottenburg with open sandwiches, vegan stews and a chili made from beef whose farm you know.
04 Henne · Kreuzberg
An old Berlin tavern on Leuschnerdamm that has essentially served one dish since 1907: half a roast chicken with potato or cabbage salad and draught beer. In 1961 guests watched the Wall go up right outside, and a letter from John F. Kennedy hangs at the bar. Book ahead for the evening.
05 Wirtshaus Max und Moritz · Kreuzberg
At Oranienstraße 162, a tavern has stood since 1902, with a heritage-listed dining room, period furniture and blue-green tiled walls. The menu is what Berlin cooking is about: pork knuckle, Königsberg meatballs in caper sauce, and beef roulades with red cabbage in winter. Bring cash and book for the evening; Kottbusser Tor U-Bahn station is around the corner.
06 Goldesel ♥ · Charlottenburg
Among the old apartment buildings of the Klausenerplatz neighborhood, a few minutes from Charlottenburg Palace, a small pub on Seelingstraße describes itself as a living room, and that is exactly how it feels. Goldesel is a non-smoking pub, open Monday to Saturday from 4 pm.
The menu has open sandwiches on organic bread, vegan stews and a chili con carne made from 100 percent pasture-raised beef from the farm in Bergsdorf, cooked mild, with a hot chili on the side if you ask. Next to it there is a chili sin carne with organic soy and, when available, a meatball from the same cattle. To drink: beer on tap, plenty of bottled beers from Bavaria and Franconia, and wines from the Palatinate and the Nahe. Almost every Thursday the kitchen cooks something extra.
The classic
Baumkuchen at Buchwald
One of the city's long-established patisseries, founded in 1852, with Baumkuchen made to a house recipe.
Kieznah tip
Aux Merveilleux de Fred
A French patisserie on Olivaer Platz, with a pain au chocolat we would cross the city for.
07 Konditorei G. Buchwald · Hansaviertel/Moabit
For coffee and cake, head to Bartningallee near the Spree. The patisserie was founded in 1852 in Cottbus and is still family-run; its house-recipe Baumkuchen is the signature. Add a long counter of cakes that change with the seasons and a café in the style of a Viennese coffee house. In summer you sit outside, a few minutes' walk from Bellevue S-Bahn station.
08 Aux Merveilleux de Fred ♥ · Charlottenburg
A few steps from the Ku'damm, at Olivaer Platz 2, is a patisserie from northern France. Its name means roughly "At Fred's Marvels", and the marvel is the house specialty: the merveilleux, a meringue with whipped cream rolled in chocolate shavings and assembled in front of you. The chain was founded by pastry chef Frédéric Vaucamps from Lille.
There is also brioche, croissants and a pain au chocolat we would cross the city for. If you are at Olivaer Platz in the morning, have breakfast here.
09 Around Kantstraße · Charlottenburg
Between Savignyplatz and Wilmersdorfer Straße, Chinese and Taiwanese restaurants line up one after another, from simple noodle kitchens to places with tablecloths. Berliners cross the city for the noodles and dumplings here.
Premium
The classic
Premium steak at Grill Royal
Steaks from around the world right on the Spree, a long wine list and plenty of glamour. One of the city's best-known steak addresses.
Kieznah tip
Bergsdorfer Wiesenrind, beef with a backstory
A farm in Brandenburg that does everything itself, from calf to sausage. To take home, to cook yourself, or ready-made at Goldesel.
10 Grill Royal · Mitte
The steakhouse at Friedrichstraße 105b has its entrance on the Spree promenade below Weidendammer Bridge and is one of the city's best-known steak addresses. The menu has beef from Germany, France, the US and Japan, plus fish and a long wine list. Evenings only, upscale prices, book ahead.
The classic
Fusion at 893 Ryōtei
Japan meets South America behind the graffiti facade on Kantstraße, recommended by the Michelin Guide.
Kieznah tip
Cicchetti da Rosa
Italy meets Vietnam on Ludwigkirchplatz: small plates to share, cooked by Rosa and Duc.
11 893 Ryōtei · Charlottenburg
At Kantstraße 135, all you see from outside is a mirrored, graffiti-covered facade, and that is the point. Inside everything is black, and from the counter you watch the chefs prepare sushi and sashimi. The kitchen blends Japan with South American and European influences, and the Michelin Guide lists the restaurant with a recommendation. Evenings only, book ahead.
12 Cicchetti da Rosa ♥ · Wilmersdorf
At Ludwigkirchplatz 12, Rosa Panzera and Duc Anh Tran cook together, she with Italian roots, he with Vietnamese ones. In Venice, cicchetti are the small bites served with wine, and that is how the dishes arrive here: small, for sharing, Italian tradition with Vietnamese flavors, made from fresh, seasonal ingredients.
Open for lunch and dinner, closed on Sundays. Book for the evening, and afterwards take a stroll around St. Ludwig's church.
13 Bergsdorfer Wiesenrind ♥ · Brandenburg
If you want to know where your meat comes from, you end up at Bergsdorfer Wiesenrind. The farm, run by Agrar GmbH Bergsdorf north of Berlin, does everything itself, from breeding to slaughter to processing, under its own motto "variety instead of mass": the whole animal is used, not just the prime cuts. The sausages are 100 percent beef, no pork.
You can buy at the farm shop and in the online shop. Beef salami and jerky make a regional souvenir that not everyone has in their suitcase. And if you want to taste the beef ready-cooked, order the chili at Goldesel.
Transparency note: the publisher knows the owner personally.
Signature: personally recommended
Signature · personally recommended by Daniel
14 The Taste of Beef and Seafood ♥ · Charlottenburg
I had the World Steak Challenge winning steak from Jack's Creek here and had tears in my eyes. So tender, so delicious, pure pleasure. I come here and I feel good: good food, good wine, and the Primitivo has completely won me over. For me, there is no better quality in Berlin.
Daniel
On Olivaer Platz, a few steps from Kurfürstendamm, the menu names the origin of every steak: Creekstone Black Angus from Kansas, Westholme Wagyu from Queensland, Wagyu from Kagoshima and original Kobe Wagyu from Tajima cattle in Hyogo Prefecture, plus Irish Hereford and Wagyu from Jack's Creek in Australia, the producer that has won the World's Best Steak title at the World Steak Challenge several times. On the seafood side there is lobster from Newfoundland, king crab, oysters from Gillardeau and Brittany, and Glacier 51 toothfish. The house offers tasting menus and evenings with live music. Open Tuesday to Saturday from 5 pm, Sunday and Monday for private events only; book ahead.
Transparency note: the publisher knows the owners personally.
Frequently asked questions
Where can you eat cheap and well in Berlin?
At classic currywurst stands such as Konnopke's and Curry 36, and on Thursday evenings at Street Food Thursday in Markthalle Neun, which has free entry.
Where can you find traditional Berlin cooking?
At Wirtshaus Max und Moritz (since 1902) and Henne (since 1907), both in Kreuzberg. Smaller and cozier: a neighborhood pub like Goldesel in Charlottenburg.
Where can you get beef with a traceable origin?
For example from Bergsdorfer Wiesenrind in Brandenburg, at the farm shop or online. Ready-cooked, you can try it at Goldesel.
Where can you eat a high-end steak in Berlin?
At Grill Royal on Friedrichstraße and, as the publisher's personal recommendation, at The Taste of Beef and Seafood on Olivaer Platz, where the menu names the origin of every steak.
Do you need to book?
For Henne, Max und Moritz, Grill Royal, 893 Ryōtei and The Taste of Beef and Seafood in the evening, yes, ideally a few days ahead. At food stands and in the market hall you simply queue.