Looking for recs for Berlin food and bars.
Paging @linguafood or anyone else that has good knowlege. Tia
Grab Doener and Currywurst at an Imbiss (preferably Doener after 10pm after drinks)
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Any imbiss or do you have a specific one that you like?
I haven’t been in Berlin since the pandemic and I think too many shops/restaurants have closed or changed so the information can be quite inaccurate but Berlin Kreuzberg was always a good place for Doeners (historically a part of a quite large % of Turkish and other immigrants). Imren Grill is one of the long time classics and was really good 5-6 years ago.
And if you are in Kreuzberg anyway for Doener you can also go to Curry 36 (but they have now also a few additional locations)
One place I liked some time ago which has nice takes on “German” food but with strong emphasis on creativity, local ingredients is Lokal
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Howdy. Might I suggest you look at my summer report from this year, where I mention a goodly number of delectable eateries and bars, and get back to me with more specific requests in case what you desire hasn’t been mentioned.
I second @honkman’s recommendation to have at least one döner & one currywurst, though I wouldn’t waste a planned meal on the latter - it’s a snack best enjoyed hammered, and Curry 36 is a good & famous place to do so. Curry Baude near the subway Gesundbrunnen is famous for their varied levels of heat in their curry sauce, but I’ve never been.
Great döner can be had almost anywhere, but notable ones are at Rosenthaler Platz Schlemmerbuffet in Mitte, Imren (different style than the usual döner on freshly baked flatbread) on Kottbusser Damm in Neukölln, and Pamfylia in Wedding (happy veal, fantastic).
More Berlin info: Berlin Eatz Summer 2022 [Berlin, Germany]
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Thanks for your response! I looked at both your 2022 and 2023 threads and highlighted places I was interested in.
I’m looking for schnitzel, Greek/turkish, or something super can’t miss that might be more unique for Berlin. If anything comes to mind in those categories let me know!
Also what were some bars, beer gardens or clubs that you enjoy? Thanks again!
For Wiener Schnitzel either Jolesch or Felix Austria in Kreuzberg - not to be confused with Austria in the same nabe, which is a pretentious shit show. I do hear good stuff about Sissi in Schöneberg, but I’ve not been, and I also heard great stuff about Österelli in Charlottenburg.
For Greek, Berkis in Schöneberg near one of my favorite weekly markets is one of the best, with Ousia (same hood) being slightly larger and also very good, especially in the mezzedes part of the menu. If you like pretty people in a beautiful setting, the relatively new Platía in the backyard of a former post office is the place to be, thought we were underwhelmed with the food.
Notable mentions Z & It’s All Greek to me (both in Kreuzberg).
As for Turkish I’ll refer you to the two summer reports, as they are prominently featured.
Favorite beer garden is Prater Biergarten in Prenzlauer Berg hands down, but Cafe am See and Schleusenkrug in Tiergarten are nice as well, as is Schönbrunn in Volkspark Friedrichshain.
If you saw the mostly disappointing Bourdain Berlin episode (even if you didn’t), Rogacki in Wilmersdorf is a Berlin institution with an unbeatable lunch counter and a huge variety of fresh, smoked, and pickled fish.
KaDeWe food section is pretty impressive and offers lots of dining/snack options. It fancy 
IF the Thaipark is still open and hasn’t been regulated to death by now, it’s worth checking out. About the most traditionally ‘authentic’ Thai outside of Thailand you’ll find in Berlin.
There’s also very good Italian and outstanding pizza to be had, and food truck markets/food festivals happening in a variety of locations and parks.
I’d say my clubbing days are over if I ever lived them, but it’s not my scene. Cocktail bars of note are Beckett’s Kopf (P’berg), Reingold (Mitte), Würgeengel (Kreuzberg), Rum Depot, Stagger Lee & Green Door (Schöneberg).
That’s all I can think of for now, but do feel free to holla if you have additional questions 
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Thanks this is a great help it’s very much appreciated!
I love Berlin & am always happy to share. If I were in town I’d show you around myself 
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I can’t emphasis enough for Germany in general that there is a very significant Italian population which gives easy access to fantastic Italian food. I know a lot of people think that we have here a lot of great Italian restaurants but it is mainly Americanized stuff. The good Italian restaurants in the US tend to be quite expansive but I had dinners at neighborhood Italian restaurants in Germany (mainly in Hamburg) which had often Mozza quality for half the price
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Yes, absolutely. As you may (or may not) remember I’ve found that dining in Germany is generally cheaper than in the US for the same if not better quality food. A huge part is the inflated tipping culture stateside, of course.
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The dry-aged burger from the grill window of Kumpel und Keule in Markthalle Neun (Kreuzberg) is memorable. My partner says it’s the best burger she’s ever eaten. I had one in their now-closed restaurant nearby in 2019 and had to go back when we had a weekend there in October.
I think Thaipark is closed for the season. The website said our weekend was the last one, but between the regulation and the chilly weather, we didn’t go. Instead we went for the other extreme, the set menu at Khao Taan, which was disappointing (capsaicin swamped the other flavours, and I can eat pretty spicy food!).
We didn’t have a lot of luck with Berlin food on this visit, though we had just come from a week in Hamburg, so it perhaps wasn’t a fair comparison.
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We have been through this before. I honestly think German consumers, and I mean people with German citizenship and I’ll include landed immigrants, regardless of ethnicity, are unwilling to pay for crappy food, compared to Canadians and Americans.
I have found the same sort of cultural norms in terms of not expecting customers to pay for less than decent food in Scandinavia, Austria, Switzerland and parts Greece.
The tourist trap-type restaurants have sometimes gouged me in parts of Italy, France and the UK, and in touristy parts of Greece.
…
I’ve always enjoyed Italian food in Germany. Some of my relatives in Bavaria are half Sicilian, and have been involved in importing Sicilian ingredients to Germany.
Oh, Kumpel und Keule closed already? Well, that was a short stint - and at such popular locations (hipster darling Markthalle 9 and their brick & mortar on Skalitzer right on Görli. We went there once for a burger and it was a’ight My favorite remains at the OG Bird near Mauerpark, tho we didn’t get a chance to say ‘hi’ to the owner this summer 
We had some face-meltingly hot Thai at Tossakan, which was down the road from our pad.
I wonder where else you went that had you come back feeling mediocre about the food. I only ever do overnights in HH and pretty much go only to eat at Restaurant Nil.
I honestly don’t think you can make such a broad statement about an entire nationality’s preferences. I see plenty of Germans suck down mass-produced shit food bc it’s cheap.
I do think there is a pronounced difference in dining culture (yet), bc chains & drive-thrus aren’t as prevalent nor have they been ingrained in the “culinary” (I use the term broadly in this context) landscape for decades.
The idea of eating in your car or having everything to go is still a fairly alien one.
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So , one can generalize about one aspect of German dining but not another LOL. It’s suppose it’s all relative, and it falls into a matter of opinion, just like everything else on this site. Haha.
Dining out is cheaper in Germany, for many reasons. I mentioned the lack of the US’s outsized tipping culture - that’s 20% right there one saves at each meal
Relating it to some perceived superiority in taste inherent to being born or living somewhere? Nah.
The standalone restaurant on Skalitzerstraße closed, but the Markthalle location of Kumpel und Keule (which is mostly a full-service butcher) remains a gem in an otherwise fairly touristy and precious location.
Our other Berlin meals? A lunch at Amrit Schöneberg, which was at least a reasonable deal, with friendly and efficient service. (I am picky about Indian food, though.) A lunch at Da Jia Le, which I had been to in 2019, and was all right – good beer selection, but yu xiang qie zi was overly saucy and sweet. Dinner at Goji, a Cantonese place in Schöneberg that does respectable dim sum (again, friendly service). Croissants and other pastries at Le Bretagne were decent, though they didn’t speak French or English. Baklava from Pasam was disappointing. The bottom third was soggy with syrup, and it was expensive. The flavour was all right but the texture was off-putting.
We ate well in Hamburg; I’ll make a separate post on that soon.
OMG Amrit. That’s like Disney Indian food, with their various branches taking over in several nabes 
. Sorry you went, as there is absolutely no good Indian food in Berlin - though I did have a killer dosa at a street food market this summer.
I’m surprised you didn’t like Pasam. It’s a must-stop for us (well, mostly my PIC) every summer, often multiple times. Maybe Damaskus bakery would’ve been more to your liking - Syrian pastries that tend to be a little drier (but also heavier on the rosewater).
I rarely go for any Chinese food while in Berlin, as it is one of the more reliably good cuisines available to me at home, but when I do it’s usually on Kantstr for dim sum or Cantonese.
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Funny you’d say that. Did you expect them to? Nowadays I’m actually pleasantly surprised if the waitstaff has a working knowledge of German - with anglophones seemingly taking over everywhere.
