So I checked out Cookies last weekend. It’s one of those hipster restaurants in Mitte. It’s a pretty interesting place, not just because we had to search for the entrance (it is hidden behind bottles of beer and dumpsters in the back of Behrenstrasse 55), but also because of the interior (open kitchen, seating, …) and all the food is vegetarian – but maybe that’s just Mitte-chique. :-)

I wrote more about it on Qype (in English). All in all, we had a good time and if you need to go somewhere to impress your guests or date without ending up at the Riz, Cookies is probably it.

Ken Send wrote in via Story Suggestions:

Hi, I’ve just completed a site aimed at tourists who want to visit Berlin, but with a budget that is as tight as a virgin. With categories like Eat for €2 & Sleep for €15 I hope it can become a useful resource for people who want to visit the city.

Check it out: http://www.dirtcheapberlin.com/

If you didn’t know, there are bars and so on in Neukölln as well. Well, at least there is one – it’s called Ä and is located Fuldastraße/Weserstraße. Inside the place is pretty rough, some couches, nice atmosphere and literally packed later in the evening. A good excuse to go (and start drinking) early. ;-)

By the way, aside from the usual beer mix (Berliner, Becks, ..) the also serve Tegernseer (hell and spezia).

Tag: berlin, neukölln

Maybe some of you remember my last article about smoking in bars. Having quit smoking since I wrote it (believe it or not)(feeling molested by smokers myself now from time to time. but still I think it is bullshit to regulate such things by law) I’m a bit concerned what will happen now as drinking is one of my hobbies. Don’t get me wrong. It is definitely not everyday drinking nor is it drinkin’ until the doctor arrives. I just like to sit in my favorite bar, talk nonsense or about music and philosophy or whatever, have a couple of beers accompanied by a couple of Maker’s Marks or Jamesons. Nothing to write home about. Normal weekend pleasure for thousands of Kreuzbergers and other people all around the world. (I’ve been told even the Muslims do it if they find a place with closed curtains).
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Tags: berlin, schultheis, bier, beer, schulle

You know, I try to not go to Starbucks. They are evilish – kinda like Yahoo! (China and free speech) and Microsoft (monopoly) and so on (It’s pretty cool how this topic allows me to wrap my views in a Berlin-related post, right? ;-)).

(Probably) In order to look less evil, they are giving away free coffee on the 15th March, 2007 between 10 and 12 AM. If you need your daily fix – drop by, sothe source says – though I am not sure coffee maniacs in Berlin will get this opportunity even though there are like five starbuck’ses (!) here. But I guess it’s worth a shot.

Tags: Berlin, starbucks

Not only in Tokyo people are willing to wait in lines to get food, no, also Berlin knows that phenomenon. And I don’t talk about times of famine during WW 2 or the years right after, I am talking about March 2007. There are supermarkets, restaurants, cafés and döner places on every corner, but still there seems to be a strong desire to wait in lines. The Tokyo metblog supposed standing around with other people all with the same aim makes you feel like being part of a hip movement. Maybe that’s it, i don’t know.
I didn’t feel like spending half an hour waiting just to get an icecream. However, althought the Tokyo-doughnut-line topped the Kreuzberg-icecream-line by far, it made me curious: I will definitly have to check out that icecream shop in Falckensteiner Str and the pizza place right opposite of it where more or less the same number of people waited. But maybe on a weekday and not on a sunny sunday afternoon.
Maybe half of the waiting folks are paid by the clever owner of the icecream shop just to stand there and attract customers?!

Tags: berlin

Speaking of Zucker (sugar) and other Berliners.

Picture by majorbonnet

Sometimes it feels like a decent Italian places is hard to find in Mitte. At least judging from my last post on the subject where some people explicitly told me that I should not go there – so what are other good Italian places in Mitte?

And by Italian, I don’t mean Pizza places, like where you can’t sit or the food is more fast than anything else. Well, you know. The real deal, the wine, the the antipasta and so on. For myself – if there are no objections, I seem to have discovered the perfect place. It’s call La Scala, it’s on Rosenthaler Strasse.

The place is pretty posh, so yeah. But the menu is awesome. I showed up late for the meeting, and without asking he got me some great antipasta. As I said, the menu is really awesome. Everything looked very delicious and the people were pretty nice too. You know, not so sleazy, but still nice.

So if you are looking for nice play, go around and see for yourself. It’s pretty empty – maybe that was just the day of the week. So a reservation is not yet needed.

Tags: Berlin, eating, italian, restaurant, essen, lascala