Guten Tag Berlin Oct '08

[MsAlyp]

Hi All,

I have read all the past postings on Berlin already but am seaking the most up to date information regarding what is the BEST. I want to go to one phenominal restaurant while I am there (I'm spending 10 days). Money, time, not a concern.

I have the usual foodie suspects down (including KadaWee, Curry Wurt, Winterfeldtmarkt, .fassbender-rausch,cafes, etc).

What I am seeking is the best MICHELIN star rated places and if anyone can recommend which is really worth the $. A "highbrow" meal. Basically I'm trying to find the best....

Pls help!

Also if anyone has any secret spots for real, traditional German food please let me know.

Thanks for your advice!

[bropaul]

If you've read all the posts, I won't repeat all that I said before, but I had some very good traditional berliner food at Mittmanns near the Jannowitz Bruecke U-bahn stop and I also liked Sophieneck near the Haeckischer Hof.

[Hypnotic23]

Hello, I'll be traveling for a week to Berlin for the first time too Oct 2008 for a convention. I'm from California and already have meals booked. Can anybody share feedback on any of these spots?

"Sorriso-Berlin"-Italian
Impressum
AGERE GmbH
Kurfürstenstraße 76
10787 Berlin
Telefon: [phone]
Telefax: (030) 265 02 77

VOX/Sushi
Restaurant Vox-Grand Hyatt Hotel-Berlin
Marlene-Dietrich-Platz 2,
10785 Berlin
Telefon: [phone]

Thank you,

Stuart

[girobike]

Never been to Sorriso.

If you want to try fine Italian, I would recommend either Bacco (www.bacco.de) or Parioli (www.hotelderome.com

)

Vox: Food is good, very colorful, sometimes overspiced. A lot of "show" there for the wow-effect. If you do wine, you'll be hammered by the prices.

[Hypnotic23]

Thank you very much for your response. Also can you suggest just a good local Berlin spot for authentic German food, weinerschnizel/spetzel, etc.

I'm staying at Hotel Estrel which is far from everything but will cab around.

Thank you

[girobike]

No worries, dude. I'm actually a CA transplant myself.

Ummm.... ...authentic German food is changing. Are you looking for serious meat stuff? Fish? Vegetarian? Sausages that you'll never find anywhere else? Do you want an experience that you'll remember?

The Germans are terrible in marketing their new stuff outside of German speaking regions, that's why everyone still thinks that its Sausageland.

[Hypnotic23]

YEs, a german experience I'll remember, lots of meats & sausages please.

Thanks,

Stuart

[girobike]

Hm.

Try Florian

Grolmanstr. 52
10623 Berlin
[phone]‎

When we go to Berlin, we don't normally go for hearty local foods "Bürgerliche Küche".

A friend recommended it once to me, but I've never been personally.

[linguafood]

Not sure if you've done any searches on this board, but that may be a good start, particularly for German food.

There are also quite a bunch of Swabian places, if spaetze are what you are looking for.
For good Italian, go to Paparazzi, or Miseria é Nobiltá, or San Nicci. From what I've heard, Bocca isn't worth it.

[seriouseaterNYC]

My husband and I just spent 5 months in Berlin... it's not a foodie town, but there are some fantastic finds:

Cream (who knew vegetarian food could be so creative and gastro???)
Altes Zollhause (high quality traditional and local/organic fare)
Iskele (Turkish seafood)

We did not go to any Michelin Star restaurants - we reserve those for special occasions in other cities. We are huge fans of Berlin, it is a very livable and energetic town - but it, in no way, can come close to Paris, London, New York, San Francisco, etc. when it comes to food and service. We were actually to scared to dish out a lot of money to walk away disappointed, as has happened more than once on prior visits.

[okaygo]

seNYC, your recommendations sound great. (I'll also be in Berlin in October.) I was able to find websites for Altes Zollhause and Iskele, but I was unable to find any information on Cream - do you have an address or a website on that place?

while we're on the subject of Berlin - could someone suggest a cozy coffee shop or bar/pub? I'll be there on my own for a week and hope to take things pretty easy and just get to know the city a little better

[linguafood]

Kaffee Einstein on Kurfürstenstr. (NOT the one on Unter den Linden) is a traditional, Austrian-style café with excellent coffee, a really nice atmosphere and a great selection of cakes... if you're into that.

Cream: www.cookiescream.com

For traditional German fare with a slight modern twist try Renger-Patzsch www.renger-patzsch.com, formerly known as Storch.

Where in B-town are you staying?

[okaygo]

the Renger-Patzsch menu looks great! I will add that one to my list.

I'm not sure yet where I'll be staying - I'm attending a symposium in Mitte, but I'll probably be staying a little further out than that - possibly with a friend-of-a-friend who I recently connected with.

Any recommendations for a good market to pick up some fresh/gourmet ingredients, if I were to try and put my host's kitchen to use and cook some dinner?

[linguafood]

Winterfeldtmarkt near U Nollendorfplatz (U2) is THE best outdoor food market in Berlin.

In fact, I go there quite often just for lunch (fresh grilled whole trout, or Thai spicy dumplings, or zucchini fritters, or... you get the picture).

If you're further East, you can check out Kollwitzmarkt on Kollwitzplatz near U Senefelderplatz (U2), but it doesn't even come close.

Guten Appetit!

[IFS2008]

Sorry, but the average quality of food in high-end restaurants is much above San Francisco (if you focus on the city only). There is a lot going on at the moment - be sad that you missed it;-) Paris is ahead, of curse, but I am not so sure of London especially when it comes to fine dining...

[girobike]

Hi Ingo,

Having lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 10 years, I can attest to the fact that the average quality of food in German restaurants is way above San Francisco for sure.

The ingredients are fresher, less preservatives or additives in general (my wife & I always feel bloated when we eat in the US in "average" restaurants).

Paris is ahead of Germany, I agree. London is way overpriced for what you get. There are some nice spots, but I always ask myself why I am paying double for what I can get back in the continent (unless someone is paying, of course).

[John Manzo]

At the risk of a pile-on, I have to agree. Just the bread in Berlin (and really all of Germany) puts North America- inciuding SF and very easily including NYC, a city where horrible food is just too easy to find- to shame.

[girobike]

I went to Tim Raue's old place at the Swissotel.

I was very impressed. He has what I find lacking in many chefs doing the Fusion thing: he really understands how to blend the flavors with modern European cooking in the right way, and creatively.

http://www.ma-restaurants.de

I was duly impressed and see why he won the "best young chef" of the year award.

Do try his work. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

[IFS2008]

Tim Raue won "chef of the year" of Gault Millau in 2006/7 to be precise;-)
His curent style at Ma seems to be very different from the 4 times - more Asian influences, but I will be there soon and report back...

[girobike]

He's the only fellow I've ever come across brave enough to put items like Duck Tongue in his creations. In my opinion, he pulls it off perfectly - far better than the equivalent in restaurants in Asia. Not an easy thing to do.

[linguafood]

Yeah, I can only second those suggestions. Fischer's Fritz and Margaux came to mind immediately.

Facil, Vitrum, First Floor are pretty good choices as well. Not AS ruinous as FF and Margaux, but that doesn't seem to be the issue here '-)

Please report back, I won't be able to make it to any of those this year *sigh*

[IFS2008]

I would strongly recommend Christian Lohse who got his second star last year. He specialises in sea food at Fischer's Fritz.

Very unique using herbs in new and surprising ways Michael Hofmann at Margaux is as good as Lohse, sometimes better. A maybe candudate for a second star this year.

And, maybe Tim Raue at Ma - have not been there yet, but reports have been positive..

To be sure, it won't be stellar or "eyebrow" food - Berlin is catching up but Amador, Bau, Erfort, Wissler, Henkel are by far better!