Long wrap up of Berlin and Krakow

[Joanie]

Just got back from a wonderful trip to these two cities. 4th time in Berlin and I love it there but it's way too big for someone from little Boston. Loved Krakow, beautiful place, easy to get around, cool bars and cafes on every corner. Unfortunately, we were always on the move in Berlin and had few real meals and missed out on the big nice meal. Because assuming I didn't need a reservation on a Sun. was wrong when it's the Sun. of the marathon and Maxwell in Prenzlauer Berg said they were all booked when we got there at 7:30 (even tho it was still quite empty). Beautiful place, very sad not to have eaten there. We ended up with some passable Vietnamese food and walked too long to get there. The best thing we ate were the doner kebabs from various places, I don't know why they're so much better in Europe than in the States but they are. And at 2 to 2.50€, a deal (esp. when you split them). Also my friend A enjoyed his sausage from one of those all in one guys on Alexanderplatz for all of 1€. Tried to go to a little spaetzle shop on Wienerstr. but they were just closing, no spaetzle on this trip sadly. We had a very nice goulash at Zum Schusterjungen around Danzigerstrasse with big beers (I drank more beer in 10 days there than I do in 2 years here). A nice Japanese lunch at a place on a street that begins w/ G around Mehringdamm Ubahn (not Gniesenaue). The name was something like Suso, good crispy duck w/ veggies and rice, lots of food for about 7.50. We liked the zucchini fritters at the Winterfeldt market but the crepe wasn't too exciting. So many food choices there. Another real meal was the last nite at Meineke X not far from Kudamm. Very old school place, really nice waitress even tho it was packed, great bacon/potato omelette and slightly dry schnitzel w/ good veggies. With a glass of wine and a large beer, it was about 27€. After, we got dessert (which we needed like a hole in the head) at Schwartes up around the corner which was totally happening. Very nice Scottish waiter, lots of good looking cakes. I tried the banana and A had the tiramisu. It wasn't even a super fancy banana cake and can't believe with all the options of decadent desserts, I barely ate fancy sweets while away. Also can't believe the hard time I had paying with a credit card, even at the bus station. Never such issues in France and Italy, I'll need an EC card if I go back.

I made up for the lack of real food in Krakow starting with chicken cutlets w/ mushrooms and a side of cabbage at Cucina u. Dorotny on Miodowa St. down from our Kazimierz Hotel. Smalll homey place, no smoking allowed thankfully. A. had potato pancakes with goulash in between, lots of food for about 25 pln. A nice lunch of pork schnitzl and potato w/ a side of cucumber, carrots and cabbage in a small popular lunch place, Gospoda Koko on Golebia for about 13. After the long trip to Auschwitz we stopped at CK Browar on Podwale where I thought A. would appreciate their home brewed beers. We had more pancakes w/ goulash, this had a much sweeter sauce and not quite as good (and more money). We found the kielbasa guy by the bridge around Dietla and got a huge sausage w/ roll for a good price which he kindly cut in half for us. also hit Chlopskie Jadio on Jana St., a very rustic looking spot with home cooking. I went with their lunch special of cabbage/pork soup, goulash and apple dessert for I think 19 pln. The dessert wasn't great but the rest was good. Even better was A's fried potato, hard boiled egg and bacon dish, those potatoes were amazing. Big hunks of bread served with a spread and lard w/ bits of bacon, good stuff. An order of traditional pierogies at Zapiecek was filling but I prefer them sautéed more. Our slightly nicer dinner was at Wesele on the Rynek Glowny where they serve lots of game. I went with goose which had a more beefy taste than I expected. The sauce with it was a little too sweet tho. All these places make you order sides, I went with dumplings and A went with fried potatoes w/ his pork dish in mustard/apple sauce. That was good but not too exciting. The dessert that was described as like apple strudel had no strudel and was just okay. Very sweet waiter, maybe the best service we had on the trip. Also ended up with an unplanned nicer dinner at Amarone in the Pod Roza Hotel. It was the nice glassware that lured me in, wanted a nice glass of wine which was about 15pln. We split a salad of greens and rabbit liver, which had a prosciutto feel about it. The fresh greens were good and also split an app of pasta stuffed with leeks in a creamy sauce. Very nice, and fairly expensive, wish we'd been more dressed up for it. Huge nice space but pretty quiet on a Thurs. nite and fairly morose service. My one straight out hot dog from a little window on Dluga was disappointing, no snap to that thing at all. And have to say, the paczki donuts weren't too exciting (better at the mom n pop shops over here) but ice cream cones were good and less than $1 all over the place including a great coffee one from Slodki Wentzl.

Cafes and bars in Berlin: Cake is a cool 50's feeling bar on Oranienstr., Jail off Wienerstr. with good rock music, Last Cathedral (goth) and White Trash (rock) in Prenzlauer Berg, Green Door w/ their great cocktails in Charlottenberg, SO36, Schockaladen, and Magnet for rock shows. Was able to get a real (i.e. American) iced coffee at Expresso Ambulanz on Oranienbergstr., nice people working there. Stopped at Café M for a huge latte on Goltzstr. for old time sake, was a friend's favorite place. And my old fave place Café Wirtshaftswunder on Yorkstr. unfortunately didn't open til 5 when we got there around 2:30. A. got a nice Middle Eastern lunch next door instead.

Cafes and bars in Krakow: too many to mention. In Kazimierz, I loved Lokator and Moment . Also Miejsce, B Side and Alchimia. Fuego and Propaganda were okay and La Habana in Kaz. and Café Botanica in old town looked cool. In the old town, I loved the cafes Gotebia 3 which was super funky and cozy and Cztery across the street with its psychedelic look. We had a very nice and expensive dessert and latte at Rest. Pod Krzyzkiem in the square, worth every penny and good service. The doner wasn't as good as in Berlin, not sure what the big deal about the zapiekanka is, I shouldn't have let him talk me into putting ketchup on it. Apartment 14 in Kaz. had fancy cocktails, we took advantage of the happy hour and got a cosmo and a capirhina like drink. Got a martini at Martini on Marka St., which had no cocktail list and seemed to be more of a sports bar. Stopped in the metal bar Tower Pub a few times, once for a show. Also on Grodska down a hallway was Popularny where they played heavy duty metal but that didn't stop them from throwing on some Meatloaf.

Thanks to linguafood for her help and this older post on Krakow had lots of info http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/534358

Pics of Green Door, Lokator, the pierogi place, Rest. Pod Krzyzkiem

[linguafood]

Thanks, Joanie! Looks like you still got around enough to have a nice Berlin experience. The credit card thing is a major pain in the ass. Who knows when things will change in that regard ---

With regard to the Japanese lunch you had, sounds like Sumo on Bergmannstr -- incidentally, my favorite Kiez of them all!!

[Joanie]

At least one person read all that. I think you're right about the Japanese place.

And I forgot, we found that fries stand that people had talked about on Oranienbergstr., pic enclosed. Quite decent but not like the Netherlands/Belgium, and WAY too much mayo.