In search of excellent eats in Berlin next week...Brrrrr

[fress]

We'll be in Berlin from Friday through Tuesday of next week. After parsing through posts here and elsewhere, we have booked dinners at Grill Royal (F) after the Philharmonic, Horvath (Sat), Borchardt (Sun) after the Opera, and Rutz upstairs (M). I was flirting with the idea of Sale e Tabacchi after Sifton's rave in the NYT, but decided why go to Berlin for Italian food. I would appreciate any suggestions for alternatives to the aforementioned, but please keep in mind that we're more interested in experiencing excellent food in lively surroundings than rarified haute cuisine - to put it in NYC terms, Union Square Cafe or the Modern Barroom rather than Daniel or Bernardin.

We'll be staying in Mitte - any recommendations for breakfast or afternoon cake and coffee near Bebelplatz? Also would love to know of interesting places for cocktails: I have been reading about Newton Bar - is it worth going to? And where is the one place I must go for the ultimate currywurst?

Thanks for any and all feedback.

[linguafood]

Well, first of, I think Grill Royal was a mistake, but so be it. While you write that you're not going to Berlin for Italian food, why would you go to Berlin for steak? Unless you're more interested in the atmosphere -- from what I hear, "celebrities" or whatever that counts for in Germany like to hang out. Same with Borchardt -- if it's good food you're interested in, you're going to the wrong place. The Wiener Schnitzel, as well as most of the food, frankly, is better at Lutter & Wegner. No hype, of course '-)

You already have a bunch of German places on your list, but I can highly recommend Renger Patzsch, though it's not located in Mitte. The food is outstanding, with no dish over 20 Euro, and a lively atmosphere. I have never been to Rutz myself, but hear good things about it.

For great afternoon cake, go the Opernpalais on Unter den Linden. Their display of tartes, pies, cakes, and tortes will blow your mind. And your waistline. Great coffee can be had pretty much anywhere, Café Einstein on Unter den Linden comes to mind -- it's touristy, but has fantastic coffee.

If you want quality cocktails, I'd forego Newton Bar (it's MEGA-hyped, but I think I'm beginning to see a theme here), unless you're into biznobots and professionals. Women, that is. Go to Reingold instead, or Beckett's Head, or even check out Shochu Bar at the holy Tim Raue trinity on the backside of Hotel Adlon. Awesome interior design, interesting drinks.

The best currywurst is located right under the S-Bahn Friedrichstrasse, and is called Bier's Curry & Spieße. I hated currywurst all my life until I saw the light.

And last, but certainly not least: Berlin has fantastic Italian food -- Trattoria Paparazzi, or Cantamaggio, and sometimes Il Contadino, though the service is pretty bad.

I'm still surprised that you came away with the choices you made from the threads you read (no offense).

[Marc]

I definitely second Tim Raue - but definitely you should put Tim Raues MA restaurant on your list. Exceptional, innovative!
Konservative but Berlins best rated (only Michelin two star restaurant in Berlin) Fischers Fritz, next to Borchard.
Excellent for Breakfast and coffee experience all day is in fact Einstein, but I think it is worth the trip to go to the first Einstein location at Kurfürstenstraße. There you have the additional benefit of a first class cocktailbar upstairs and "Berlins longest Bar", Bar am Lützowplatz, is just around the corner.
And the bar scene at Tacheles at Oranienburger is worth a visit too.

[desylicious]

Thanks for the Beckett's Kopf rec, its only 1 block from our apartment we took for the Berlinale! We've been in a Greenwich rut, out of old habit, and are looking to expand our bar repertoire.

Also, what is up with Sasaya? The donburi is good, but man, the sushi's lousy there.

[desylicious]

Every time I walk into Horvath, I can't bring myself to eat there because of the smell- of institutional cleaning products. Its got all the liveliness of a nursing home. Skip Grill Royal. Borchardt is a beautiful space, sort of Vienna Empire ( as is Einstein, original), but the food is meh, and the place is only good for spotting celebs and table hopping, so I guess it's a good plan if you are buddies with German soap opera stars and 80's pop musicians (ahem). If you do go there, the safe bets are the Schnitzel (which everybody gets) or the Irish steaks.

On the plus side, I really love Sale e Tabacchi. I think the food is great there- the sole, the vitello tonato, plus a beautiful patio in the summer, but the place has a lot of personal meaning for me. If you are going to the Philharmonie then you will appreciate that it's a regular dining spot for Simon Rattle.

If you are into the Modern Barroom for the aesthetics, maybe Shiro i Shiro is right for you, very designy, but a lot of places here are.

My general advice is to expand your search outside of Mitte.

[fress]

Wow, desylicious, that's a pretty vivid picture you paint of Horvath! Drawing from linguafood's recommendations, maybe we'll substitute Renger Patzsch for Horvath. Or I've read about Oderquelle here in other posts...Thoughts?

We're eager to explore Berlin and are by no means tied to Mitte; a big reason for choosing both Grill Royal and Borchardt was that we'll be dining late after music those nights and wanted to be able to walk to dinner from the halls. Maybe we'll do Lutter & Wegner or Sale & Tabacchi instead of Borchardt. If you haven't seen the attached NY Times article, the picture Sam Sifton paints of Grill Royal - http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/... - makes it sound like a lot of fun - and we do love briny oysters!

Much thanks to you all for your feedback. I will report back after our trip. Given our willingness to travel beyond Mitte, should we stick with Rutz or do you have another suggestion?

[linguafood]

Ha, Ms. Desy's back in B-town. You lucky, lucky gal! Definitely check out Reingold, too, if you can. Funny stuff about Horvath -- I only went there once, and really enjoyed the food. No recollection of plush-headed folks or cleaner smells....

I haven't had sushi at Sasaya -- most people tend to go there for soups. For good sushi, I head all the way to Olivaer Platz: Mr. Hai. That place rocks.

@fress -- yeah, do check out Renger-Patzsch, I really think you'll enjoy. Much better food than Oderquelle, if perhaps not as easy to reach from Mitte (you'll most likely have to switch trains, but the U7 stop Eisenacher Str. would be the one to get off).

[jcarlile]

This may be too little too late, but I had an amazing Thai meal at Restaurant Van Long on Reinhardstraße, near Oranienburger Tor a few weeks ago. The ingredients were super fresh, the taste complex, and the spiciness just right. One dish even featured fresh green peppercorns still on the stalk! I am from the SF Bay area where good, authentic Thai food is readily available, and this meal surpassed even what I used to eat back home. I highly recommend it

[fress]

Back from Berlin - and wanted to share our experiences - excellent, good, mediocre, and bad. Once again, thanks for everyone's feedback.

Bad: As we were warned, Grill Royal and Borchardt - for different reasons. We went to Grill Royal after a concert on one of the last nights of the Film festival, and it was mobbed. Seemed like more of a club than a restaurant - with lots of table hopping and people constantly disappearing into the back - to what we eventually deduced must be a smoking lounge. Nothing wrong with a buzz, as long as the food and service are good. But they weren't. Started with a dozen oysters which were just OK. Then I had the Irish filet which was good quality meat, but not particularly wellcooked; my wife had the salad Grill Royal which was a disaster - fibrous celery, undercooked carrots, clumps of parsley. Service friendly, but incompetent. Glass of white wine did not arrive until after oysters, wife was served regular Beck's rather than requested non-alcoholic beer. Left without dessert and stopped instead on the way home at Bier's Curry and Weisse for a currywurst as suggested - we haven't seen the light yet...

Food was better at Borchardt, but nothing special: good sauteed wild mushrooms and steak tartar prepared at table. The wienerschnitzel went on and on...The room was halfempty and a little sad.

Mediocre: Dinner at Rutz - some good food, excellent wine service, but overall a bit too fussy and overdone.
I was bored and felt like I could have been eating anywhere...

Good: Sale e Tabacchi - had a quick lunch there with excellent spinach and ricotta ravioli and good antipasti.
Horvath - I didn't smell any cleaning supplies and liked the room a lot. Felt like an ambitious neighborhood restaurant. My halibut and my wife's venison were slightly overcooked, but my breast of lamb was superb and all the sauces were good. Friendly, wellinformed service. I would go back.

Excellent: We stumbled upon a very comfortable, friendly cafe on Gendarmenmarkt called Quchnia and went back there every day. Superb coffee and delicious cakes. Great place to hang out with a wonderful view of the churchs. Much preferred it to Einstein on Unter der Linden.

Best restaurant food was at Lebensmittel in Mitte. Great place for casual lunch, worth looking for. I had large ravioli (two, each the size of half a handkerchief) filled with minced veal and topped with sauteed onion, and my wife had delicious liver dumpling soup. As described elsewhere on Chowhound, part grocery store, part cafe with ordering at a counter and very reasonable prices.

Best food overall was at the market in Winterfeldmarkts (sp?): We actually preferred this market to Borough Market in London. Even in mid-February it was abuzz with locals shopping and had lots of stalls with delicious food. We had grilled raclette on bread, filet of pickled herring on roll with onions, and an excellent and warming fish soup with lots of herbs. Lots of fun and highly recommended. Can only imagine how it must be in good weather! Only problem was that we were so full from our grazing that we could only feast with our eyes at KaDeWe afterwards, except for a delicious sponge roll filled with lemon cream!

[linguafood]

I love Winterfeldtmarkt. I go there every Saturday if I can make it. Great, great food! Was the Bavarian fish stand there with fresh grilled trout? The other one where you had the fish soup is great, too. Or the smoked salmon / salmon trout stand...... drooling here.

Glad you had a good time. Berlin's got excellent food for everyone.