This is from an article that has been edited and published by UpperCrust and you can fine the original version here. Our Berlin experience was largely around the Charlottenburg
Let’s fast forward to two years after the pandemic. The world had just begun to open up. K was going to Cannes for the Cannes Lions ad festival in June 2022. The plan was for me to join her in Berlin and for us to take a much-needed vacation. We booked our flight tickets and hotel. My mother-in-law was to come and babysit our cats.
Why Berlin, asked so many when I spoke about our plans to visit the city. Why not, was my response. To quote John F Kennedy, ‘ich bin ein Berliner’, is what I wanted to say at the end of the trip. ‘I am a Berliner’.
The city has so much history to offer. Especially to World War II and Cold War history buffs such as the wife and me.
The early part of the year saw a set of health mishaps for us. I had COVID-19, followed by the very painful Herpes Zoster. I had to take a forced break from work. I spent the time chilling, reading and playing with our cats. The books I read were fictional and had nothing to do with food. Berlin featured prominently in three of the books that I read – All The Light We Cannot See, The Passenger and The Communist’s Daughter. It was no surprise that I answered Berlin when my wife Kainaz (henceforth referred to as K) asked me about where I would like to join her after she was done with the Cannes Lions to go on a holiday.
Modern Berlin is supposed to be one of the hippest cities in Europe. It became a hotspot for young artists after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The former East German part of the city offered real estate which was much cheaper than that in the Western European capital cities. The youth from western Europe took advantage of this and moved into Berlin. The melange of immigrants from different parts of the world means that the food scene of Berlin is a lot more varied compared to the sausage and potato fare that the rest of Germany is (in)famous for. Or than curry-wurst, the bratwurst (weiner) doused with ketchup and curry powder and stuffed in a hot dog-like bread,that had come up in West Berlin in response to the food uncertainty from a time it was surrounded by communist East Germany. Cheaper hotel prices, the proliferation of art districts and above all, the promise of exciting food, made Berlin quite a tempting prospect.
We based ourselves in Charlottenburg, a fairly hip and affluent area of modern Berlin. Our hotel, Am Steinplatz was larger than Splendid Etiole in Paris where we had stayed just before we came to Berlin. It was a lot cheaper, too. The staff, a lot friendlier. This friendliness was typical of Berlin as we soon found out, starting with the driver of our cab from the airport to the hotel who warmly welcomed us to the city and told us about the city highlights. Such a pleasant change from the grouchy airport-to-the-city taxi drivers of Paris.
Hotel am Steinplatz was located at Charlottenburg. Charlottenburg, once a part of West Berlin, is an affluent residential area of Berlin today. It was dotted with hip cafés, legacy restaurants and restaurants offering international cuisines. It reminded us of the Bombay suburb of Bandra (west) where we live. We rarely needed to go out of Charlottenburg to eat. And we did not go anywhere outside of Charlottenburg to eat. This explains why my Berlin restaurant and café recommendations are largely from there. Let me start with my café recommendations, as K and I are both ‘café people.’ We love the casual vibe of cafés in comparison to the more formal atmosphere of restaurants.
Die Stulle
This is the one café that both ladies at the reception of the hotel agreed on despite the age difference between them which had otherwise reflected in their café recommendations. The only ‘problem’ was that it was not open all days of the week.
We spotted the café the day before we left and it was open! For once we chose not to sit outside on the pavement as it was very chilly. We went inside and found ourselves a corner table and I am so glad we did so. The walls of the café were a soothing light olive green, the vibe was very, very warm. Customers spanned age groups starting with toddlers at one end and grandparents at the other. The menu took inspiration from across the world. The drinks menu even featured an Indian masala chai latte! We went for our usual cortado and cappuccino (in a takeaway cup) though.
The menu had several bowls on offer which was in keeping with the international trend of Buddha Bowls. We split the Green Garden between us. Poached farm eggs, with avocado and Parmesan on crisp nutty bread and organic cress. We opted for the organic bacon, which was extra. Seeing an orange rivulet seep out once I pierced the poached organic eggs filled me with unadulterated joy. We decided that we must come back to Die Stulle given how much we liked it. Which, given that we were flying out of Berlin the next day, meant that we had to return to Berlin someday. How lovely a prospect is that?
Carmenstrasse 10, 10623 Berlin Germany. Ph: +49 30 31179403
What Do You Fancy Love?
The ladies at the reception gave us several recommendations on where to go for a bite after we checked in. We decided upon What Do You Fancy Love? The name of the café was cheerful and it was not too far from our hotel. We were in for a surprise when we reached there. The menu was largely vegetarian apart from the odd egg dish. This in a country famous for its sausages and meats! The interiors of the café had a funky feel to it but we decided to sit on the tables and chairs placed on the pavement outdoors. The pavement was clean. The sun was bright. The breeze, cheerful. The temperature, moderate. The cars that passed by did not honk. Where could one get such an experience in Bombay?
K and I chose bagels. I went for a guacamole filling while K opted for cream cheese. She followed it with a cappuccino in a takeaway cup. I had a cortado.
We smiled like Cheshire cats. Our trip could not have got off to a better start. Oh, and did I tell you that the service was very good?
Knesebeckstr. 68,
10623 Berlin Germany
Visit: www.whatdoyoufancylove.de
Coffee Drink Your Monkey
This café was vociferously recommended by the young lady at the hotel reception desk. “It is my favourite and I go there after work,” she said. We went there one afternoon just as it began to rain. We were caught unprepared and without umbrellas and dashed into the café. My first impression of it was that the light blue colour of the walls was a cheerful contrast to the grey sky outside. And the young age of its patrons which seemed to go so well with its quirky name. Some peered into their laptops. The others engaged in animated conversations in groups. There were a few couples as well. Sitting coyly across each other as couples across the world tend to do.
We were welcomed with warm smiles which seemed to wipe away the rainy chill we had taken refuge from. K chose a cookie. I had a rather milky cappuccino.
We wished we had carried our books to read. The big windows that we sat by, looking into the rain crashing down offered the perfect setting to curl up with a page-turner and a steaming mug of hot chocolate and read. The sun came out, we left the monkey to finish its coffee, and we left.
Savignyplatz 11
10623 Berlin
Visit: www.coffeedrinkyourmonkey.de
Schwarzes Cafe
“What bread? It’s just bread,” said the elderly waiter in Schwarzes Cafe, estd. 1978, when I asked him about the bread they served along with the boiled egg and bacon breakfast plate when we were there on our first morning in Berlin. No sourdough, rye, wholewheat, artisanal, multigrain, etc., here. Just ‘bread’.
It was not a hipster place. It was no wonder that Schwarzes was recommended with the same passion by the lady at the reception of our hotel, as Monkey Drink Your Coffee was recommended by her junior colleague. There was a certain old-world charm to Schwarzes.
Yet, be it the poached eggs and bacon that one ordered for breakfast, or sunny side up and juice, everything came artistically plated. This was Charlottenburg after all. What was on offer at Schwarzes was good, solid food, which was pleasing to the eye. Oh, and in deference to the senior age group of its customers, they offered printed menu cards. None of that QR code nonsense, where you have to scan with your phone and squint to read, here. And they only accept cash!
“It is open till 3 am,” said the lady at the reception proudly. Perhaps she had gone there after many a beer-soaked night in her youth! We went to Schwarzes for dinner one night. We sat inside this time. The buzz was very different than in the morning. It felt more like a pub in comparison to the café-like feel in the morning. The food was still as good. I had a veal schnitzel that night which would match the one I once had in Zurich in terms of juiciness. The young waiter suggested I go for fried potatoes instead of mash on the side and I am so glad he did so. The salt and pepper-specked fried potato cubes were reminiscent of what my mother packed for me to take to school in Calcutta for tiffin.
The verdict on Schwarzes? It’s the one place on the trip that kept calling us back and we went there at least once a day. That’s what comfort is all about. It reminded us of Candies – the neighbourhood café in Bandra that we so love.
Kantstrasse 148
10623 Berlin
Ph: +49 30 3138038
Paris Bar
Paris Bar is located a few buildings away from Schwarzes Cafe. It has the reputation of being a trendy nightspot in Berlin where you can spot celebrities. I went there for tea on the last evening of our trip. I liked it so much that I went back with K for our last supper before we headed back to Bombay. It was our most expensive meal in Berlin and was just the right ending to our vacation which had begun a fortnight back, coincidentally at Paris.
To give you a feel of Paris Bar, allow me to share an extract from my Berlin journal entry on my evening there.
“‘You are now famous,’ said the gentleman with the salt and pepper beard who took pity on the young Instagrammer with a salt and pepper side stubble (that’s me) who was trying to take selfies with not much success till then by propping his phone on a glass. The gentleman had left his lady companion (who smiled indulgently), and his omelette which had just been brought to his table, to photograph the aforementioned Instagrammer from different angles. ‘Famous’ is not a word to be loosely used at the bistro in Berlin whose customers in the past include George Clooney, Samuel Jackson, Madonna, Scarlett Johansson, Leonardo Di Caprio and the like. The two gentlemen at the adjacent tables, who looked like regulars, joined in with one offering to bounce light from his phone and the other directing the two.
The small break at Paris Bar this evening was just what my heart needed after a day of shopping in a mall (East Side Mall) in what seemed to be the other end of Germany, let alone Berlin. I needed that bit of me-time to get back into vacation mode. There were less than 24 hours left and I wanted to make the most of it. Then one will be back home and all of this will just be a memory.
The grilled blood sausage that I called for, brought joy. The baguette served on the side was toasty and tasted exquisite. Even better than the ones we had in Paris a few days back. I buttered slice after slice of the bread to make up for the angst of the day. The espresso that I ordered was as cheerful as the service. Stellar as it was, more than the fabulous food and coffee that one had at the Paris café this evening, it was the memories of the people one met and the conversations one had that are going to stay embossed in one’s heart forever.”
How was dinner? We were rather under-dressed in our tees and jeans given the nattily dressed diners around us, but the service was warm, as was the vibe. Folks at the neighbouring tables broke into conversation with us. We could not have been made to feel more welcome than we were that night.
What did we eat?
Grilled foie gras
Medium rare T-bone steak
Grilled foie gras
Kantstr. 152, 10623 Berlin Germany
Ph:+49 30 3138052
We headed home the next morning and before signing off I must tell you about something wonderful that happened during our trip on my social media feed.
I lost count of the number of my followers, who wrote in saying that they were happy to see us go on a vacation. They said that we deserved it after the bleakness of the lockdown. That they found our smiles to be infectious. That they felt joy in our happiness, even though they were still cooped up at home. I was awestruck by their warmth and generosity. I hope that someday I would be able to live up to the lofty standards that they have set.
