Breakfast spots in Berlin?

January 15, 2013 2:24 AM

I'll be in Berlin for about a week and would appreciate recommendations for cafes/breakfast places. I'll be staying on the border between Kreuzberg and Neukölln so places near there would be especially appreciated.

If you have any other Kreuzberg/Neukölln area recommendations, I'd love those too. Although I'll certainly explore greater Berlin during the weekends, during the week I'll probably only have time to walk around locally.

posted by vacapinta to food & drink (12 answers total)

Yellow Sunshine! Best veggie burgers I've ever had.
posted by mannequito at 2:35 AM on January 15

A couple of Berlin breakfast places are recommended in this thread.
posted by biffa at 3:29 AM on January 15

Not so close, but open 24/7 and with excellent breakfast choices and great shabby chic atmosphere upstairs: Schwarzes Cafe on Kantstr. 148, near Savignyplatz.
posted by meijusa at 4:06 AM on January 15

I like Marx Cafe in Spreewaldplatz. If you are there early they serve mini brownies with their coffee. Right next door is Morena, which also has good brunch.
posted by molecicco at 5:04 AM on January 15

Also, by far the best falafel is at Falafel in Berlin on Skalitzerstr, by Görlitzer Bahnhof.
posted by molecicco at 5:07 AM on January 15

And for your area, the nicest cafe to hang out in is Nathanja & Heinrich although they only have cakes for food.
posted by molecicco at 5:29 AM on January 15

Schwarzes Cafe is fantastic and worth a detour - personally it reminds me of the East-Village, NYC circa 1990 - but it is quite far from Kreuz-Kölln.

Five Elephant Coffee is by some accounts the best coffee in Berlin. Personally, I like the coffee from Vatos Tacos, but they're only around Thursday nights.

Barcomi's (in Bergmann kiez) is good 'brunch', but also a little far away. Also a little far away is 'Engels' (Herrfurthstraße 21 12049 Berlin‎) over by Tempelhof, the old airport.
posted by From Bklyn at 6:19 AM on January 15

Cafe Marx is lovely, try the carrot cake if it's on. Yellow Sunshine is from what I've heard a nightmare in terms of quality, value and service. Try Tiki Heart right next to it, or almost anywhere on the canal between Pannierstrasse and Kottbusser Damm, specifically GriGri or Ankerklause. Morgenland used to be Elysium for Sunday brunch, now it's more like Valhalla.
A little further away, Cafe Vux is nice and also 100% vegan, and Cafe Aroma is sooo friendly and relaxing and nice.
posted by runincircles at 6:36 AM on January 15

You will be spoilt for choice!

Check out Zimt & Mehl, on the corner of Wildenbruchstr. and Weigandufer. It's a classic German bakery, but better, with cheaper and nicer breakfasts than lots of other places in the area.

Heroes on Friedelstr. The French-American owners are lovely, the vibe is nice - hidden gem.

Bully's Bakery on Weserstr. does the best cakes. Om nom nom.

The Melbourne Canteen on Pannierstr. is Aussie run and has the best coffee in the neighbourhood, IMO. A bit pricier but it's worth it.

Weserstrasse is the main artery of the neighbourhood. Wander along it from Hermannplatz and you'll find plenty of nice restaurants, cute bars and cafes. Turn off onto Friedelstrasse and you will find even more to explore. And you can get into the heart of Kreuzberg very easily - there is tonnes to see and do in Kreuzberg. Strolling along the Landwehrkanal will get you there, and that's a fun activity in and of itself.

I could go on and on - if you want any more specific recommendations, feel free to MeMail me.
posted by guessthis at 6:36 AM on January 15

If you find yourself in the Prenzlauer Berg area, I particularly liked Bonanza Coffee Heroes, which I think I found via a chow.com search for "best coffee in Berlin." I went back a few times, and my nonexistent German skills were never a problem, FWIW.
posted by Comic Sans-Culotte at 10:43 AM on January 15

Hey, that's my neighborhood!

I like Cafe Goldberg's fairly traditional German breakfasts, and Tischendorf on Friedelstrasse has lovely house-made baked things (and super yummy soups, too.)

If you're interest in trying unusual restaurants for dinner, you definitely should check out Sauvage, a Paleo restaurant on Pflügerstrasse. It's on the pricy side, but everything I've ever eaten there has been astonishing, and they try really interesting ingredient combinations (get the Hunter Gatherer plate for an appetizer, it'll have neat things like pickled apples slices.)

Oh, and I definitely would recommend checking out the Turkish Market on Maybachufer, just east of Kottbusser Damm, it's every Tuesday and Friday. Lots of nice coffee and snack stalls, plus vendors with veggies, trinkets, licorice, cheese, meat, fabric.... Super fun and delicious.

Hope you have a great visit!
posted by Sarah_Lena at 11:05 AM on January 15

Thank you for all the suggestions!

One thing we didn't know is that to eat Sunday brunch pretty much anywhere you need to reserve well in advance. We ended up having a nice but nothing special Sunday brunch at Cafe Matilda on Graefestrasse. We did make it to Morena and Marx as well. And had a great Turkish lunch at nearby Mercan.

Before going, I noticed the opinions on where to get the best coffee in Berlin were fairly divided. Now I know why. It's the roast.

Most cities I've been to have a lighter roast (San Francisco being the lightest) or darker roast (the darkest I've found has been Lisbon) and this is consistent among roasters in the city. But Berlin is the first city that seemed to have two distinct coffee cultures. Five Elephants and CK Cafe (in the Voo store), which I tried both had a light roast which I think of as an American roast. Other cafes, such as The Barn in Mitte, had a darker roast more common in Australia and New Zealand.

The difference is big enough that two San Francisco foodie friends said that every espresso they had in Paris was disgustingly burnt and they resorted to Starbucks. Likewise, my Portuguese wife thought that Four Barrel Coffee in SF tasted as if someone had squeezed a lemon in it.

Anyways, sorry for the derail but I thought the coffee scene in Berlin was interesting enough to remark upon this.
posted by vacapinta at 7:17 AM on January 29 [1 favorite]