Berlin does not make life easy for the weekend visitor. Firstly, it places temptation in the way at what seems like every turn. One's figure and appetite are continually put at risk by the presence of carts selling salty pretzels and freshly grilled sausages. The Berliners' love of bratwurst and wheat beer lives on and, because of this universal demand, quality is high and prices are very fair.
And the city, like the rest of Germany, still takes Sunday seriously. As with most of the main stores, many of the top restaurants remain shut. Yet despite these obstacles, it is possible to eat and drink very well and very reasonably as the rents in Berlin, a significant part of any restaurant's cost base, are much lower than those in most capital cities.
CAFE EINSTEIN STAMMHAUS
Kurfürstenstraße 58, +49 30 261 5096, cafeeinstein.com
This is the quintessential Mittleuropa café complete with its own garden, a strong aroma of freshly ground coffee, newspapers on wooden poles, panelling and a well-stocked cake stand.
The Einstein breakfast for two came to €23.80. This involved so many different ingredients that our waitress had to bring a small side table to put them on. A soft-boiled egg each, glasses of yoghurt with berries, slices of ham, cheese and smoked salmon, excellent jams and half a dozen different types of bread and croissants. Terrific Valrhona hot chocolate, too. Perfect food to set you up for a day's sightseeing.
HOT SPOT
Eisenzahnstraße 66, +49 30 890 06878, restaurant-hotspot.de
Jianhua Wu and Huiqin Wang could possibly
not have chosen a worse time to open their modestly decorated but heartwarming Szechuan restaurant just a couple of years ago as the financial crisis curbed both personal and corporate entertaining. Yet Hot Spot has prospered due to its owners' hard work, charm and keen interest in their customers, as well as a well-chosen, well-priced wine list that includes many of the fine German wines that are so excellent with hot, spicy Szechuan cooking. And the menu is great.
We enjoyed cold starters of marinated cucumber with ginger and Shanghai bean curd, followed by lamb with caraway, red-braised pork belly, aubergine in red chilli oil and, the dish for which Hot Spot is most well known, tea-smoked duck.
WEINSTEIN
Lychenerstraße 33, +49 30 44 11 842, weinstein.eu
Weinstein has been the preoccupation of its founder, Roy Metzdorf, so constantly for the past 17 years that he refers to it simply as "my living room". Located in the eastern part of the city, this former butcher's shop is now packed with wine memorabilia that reflect its owner's passion, as does a wine list that offers a great range by the bottle and the glass.
The establishment looks to be merely a simple wine bar but the kitchen produces dishes of real distinction, relying for a great deal of its ingredients on the many local producers in the surrounding countryside: freshwater pike, perch and zander from Lake Zechlin, ham, salami and goats' cheese from Brandenburg, and local beef for the goulash and dumplings. Finally, for any night owl, there is always a midnight rib on offer, such as home-smoked calf's ribs with their own barbecue sauce, available only from 11pm to 1am.
FISCHERS FRITZ
Charlottenstraße 49, +49 30 20 33 63 63, fischersfritzberlin.com
This restaurant may seem the antithesis of the others mentioned in that it is far more expensive and located in a luxurious hotel. Its chef, Christian Lohse, who has held two Michelin stars for three years now, is deeply committed to the freshness of his fish. He buys directly from the Brittany coast of France and ensures that they are in his kitchen no more than 12 hours after they have been landed. It's a class act with several fixed-price menus being the most cost-effective approach to eating here at lunch or dinner.
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