Three Restaurants Everyone Clamors For
And where to go when you can’t get in.
CAN’T GET INTO THIS ONE?
Tim Raue
Rudi-Dutschke-Strasse 26; 49 30 25 93 7930
“No one in Berlin is doing what Tim Raue is doing,” says Suzan Taher of the blog Foodie in Berlin. Which is to say, cooking impeccable, avant-garde Chinese food in a space that “looks like a Scandinavian airport lounge from a Bond movie.”
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Dos Palillos
Rosenthaler Strasse 53; 49 30 20 00 3413
Despite scoring ex–El Bulli chef Albert Raurich, the year-old Asian tapas spot Dos Palillos is “not hushed or reverent at all; you could go in jeans.” The prices fit the casual vibe (thirteen plates, €55), as do the bar seats: “You can practically reach out and touch the cutting boards.”
CAN’T GET INTO THIS ONE?
Little Otik
Graefestrasse 71; 49 30 50 36 2301
“My favorite place to eat,” says Hilda Hoy, editor at e-mail magazine Sugarhigh. The farm-to-table American spot, which looks “like a cross between a farmhouse and the hold of a ship,” opened last summer after a yearlong stint as an apartment supper club.
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Noto
Torstrasse 173; 49 30 20 09 5387
For a similarly intimate, home-cooked affair, Taher recommends Noto, an art-world favorite whose weekly menu offers bold German fare with Mediterranean accents. “They really get it with their savory plates. The thing to order is the veal spareribs. Definitely a sharing plate.”
CAN’T GET INTO THIS ONE?
Reinstoff
Schlegelstrasse 26C; 49 30 30 88 1214
“One of the most interesting and original places in the city,” says Taher. Young Michelin-starred chef Daniel Achilles begins with “fun amuse-bouches like tiny waffle cones filled with fish eggs” before moving on to mains like “an incredible confit of lobster.”
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Lavanderia Vecchia
Flughafenstrasse 46; 49 30 62 72 2152
Like Reinstoff, it is located in the back of an anonymous building. “They give you a whole smorgasbord of splendid appetizers,” says Hoy. “It’s really popular, but so off-the-beaten-path that it still feels like a secret.” Plus it’s cheap: Four courses, with wine, runs €39.
What Your Bier Says About You
As explained by Peter Sutcliffe, author of Around Berlin in 80 Beers
You are: A beer-obsessed middle-aged accountant from Moabit who makes weekly trips to the Brewbaker brewpub (Arminiusstrasse 2-4).
You’re drinking: Brewbaker Imperial Stout, a gloriously rich, dry, and dark brew from Berlin’s most innovative brewer.
You are: A young Mitte lawyer hanging out with fellow Schwaben (yuppies from prosperous West Germany) at the new Augustiner am Gendarmenmarkt (Charlottenstrasse 55).
You’re drinking: Augustiner Edelstoff, a malty, toast-dry lager from the best of the big Munich breweries.
You are: A Charlottenburg housewife quaffing your lunch at the civilized garden restaurant Le Piaf (Schlossstrasse 60).
You’re drinking: Berliner Kindl Weisse, a tart local wheat beer, which most people drink with red raspberry or green woodruff syrup.
You are: A construction worker from Neukölln who makes a nightly beer stop at any one of Berlin’s thousands of “late stores.”
You’re drinking: Schultheiss Pilsner, a light golden pilsner brewed in a local mega-keggery.