Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Berlin: Your Favorite Restaurants

Taken from my Prague/Berlin trip report.

A traditional German pub/restaurant near the Arcotel Velvet:

The desk clerk (a different one this time) said there was such a place 2 minutes walk away right where Oranienburgerstr. meets Friedrichstr. Sure enough, just across Friedrichstr. we found the Baeren Schenke--at least that was on a sign at the door; hopefully it's the name of the place.

Another German place on the river Spree by the Museum Island--brews its own beer:
The hotel had recommended a couple of places near the museum island, so we headed for one of them: Brauhaus Georgbrau, Spreeufer 4, along the river just across the Rathausstr. bridge.

A very pleasant place--clean; shiny copper brewing equipment. We all went with small Georgbraus as we still had a lot of sightseeing to day. Very tasty. For our late lunch, 2 of our group had Brandenburg Bratwurst with mustard and brown sauce, Sauerkraut, and potatoes. Another had just a nice salad and potato soup with sausage. I ordered the special--Eisbein (boiled leg of pork) with Sauerkraut, mashed peas and boiled potatoes, a small beer and a schnapps, for € 9,99.

Everyone enjoyed their food, but my dish was definitely the hit of the meal. Never tasted better, more tender, succulent ham/pork. I gave everyone a taste and then had to beat them back away my plate. I would definitely return here--though in the summer I could imagine it being very crowded with its nice location along ther river. There is a statue of St. George and the dragon in the little square by the restaurant.

An upbeat and good Italian place--again not far from Arcotel Velvet:
the Italian restaurant our last night in Berlin was "Cavallino Rosso" -Hannoversche Str. 2
tel 030 - 27 90 83 14
All of the staff (I'm not sure they were all Italian, but I am sure they were not German--at least the ones who waited on us) were very upbeat, smiling, gracious, and welcoming. We were able to quickly arrange drinks (3 Prosecco with Holunder Sirup and 1 Camapari and soda). A couple of toasts and a few laughs later our wonderful appetizer platter arrived.

I must note that English was not really spoken by any members of the staff we encountered--but with our few words of German, their few words of English, hand gestures, smiles, and a couple of drawings, we managed to have a great meal. Not quite sure what each and everything we had was, but it was all delicious and none of it was moving on our plates.

Anyway, we had ordered 4 different appetizers that came out on one platter for us to share. All excellent. For the main courses we had: Pasta with lamb sausage (melted in my mouth, and so savory); ravioli with truffles; a wild boar special of the evening; and pasta with mushrooms, crayfish, and garlic sauce. Again, all excellent. Had a nice wine Novelle d' Montepulciano to accompany the meal. For dessert, panacotta with strawberries, affogato al cafe, and pistachio tartufo--plus coffee.