I'm visiting Berlin with my college-aged son. Any ideas for a great restaurant? Or the best/most famous pastry or coffee house? We're staying in an apartment that is a 3-5 minute walk to Suedstern stop on subway (I assume that's what it is)- Can anyone help? THANKS!

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My college-age sons who lived there loved the Mexican restuarant that is right next to the restored synagogue. I'm afraid I don't remember the name, and I can't tell you the location in relation to where you are, but I'm sure you can find it. Right after returning, I saw it written up in the NY Times as one of the hot spots in Berlin. This was a few years ago, but it still might be fun.

I personally love going to the Twelve Apostles because we're usually the only ones there NOT college age. Pizzas don't get any better than this in Italy! We were originally sent there by some "20 somethings" we met in Mykonos who live in Berlin who said it was the BEST place in Berlin.

Thanks for the help! We'll try both!

I'm also thinking of a great beer hall...anyone have any ideas...in Berlin..

When we were in Berlin a few years ago, my wife and I ate at the Adler Cafe near the former Checkpoint Charlie. It's a simple German restaurant with very good food, and I think it figured as a hangout in some of the Cold War spy novels (I recall it in a LeCarre story but haven't confirmed it.) A historian I know visited Berlin 2 years ago, and he said that the cafe is now a favorite of historians at the nearby Max Plack Institute, who drop in after work for the beer.

Thanks, Neopolitan and Joe, for your help! We'll try them all out.

I loved two restaurants, Gugelhof in Prenzlauer Berg and Storch in Schoneberg. Both are Alsatian and feature their version of pizza, called tarte flambe or flammekuche. Instead of tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, they are topped with sour cream, bacon and onions, but the specials often have fresh tomatoes and other vegetables on them. They have very thin crusts and the toppings are not too thick. Both restaurants have menus with lots of excellent options. Their staffs are very friendly and speak good English. Storch (means, and is pronounced, stork) has communal tables which is great for meeting Berliners. You can google their websites for addresses, phone numbers, and menus. Since my companion would only eat Italian food, I wish we had tried Die Twelf Apostel because the two places near our hotel were overpriced and way too complicated. I loved Cafe Oranienburg on Oranienburgerstrasse for dessert and coffee, beautiful and traditional, near the Hackescher Markt (a wonderful outdoor market for food and crafts on Saturday), or Cafe Adler, next to Checkpoint Charlie for a creamy hot chocolate---not as lovely inside, but cheaper and with a more youthful crowd. Your apartment is in Kreuzberg on the U7 line and I was hoping to try the restaurant Austria near you which sounds like great fun; but desperately craving a simple salad, ate instead at Naturkost Seerose, which is a vegetarian cafe with a steamtable and salad bar. I was in the neighborhood to see an Irish comedy about speed dating at The English Theatre on Fidicinstrasse and I do recommend that you check to see if there are any productions scheduled because it's a fun and inexpensive (14 euros) way to spend the evening and is probably an easy walk from your apartment. When I left on Wednesday, it had been snowing almost every day and Berliners were calling this their Russian winter, so check the weather before you go and bring warm sox and shoes with good treads if it hasn't yet begun to thaw.

Caboom,

Wow! What a wealth of info. I appreciate it very much.

The apartment I'm staying in, is it a ways from the "city center," where all of the major hotels are, the "gate," "Checkpoint C.," etc.? I was hesitant to rent an apartment, never have in Europe, so I pray it will be okay. It's very very warm where I am now, so we will be in shock to have snow! Thx for the warning!

Not a specific restauraunt, but most college kids I've asked (particularly including myself) have heartily enjoyed Döner Kebabs; it's cheap fast food stuff, but actually about as German as Turkish, and very good (shaved lamb meat in a pita with toppings); would make a good stop for lunch. If either of you is vegetarian, falafel is a good alternative. Plus bratwurst, of course (I pretty much lived off of those 2 for 5 weeks in Germany, they're that good).