Image by Ciarán Fahey

The heavenly smells wafting from Schwarze Pumpe will draw you in from the cold even before you’ve realised whether you’re hungry or not. In fact, you may wander in for just one Hefeweißbier (€2.90) and find yourself ordering a delicious Chili Con Carne (€4.50) too, as I did.

This cosy little pub/café/Kneipe has long been a favourite with locals, offering heart-warming (limbs too) German fare at its most tempting since it opened in 1993. Daily specials like Fenchel-Tomaten-Suppe (€3.50), broccoli and potato bake (€6), cheese Spätzle (schwäbische noodles) with salad (€6), or Grünkohl in Kräuter (cabbage in herbs, €3.50) are written on a board and taste much better than they sound. (Thankfully this rule applies to most German cuisine.)

A menu also offers set dishes at very reasonable prices – breakfast, including the typical Rühreier (scrambled egg) with bread for €3.20, is served from 10:00 -14:00, the kitchen remains open to 23:00, and a very popular Sunday brunch is available for just €5 every… well, Sunday.

This old-fashioned joint looks like it hasn’t been done up in years, exactly as I like it, and the homely feeling is extenuated by the friendly staff who seem to know everyone who walks in the door.

With the day’s newspapers available for perusal, good music, a cosy atmosphere, simple wooden decor and delicious food and drink, you might find yourself staying longer than originally planned. And with the nights getting ominously colder, where’s the harm in that?

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Schwarze Pumpe | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants (German) | Apfelschorle € 1.50
Choriner Straße 76 | Mitte | +49304496939
10:00 – 01:00 daily (Kitchen ’til 23:00)

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Ciarán Fahey

A short tram ride east will bring you all the way to Asia. Well, not quite – Berlin’s public transport isn’t that good – but the M8 will bring you as far as the Dong Xuan Center where a thriving Vietnamese community is blossoming on what used to be decrepit industrial wasteland.

‘Little Vietnam’ consists of an untidy collection of huge hangers stuffed to the brim with shops upon shops selling all manner of stuff you never knew you needed. Tacky and flashy are the order of the day – this is the place to come for neon shop signs, plastic flowers, cheap wedding dresses, rubber reindeer or plastic figurines. Those friendly one-armed waving cats can of course be found here, as can porcelain pigs engaging in activities no decent porcelain pig would normally be found in.

Weird wares are scattered all around, sandwiched between karaoke bars, shoe shops, barbers, hair salons and nail salons. It’s another world. Old men play cards at a furious pace around tables under clouds of smoke, money changing hands quicker than the eye can see. Live carp patiently await purchase in huge tanks at the back of supermarkets crammed with tins of things I’d never heard of and crazy fruit I’d never seen before.

Browsing through the hustle and bustle is hungry work and a number of restaurants of questionable hygiene offer authentic Vietnamese cuisine. Again, you might have no idea what you’re eating but hey, it’s cheap, cheerful, and certainly an adventure!

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Dong Xuan Center | Bars, Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks, Restaurants (Vietnamese)
Herzbergstr. 128 | Outer – North&East | +493055152038
Mon – Sat 09:00 – 18:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Ciarán Fahey

Underground out of sight, in a place open until at least 6am – exactly where you want to do your drinking. Silberfisch has long been one of those bars which gives you the feeling Berlin wants you to become a vampire, sleeping all day, out all night. It’s an easy transformation. There’s something comforting in walking down the steps from Oranienburger Straße into this den to be greeted by the friendly bar staff like a long-lost Chilean miner.

DJs with remarkably good taste churn out the sounds seven days a week. Regulars sit at the bar exchanging ill-formed commentaries with whoever listens, consoling indignations with choices from the extensive drinks menu. Visitors are delighted to listen to commentary from knowledgeable locals, toasting their own diplomacy with choices from the extensive drinks menu.

It can be smoky, it can be loud, but there’s an extensive drinks menu. Specialties include Absinthe Sour (€8), Pina Colada (€7.50) and my favourite, Long Island Iced Tea (€9.50), all interspersed with Jägermeisters of course. Beer starts at €3. Exclusive to the Silberfisch however is its infamous Weltfrieden (World Peace) which is served in what can only be described a massive goblet for €15.

“After three double vodkas, bitter lemon and tonic, everyone is for world peace,” explained the barman. There are safer drinks of course, for those who want to make use of the dance floor.

The Silberfisch is best enjoyed after midnight when all the other vampires also come out to play.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Silberfisch | Bars, Music, Relaxing | Beer from € 3.00
Oranienburger Str. 37 | Mitte | +493028387388
Sun – Thu 20:00 – 06:00, Fri – Sat 20:00 – 08:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Ciarán Fahey

Buried deep under Berlin’s famous Alexanderplatz (check the Alexanderplatz article) are the remains of a 4.5 billion year old UFO hushed up by the authorities and covered up from view. Apparently the East German regime was well aware of the implications of such a startling secret on the socialist state and so it built the Fernseheturm (check the Fernsehturm article) on the very site between 1965 and 1969 to hide it from public consciousness.

In 1995 however, an artefact from the space station was discovered, leading to the formation of a team of techies and hackers trying to reconstruct the puzzle of its existence. This is the ‘c-base’ project. Those involved meet in their own “space station” at the very back of an unobtrusive Hinterhof, working round the clock to try and uncover the terrible truth hidden for years by the powers that be.

Of course there are other activities too – the c-base does not restrict itself to looking just into the existence of aliens or UFOs – but as you can understand they’re a pretty secretive bunch, loath to any publicity or attention. So keep this under your hat.

Thankfully their activities also involve the serving of beer (just €2 a bottle for “aliens”) and some wild parties which are flagged in advance on their website. You’ll have to ring the bell at the door to be let in and if you ask nicely and are “compatible” they may even give you a tour! But remember, it’s all hush hush.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
C-Base Spacestation | Bars, Relaxing | Beer for “aliens” € 2
Rungestraße 20 | Kreuzberg | +493028599300
Top secret

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Ciarán Fahey

Long one of my favourite haunts, the only disadvantage bohemian Café Cinema has for me is that it seems to be one of everybody else’s favourite haunts too. It can be hard to find a table!

I first stumbled in here in 2004 and I’ve been stumbling out of it pretty often since.

Old movie posters and film snaps decorate the walls, overseen by film-set lighting above, but it’s the classic lines of its simple and tasteful furniture, with candles adorning the tables, which give this cosy Berlin institution (in operation since 1990) its cosmopolitan air.

But for the music which is always great, (I’ve never heard a bad song here), you would imagine you were back in the 1920s, a wonderful time to be in Berlin by all accounts. (I’m not that old.)

Friendly prices ensure regulars return, with coffee just €1.50, beer (.5l) for €2.90, and proper Cuba Libres being set free for €4. Snacks range from cake for €1, stew with bread for €2.50, a mixed salad with sheeps’ cheese and tuna for €3.70, or (from 18:00) two fried eggs with salad and your choice of tomato, ham or mushroom, or a combination, for no more that €3.50.

Café Cinema is a favourite meeting place for Berliners and it stays open late too. That’s probably not a coincidence.

Don’t forget to check out Haus Schwarzenberg (check the Haus Schwarzenberg article) just behind it while you’re here.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Café Cinéma | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks | Cake € 1.00
Rosenthaler Straße 39 | Mitte | +49302806415
12:00 – late daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Ciarán Fahey

Very little stirs locals’ passions quite like Fußball and Tatort do. Both form the staple diet for regulars of the ever-popular FC Magnet Bar, but woe betide anyone who dares speak too loudly when the latter is on!

Berliners flock to the pub every Sunday night to watch their favourite Crimi on the big screen, quickly snapping up all the best seats in front of it before the crime series begins. Lights are dimmed. Stragglers make do with stools at the back. Not a word is uttered, not a sound released, everyone hanging on every word. All eyes glued to the screen and not peeled away until it ends. Orders at the bar for another Weißbier (€3.50) should be made quietly at this time. In a whisper.

Tatort has been running for 40 years and the detective drama remains as popular as ever. Even thinking of playing with the Kicker table at the back can land you in trouble! Any other time of week, however, FC Magnet is a different place, where fans of football can gather in comfort on low seats to watch the Bundesliga, Spanish Liga and others on the big screen, with language of commentary often up for vote.

Prices are reasonable (mojito €6.50, coffee €2) and it can get quite crowded, especially for the Champions League or other big games. If you don’t want to miss a don’t-miss game, it’s best to get your seat early.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
FC Magnet Bar | Bars | Weißbier € 3.50
Veteranenstr. 26 | Mitte
Variable ’til late. Can depend on kick-off times.

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Robby Block

On a dark side street in Friedrichshain by the railway viaduct, right next to the river before the land slips away into the Stralauer peninsula, you will find the Salon – Zur wilden Renate. The bar itself seems quite normal by Berlin standards, comfy mix and match furniture, a real fireplace, slightly quirky decorations, nothing too madcap – and nothing that would give you a hint of the mutli-level labyrinth below that seems like the brainchild of Tim Burton and Josef Fritzl.

Enter the bar and to the left of the door you will find the gatekeeper who explains to you in only rough ideas what you are about to experience. You may enter only alone! Do not take anything you don’t want to lose! No smoking! No drinks! 

Once you agree to his pre-conditions and fork over ten euro, he’ll give you a large gold coin and exhort you not to lose it. He’ll leave you to get a drink and think over what’s going to happen next. At some point he’ll come over and take you by the hand and lead you to a door at the end of the bar. He’ll show you their statue of liberty. He’ll tell you to keep an open mind and he’ll open the door for you.

And I can’t tell you anything else….. except if it gets tight, breathe. 

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Peristal Singum | Art & culture, Bars | Labyrinth entrance € 10.00
Alt-Strahlau 70 | Friedrichshain
Wed – Sat 18:00 – 22:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Robby Block

Don’t be turned off by the sparse menu. Afterall, if you do three things really, really well, why do anything else? This place is called Henne (Hen) and let’s be honest, it really is all about the milk broiled chicken here. Well, and the beer. And maybe the potato salad.

Actually this place could win a prize for nicest pub in Berlin. Berlin isn’t especially known for its local pub scene. Most pubs, or kneipe, here seem to be the last refuge of men you who have nothing better to do than to smoke and hold up the bar. But walk inside Henne and you might think you’ve left Berlin altogether. The rustic decor and heavy wood furnishings might be better at home in a country pub in Ireland than in modern Berlin.

The place is popular with both a local crowd and tourists, so reservations are a good idea. Especially if you want to go on a Friday evening. Again, though, it’s really all about the chicken. And the beer. And maybe the potato salad.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Henne | Bars, Restaurants (Chicken) | half a broiled chicken € 7.90
Leuschnerdamm 25 | Kreuzberg | +49306147730
Tue – Sat from 19:00, Sun from 17:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Ciarán Fahey

Ear-popping on the way up and eye-popping once you’re there, the Fernsehturm is quite literally Berlin’s most outstanding attraction! Towering majestically 368 meters above Alexanderplatz, it can be seen from almost anywhere in the city – a comforting beacon of hope for lost wandering souls trying to find their way home or to the next party.

The Fernsehturm (literally ‘TV Tower’ in German – it has been transmitting TV and radio signals since it opened in 1969) is the tallest free-standing structure in western Europe (positively dwarfing the “miserly” 324 metre Tour Eiffel).

Two lifts whisk visitors at a speed of six meters per second to the viewing platform 203.78 meters above the city in the time it took you to read that sentence. (Forty seconds in case you weren’t paying attention.) In any case, it sure is quicker than taking the 986 steps. The view all around Berlin is quite impressive, eye-popping as I mentioned before, and it can be enjoyed with a Cocktail 360˚ (vodka, gin, vanilla, lime and cranberry) for €7.50 at the Panorama Bar. Why not? It’s Germany’s highest bar! A modest bottle of beer is €3.60.

If you really want to go for a twirl however, reserve a table at the swish revolving restaurant a floor above. Diners complete a full rotation only once every half hour so you need not worry about returning your food after eating it.

Refurbishment is calling! The restaurant’s closed from February 13 to 26 and the observation deck from February 20 to 26.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Fernsehturm | Bars, Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Restaurants (German) | Adult € 11
Panoramastraße 1A | Mitte
Mar – Oct 09:00 – 00:00 daily, Nov – Feb 10:00 – 00:00 daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Natalia Irina Roman

I dropped by Bflat, for the first time, by coincidence on a lazy Wednesday evening. I set down in a corner and leaned on one of the big windows. While I was happily entertained by a Hefeweizen (in case you don’t know, make sure you will get to know this type of German beer), I started wondering whether the piano and saxophone players were improvising or not. It was pretty good jazz. The answer came two minutes later when somebody from the audience asked the piano player for his seat and got it.

I go back to Bflat every now and then, on Wednesdays, when they have their free entrance jam sessions, starting with 9pm. Bflat is close to Hackescher Markt, has a mixed public and great acoustics.

Tip: They charge around 10 Euro for concerts during other evenings.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Bflat Jazzclub | Bars, Music | Beck’s € 2.60
Rosenthaler Strasse 13 | Mitte | +493028386835
Almost daily from 21:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin