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?

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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

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

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.

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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 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

Image by Robby Block

Despite the inexorable gentrification creep of Mitte and the laughably stupid rebranding of the area north of Torstrasse as NoTo (get it? NOrth of TOrstrasse!), it’s nice to see that some elements of 90s grunge and post-wall East Berlin squat culture manage to not only hang on but thrive in the neighborhood. We can still celebrate the Schokoladen (for a while yet) and the legendary Klub der polnischen Versager (that’s the Club of Polish Losers) on Ackerstrasse, though sadly the Ackerkeller, once underground home to Berlin’s underground homos, is homeless and seems content to sleep around and currently turns tricks at the King Kong Klub. 

Near the Torstrasse end of Bergstrasse, a bright red neon Z helpfully marks the Z-Bar, Mitte’s home of Kunst, Kultur and Kino. The Z-Bar was born out of an empty bakery in 1993 and today it serves up cocktails, a culture program – which features Berlins Schmusetiersoap (a truly bizarre episodic soap opera with cuddly cast-off, stuffed toys as actors), readings and a weekly variety show – and a truly off cinema program. Fans of bizarro cinema shouldn’t miss their selection from “the wild side of cinema” where you’ll find B-movie offerings from around the world. Whether you love home-made Japanese horror movies or budget slasher films or crappy sci-fi from the 1950s, Z-inema serves it all up with no judgment. 

Best of all, the Z-inema is also available to rent. So if you don’t like their lineup, rent out the cinema, invite your friends and throw your own party!

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Z-Bar | Bars, Cinemas | Cocktail from € 5.00
Bergstr. 2 | Mitte | +493028389121
19:00 – open end daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Sharon Mertins

I remember my first visit to Berlin in 1996 when I was 19, walking down Oranienburger Strasse, siitting in shabby little bars and being surrounded by orange mohawks, leather trousers, washed down buildings, and protest banners. The view of the ‘Tacheles’ from those little bars is one of the most colorful pictures my brain has ever taken.

These days, Mitte consists mostly of fancy boutiques and high end restaurants and galleries. Nice, but I can’t help feeling a certain nostalgia for years that I never lived in Berlin. Maybe I was left with that teenage wonder……

Despite all the changes, however, hints of that old Berlin can still be found… In the middle of newly renovated buildings and modern supermarkets, lives the ‘Schokoladen’ with it’s run down walls decorated with pink paper lights and overgrown vines. Walking into the ‘hof’ is like stepping back into the roaring 90′s when it started; soon after the fall of the wall and at the beginning of that period of no limitations for a bohemian artistic lifestyle. The walls are still a washed down grey, and the windows still haven’t been painted. During the week, the space is used as galleries for local artists and every weekend they hold concerts with independent bands, and parties.

It’s the kind of place with crowded little smoky rooms filled with people dancing, and where stepping out for air is a necessity.

It has outlived it’s old neighbours, but is fighting to keep it’s doors to the past open.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Schokoladen Mitte | Art & culture, Bars, Festivals & events
Ackerstrasse 169 | Mitte
Concerts Fri – Sun 19:00 | See website for events

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Sharon Mertins

Despite the massive amount of bars and cafes in a city like Berlin, it’s not always easy to find one that pulls you back because of it’s… ‘je ne sai quoi.’ That one bar for me is the Haliflor. Why? It isn’t only because it’s in a relatively quiet street away from the commercial bits in Mitte, or the fact that they have yummy ‘bio’ breakfasts with playful names.

The main reason I consider this bar a bit of a gem is that to me it represents that Berlin uniqueness and freedom that a lot of us come here to seek. Almost every single item in this place was lovingly designed by it’s owner Andreas Knauer, and made with his own two hands, from the tables to most of the lamps, to the sliding windows.

But even without knowing this little detail, it’s that rustic feel, art deco-ish style, the way the windows close with the help of the weights hanging on the side, the stuffing coming out of some of the chairs, the relaxed yet friendly attitude of the people who work there, the shape of the lights, it’s complete lack of commercial flavor, and somehow the color tones in there that makes me want to keep going back. I don’t know, it somehow feels like one of the few bars in which I can think to myself, ‘Oh yes, I’m in Berlin.’

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Haliflor | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks
Schwedter Str. 26 | Mitte
10:00 – 02:00 daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin

Image by Herrmann Koenigs

Now, what a bar this is! Though, it’s a bit strange to purely call it a bar. From 14:00 it is open every day. Then, it’s called “Kaffe Kaschemme” – being a cafe. That includes nice coffees, cakes and more plus a seating area outside in the backyard (check the backyard article) of Haus Schwarzenberg (check the Haus Schwarzenberg article) where you are surrounded by a funny metal frog-sculpture and lots of cool street art on the walls.

From 20:00 onwards the cafe is “turned” into the bar “Eschschloraque Rümschrüp”. (If you wonder about the name: it doesn’t mean anything in German but sounds funny, crazy and strange.) All that changes now is the name, the fact that you’ll get cocktails next to the usual menu and that there is some sort of musical act.

And it’s a bit of a surprising gambling, concerning the music (unless you check the website). Either DJs play rarely heard music or you’ll get any sort of live experience: Folk, Pop, electronic, singer-songwriter,… anything, really!

Oh, and did I mention the interior? Green, blue and red lights and alien-sculptures make this place deserve the synonym “The Alien-Bar”, as a friend of mine called it recently. And by the way, the waitresses are always nice and friendly.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Eschschloraque Rümschrüp | Bars, Coffee & tea | Beer 0.33L € 2.60
Rosenthaler Straße 39 | Mitte | +49302810293
14:00 – open end daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Berlin