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

The heavenly smells wafting from Schwarze Pumpe will draw you in from the cold, or long day of exploring, even before you’ve realized 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 cozy little pub/café/Kneipe has long been a favorite 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 cozy atmosphere, simple wooden decor and delicious food and drink, you might find yourself staying longer than originally planned.

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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)

The alternative look of the Zosch’s façade seems not to belong in the tidy area of Oranienburger Straße. You could imagine it in Friedrichshain or Kreuzberg but Mitte has turned more or less into the home of fancy chic in the last years. The Zosch is one of the survivors of the first pubs that established itself after the political turnaround in 1989. And it still remains true to itself. The staff and the people are down-to-earth and the interior is rustic. But the attention belongs to the music.

Downstairs in the cozy cellar which reminds you of an old larder in a medieval castle, mostly every night jazz bands or songwriters play. The atmosphere is familiar even if the pub is full of people. The big wooden tables and benches almost fill out the whole room and the place is quickly crowded.

Especially on Wednesday evening when the Goethe Institute of Berlin holds its student’s regulars’ table in the pub. But normally Zosch is a place where you find a lot of native people. It’s not overcrowded by tourists and most of the bands playing here are from Berlin. The Zosch is always trying to satisfy different tastes of music. Not only jazz but also songwriters, blues or gypsy bands enter the small stage.

Every Wednesday the band La Foot Creole which is committed to New Orleans Jazz plays in the Zosch’s catacomb.

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Zosch | Bars, Music, Snacks | Beer € 2.00
Tucholskystraße 30 | Mitte | +49302807664
16:00 – open end daily

In the neighborhood of minimalistic Asian restaurants and newly built hotels you will find one of the many typical shabby Berlin coffee places. But this one is not only furnished with second hand seating accommodations surrounded by grey walls.

The coffee place “Mein Haus am See”, which means in English “My house at the lake”, is a quite new location which established near Rosenthaler Platz in December 2009. After entering the place through a big window you will find a high spatial with lots of space for all the inviting couches.

In the back there is a stand where you can sit on big stairs. The walls look like they do after an incomplete renovation, but they have beautiful drawn pictures on them. Next to the small room you find a separate smoker’s area behind a glass wall – a real luxury for smokers in Berlin!

Besides the interior there is another fact, which makes this location unique: “Mein Haus am See” is open 24 hours every day. They serve not only coffee, but also tea with fresh peppermint or ginger, different breakfasts and snacks, cakes and more. This is definitely a second living room!

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Mein Haus am See | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Latte Macchiato € 2.50
Brunnenstraße 197-198 | Mitte | +493023883561
24 hours daily

The first thing that comes to your mind when you enter Sankt Oberholz: Is this an office or a cafe? People typing on their computers can be seen everywhere. From time to time, they take a sip of their Latte Macchiato, watching who enters the room while chatting with their neighbor. The secret ingredient at Sankt Oberholz is simple: Wireless Internet. This is no new concept in Berlin but somehow this one has become the preferred hotspot for laptop owners and wireless nomads.

But don’t worry, pixel lovers aren’t the only ones welcome here. There are some more things that make St. Oberholz such a special place to visit. For example, lots of interesting, creative and international people frequent the cafe, located in Berlin’s trendy Mitte District.

So it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary if the nerdy boy at the next chair the leader of an electro band, and if you look closer, the gonzo guy buying a fresh-made peppermint tea could be the author of a popular controversial coming-of-age novel. Or maybe they are just normal students like me.

Be sure to go upstairs and have a seat next to the huge windows. There you’ll have a great view over bustling Rosenthaler Platz – that means more people to watch plus the beautiful light of the sunset in the evening.

By the way, the self-service bar in the cafe offers a huge plate of delicious Spaghetti Bolognese for € 5.00! For smaller appetites you can chose from cakes, sandwiches, bagels and soups.

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Cafe Sankt Oberholz | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants (Intern.)
Rosenthaler Straße 72a | Mitte | +493024085586
Mon – Fri 08:00 – 00:00, Sat – Sun 09:00 – 00:00

“Prego signore!” is what I first heard at Gianni’s Pasta Bar – and of course ever on. Today I’m convinced that here is where Gianni brought his home – Italy.

This place is on one half a source for any Italian food you wanna buy (wine, pasta (-sauces), cheese, meat, marinated veggies, sweets, coffee, etc.). On the other half – and here comes my recommendation – I love it for the weekly changing lunch menu and the best coffee I found in town (and it’s more than reasonably priced – cappuccino € 1.60). Oh, and I should not forget to mention their yummy ciabattas (€ 2.60 – 3.30) in five different varieties which I prefer to take away.

But the actual star of the Pasta Bar are the lovely staff: Gianni Gillone – the always charming owner and workaholic and, of course, the very nice and friendly girls whom one quickly takes to one’s heart.

Being a regular here, I keep seeing new faces as well as many daily guests – and they can’t be wrong! It’s simply a great place to read newspaper or just to chat with friends.

I once took a couple of friends from Italy here. And they proved this place as “Italian”; they loved the coffee (that’s means something!) and liked the variety of Gianni’s goods.

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Gianni’s Pasta Bar | Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks, Restaurants (Italian) | Pasta € 4.50
Schönhauser Allee 186A | Mitte | +493044323830
Mon – Sat 08:00 – 21:00

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

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