Other dining places in Berlin

The best value-for-money dinner restaurant in Berlin, in my opinion, is the Modern Art of Asia, in Leipziger Platz 8 near Potsdamer Platz. The atmosphere is great, with cool minimalistic modern settings and a nice friendly (but a little slow) service. Go for their eat-all-you-can buffet at less than 20 Euro and sample some interesting food combinations, which you make yourself! I won't say more except that it is definitely not traditional German cooking, but the place really does interesting food which you can vary yourself by changing the sauces. It is simply a great place to take friends and have a fun dinner. You can mention the Berlin Dinner Club there if you need a table when they are full. We did a dinner there recently so it might help.

Earlier, I had forgotten to mention that the traditional Berlin signature dish is actually the Eisbein (pronounced Ice-Bind). Lots and lots of places serve it, including some traditional breweries and kneipes (German pubs). It is actually the foot of a pig, boiled and served with sauerkraut and boiled potatoes. Don't mix it up with Schweinehaxe, which is a ROAST foot of pig from Bavaria. Once a year, I force an eisbein down in places like the Lindenbrau or the Grossbeerenkeller (and am slowly getting used to it), but I guess it is something you can choose to try or not. It does not matter, unless you need the novelty value but if you like stodgy, filling food, it is really quite good and ridiculously cheap. Another very interesting dining place is the Nocti Vagus, but you might need nerves of steel although I think the food and dining experience is quite fun. Again, I won't describe the place as it is something you will either really find exciting, or make you run out screaming!

Oh, how can I forget to mention the oldest restaurant in Berlin, which has served both Napoleon and Gobachev: Zur letzten Instanz. This is another cool place to try with friends and visitors to Berlin. Yet another must-do place in a city full of must-do things and places. Oh well...

Chris