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Cozy is the keyword I look for in all those hidden gems riddled around Berlin. Wine bar? Yes, delicious coffee? Say no more, snacks? Count me in. Gardine is one of those places that hits all the right cozy notes to make you feel right at home. Personal touch is what draws us all in these days, spaces that don’t feel overly manicured, quirks and details and all those perfect imperfections that attribute to human comfort and connection. From the moment you approach Gardine’soutdoor seating, right up until you step inside, the warm tones, wooden floors, mosaic tables, soft edges. But most unexpectedly the bar is missing in action. Intentionally done, the no-bar approach really keeps the space open and homely for guests. The cafe slash wine bar has a beautiful nostalgic feel to it with each corner devoted to its own charm, an overall aesthetic paying homage to a blend of the 20s, 70s and 80s.
Gardine was opened by Audrey Davis from Ohio and Dan Khan from London. Meeting on New Year’s Eve of 2020 and quickly learning of their shared love for hosting while drawing inspiration from their grandmothers. The core values come together with a sense of family, friends, honesty and adventure, which is deliciously reflected in their menu. Serving a tight selection of coffee, snacks and wine with everything selected and curated in-house and seasonally. The food menu is centered around sourdough and pastry – suitable for breakfast and lunch, we personally love the rosemary cookie, pastrami sando and the pasta served with sesame sauce. The drinks menu is a blend of comfort coffee, matcha and a variety of natural wines which Dan describes as “half funky half classic”. Upon popular demand, small plates to serve as wine snacks will be coming to the menu soon. Dan and Audrey are community people tucked around Prenzlauer Berg and welcome artists, stylists, winemakers, florists and all sorts for pop-ups and collabs.
Text: Ruby Watt / Photos: Lisa Rogov
Gardine, Knaackstr.8, 10405 Berlin–Prenzlauer Berg; map
@gardineberlin
While Wedding has been touted as “the next big thing” for decades, Moabit has quietly, almost effortlessly, gone ahead and become exactly that. Picturesque streets, old buildings shaded by mighty plane trees, small shops and cafés. Right in the middle of it all, I discover Chapters, the new English-language bookstore founded by publisher and literary agent Sharmaine Lovegrove. Sharmaine is no stranger to Berlin. I first met her in 2009, when the London-born Jamaican opened her first bookstore, Dialogue Books, in Mitte. In the back room of a café on Christinenstraße, her personal book universe offered new perspectives on international literature. Sixteen years later, with Chapters, she is opening a new chapter of her own — a space where international perspectives meet the local neighborhood. Chapters embodies this spirit, as Berlin has always been a place of new beginnings and creative risk-taking for both long-time residents and newcomers alike.
The idea behind it is simple: bring people together and spark their curiosity for stories that transcend linguistic, intellectual, and geographical boundaries. Sharmaine puts it succinctly: “Come curious and leave with a discovery”. Around 3,200 carefully selected titles, arranged thematically, fill the store and immediately invite you to explore further. Lives & Times, Romance & Ruinous, Dreams & Disruption, Power & Resistance, Grow & Wonder, and more. Each theme forms a small, curated universe that brings classics and contemporary works into conversation. In the future, Chapters will host literary salons with international authors, book presentations, and a biennial literature festival. It all began with a talk by Antiguian-American writer and literature professor Jamaica Kincaid. We look forward to seeing what the next chapter has in store.
Text: Milena Kalojanov / Photos: Ruby Watt
Chapters, Wilsnackerstr.60, 10559 Berlin–Moabit; map
Find the curated program here. In December, Chapters invites you to Gifts & Mulled Wine. Every Thursday, there’s mulled wine and 10% off all books.
@chapters_berlin
At Café Ribo, a lunch bistro on Ackerstraße, owner Katja has been preparing Maultaschen according to her mother’s recipe since 2009. In the summer of 2015, I tasted Swabian Maultaschen in broth for the first time. My partner at the time, Micha, ordered a Weißwurst, and we shared a salad with a dressing so delicious that I still try to recreate it today. The flavor instantly sparked a feeling of nostalgia, even though I’m from East Berlin and he’s from Bavaria. Here, feel the personal touch and presence of the owner and her family. Katja’s mother washes and irons the white tablecloths every day, while her father helps out behind the counter. In winter, when you enter, other guests briefly look up in acknowledgment before returning to their conspiratorial conversations. Over a plate of Spätzle, people tell each other how they’re really doing. In summer, the spacious terrace opens onto a public green space. Sit under trees, sip Orangina, play table tennis, and occasionally, there are even oysters in the evening. When I later learn about the Ribo choir, it becomes clear: beyond its fantastic Maultaschen, Ribo has long been a way of life for many. A kind of club that takes care of its members and where people genuinely enjoy growing older together.
Text: Sascha Silberstein / Photos: Ruby Watt
Sascha is from Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg. During the warmer months, she runs another welcoming place: the Wassermühle Nebeltal in Mecklenburg. In winter, she works as a cook for and with Vadim Otto Ursus (Otto, Trio, Pluto).
Café Ribo, Ackerstr.157, 10115 Berlin–Mitte; map
@caferibo
The search for the right Christmas gift is no small feat. Too many options, too few stand-out gifts. What you’re really looking for is something that lasts and makes a meaningful contribution. How about giving art this year? Something you can gift without breaking the bank? That’s exactly what artists Judith Hopf and Nasan Tur had in mind when curating the exhibition “The Berlin Edition” at the Haubrok Foundation in Lichtenberg. Their sales exhibition revolves around limited-edition artworks created for Berlin-based institutions. Editions exist somewhere between one-of-a-kind and mass-produced. They come in multiples, but every series is strictly limited, and that’s precisely what makes them affordable. Institutions that have shaped Berlin’s art scene for decades, including KW Institute, n.b.k., and the magazine Texte zur Kunst, are opening their treasure chests on the remaining Advent Sundays at the invitation of Hopf and Tur. Some are offering new editions, others classics, many at fair prices, and some even with special holiday discounts.
With every purchase, you support one of these institutions and help ensure that Berlin’s art landscape can remain diverse and independent. The hosting Haubrok Foundation is also contributing its own editions, including a tote bag by Jonathan Monk and photographic works by Claus Rottenbacher, who captured the exhibition venue (the former GDR Fahrbereitschaft) with its original 1950s interior, bar included, plus bowling alley in beautifully quiet images. Hopf and Tur bring their distinct curatorial signatures to the show. Hopf is known for her humorous, analytical explorations of everyday architecture and technological routines, while Tur’s politically charged, often performative works reveal underlying social structures. Together, they create a framework that invites visitors to embrace art as part of everyday life, and incidentally, puts an end to the annual gift-giving odyssey.
Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Ludger Paffrath for The Haubrok Foundation
Haubrok Foundation at Fahrbereitschaft, Herzbergstr.40–43, 10365 Berlin–Lichtenberg; map
The Berlin Edition: 07.12., 14.12. & 21.12.2025.
@judith_hopf
@nasantur
What would your fantasy dinner party look like? Roast chicken with Zadie Smith? Whisky sours with John Lennon? Peaches with… Peaches? Or perhaps you want to throw out the rule book, open your door and see who comes in? If that sounds like your thing, you’ll probably be into the Fomo Berlin Kiez Dinner, a decentralized mixer where you and a friend cook for four future friends in your own home. Organized by Fomo Berlin – a media company that has brought people together across more than 75 gatherings and grown into a 15K community of business owners, investors, tech operators and creatives seeking richer experiences, deeper connections, and the small magic of meeting the right people – the event is actually made up of dozens of individual dinner parties all across Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg, Neukölln, Moabit, Schöneberg and Charlottenburg. The fun part is that the organizers assign you to host only one of three courses: starter, main or dessert.
For the other courses you head out to another hosting team in your district where you can sit back and (with any luck) enjoy their culinary artistry. Each course will have a different lineup of guests, so you’ll get to meet 12 new people over the course of the evening. Afterwards, everyone heads to a single gathering where you can all drink to your kitchen triumphs. If you fancy meeting new people in your hood and are ready to embrace the convivial chaos of eating one dinner in three different places, sign up with a friend here and start ironing those napkins…
Text: Benji Haughton / Photos: Fomo Berlin
Fomo Berlin Kiez Dinner (13.12.2025 from 17h30) – sign up to host and dine with a friend on the website.
@fomoberlin247
ANMELDUNG