For a traditional afternoon coffee and cake, Eis-Café Surprise in Weißensee is my perfect spot. I’m continually amazed by the unwavering, grandmotherly warmth with which Michaela Greupner and her team run this café.

Michaela Greupner started there as a waitress in the ’90s and took over as the new owner a decade later. As a result, she knows every regular who has been coming by for years. The moment I step through the door, I’m struck by the atmosphere of a truly special place. A wood-paneled counter, red fabric on the benches and chairs, floral tablecloths, and real cut flowers — their own still life. Something nostalgic stirs in me. Orchids on the windowsill, just like at my grandmother’s, complete the cosiness.

The cake display case is generously stocked with homemade treats. Poppyseed cake and blueberry cream torte. Black Forest gateau and Viennese apple cake. Chocolate ring cake as well as Eierschecke. I struggle to decide every single time. The menu doesn’t make it any easier. A variety as abundant as the filled cream puffs, as colorful as the Tropicana sundae. The classics are all here: banana split and spaghetti ice cream, hot fig or fire cherry. Alongside my classic filter coffee, I order a peach melba and watch it being assembled with precision and devotion, despite every seat inside and out being taken. Vanilla ice cream, peach, cream, syrup, praline crunch, wafer. I tuck in with as much devotion.

Ice cream in a cone or a cup is on offer too, and it’s just as homemade: soft-serve, milk-and-cream ice cream, and sorbets. Strawberry matcha has recently joined the classics. For all its consistency, Michaela keeps an eye on the times.

I sit and watch the lively bustle of the coffee house. I linger. I observe. Regulars are greeted with hugs; their families are asked after. There’s always time for that here. As a guest, you’re in no hurry. Orders come in several rounds — the selection is, after all, as vast as the temptation itself, to which one surrenders without a shred of guilt. Even on a weekday, this is the perfect spot for a cup of café crema and streusel cake. Or perhaps Palatschinken instead? For me, on this sunny afternoon, there’s a lemon ice soda to cool down and Black Forest cherry gateau.

Text & Photos: Valerij Stefanischin

Valerij Stefanischin is an architect who has been studying photojournalism at the Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie in Weißensee since 2026. Born in Kazakhstan and raised near the Black Forest, he moved to Berlin in 2018 for his first job. Ever since, he’s preferred to explore his new home on foot — always on the hunt for authentic places.

Eis-Café Surprise, Langhansstr.136, 13086 Berlin–Weißensee; map

@eiscafe_surprise