ALL-DAY BRUNCH IN LAID-BACK, SUNNY SURROUNDINGS — VEGAN AND VEGETARIAN DINING AT BLUMENTAL

At Blumental it’s back to the roots. The historic building with its red brick façade used to be a workers’ canteen. Now it’s a place to get together and eat well – very well. Located away from the hustle and bustle of Kreuzberg on Engeldamm, the cafe and restaurant is entered via a yellow curtain which leads to a relaxed and spacious interior. It’s full of nice details, like the pastel paint and the turquoise bar with a terrazzo counter. Then there’s the open kitchen, where the (all-women) team create their dishes. Examples include the “Amore Ajvar” with sourdough bread, kale chips, pickled onions, sun dried tomatoes, baby spinach and ajvar. It’s already one of our favorites and is perfect for brunch and lunch.

If you’re not quite in chill mode, no problem: Blumental is creating an area for co-working, and you can already bring your laptop and sit on one of the sofas and get a few things done. For sustenance you can order a freshly squeezed juice or a slice of homemade cake (we recommend the chocolate and raspberry). Best of all, if you don’t manage to finish your dish, the rest goes into a zero-waste machine to become compost. The collective behind the cafe has lots of food experience and a lot of energy: almost everything here was built and designed by the team and their friends. This vibe makes Blumental not just cozy, but highly inviting too. Whether it’s brunch for two or coffee with the whole clique, there’s room for everything here.

Text: Dave Alcantara / Photos: Robyn Steffen

Blumental, Engeldamm 64, 10179 Berlin–Mitte; map
Wed–Sun 9h–18h

@blumental_berlin

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Guests, Restaurants

FANTASTIC PHO IN A FUN SETTING: KOTTI DANG — RECOMMENDED BY HANS KRESTEL

You can often find me at the Vietnamese restaurant Kotti Dang on Kottbusser Damm. The fragrant, colorful dishes from central Vietnam are delicious, homemade and fresh. The colorful neon light at the entrance showing a mountain of bowls piled on top of each other is appealing in itself (there’s another inside). When it’s crowded, you feel like you’re dining at a bustling market, in part because of the fake chickens in cages hanging from the ceiling. Diners are greeted at the entrance by the typical Than Tai (an altar to the “God of Wealth”) with offerings. Kotti Dang’s major strength is its large soups with rice noodles: Pho Dac Biet, or simply “P3,” a huge pho with tender beef and homemade meatballs, is one of their most popular dishes, accompanied by a bouquet of fresh herbs and fresh chili, limes and pickled onions – practically a side salad. You should definitely try Bò Kho, a spicy beef goulash with noodles, served with a pot of pandan leaf tea – perfect for late winter days. There are also 12 vegan dishes on the menu.

Owner Phuong Dang, who always wears colorful glitter nails, is the first to open in the morning and the last to close at night. Phuong, who has lived in Berlin since 2010, arrived with her husband and nothing but a backpack and has been running the restaurant since 2018. She enjoys being a hostess, and it shows. Her husband and other family members help out in the kitchen, but she is the charming face of the team. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, she has also been helping refugees from Ukraine and letting them stay with her. Every other Tuesday, you should eat here and then walk to the Neues Off Kino, 10 minutes away, where they show East Asian films. Coupled with the great food at Kotti Dang, it makes for the perfect Tuesday night out.

Text: Hans Krestel / Photos: Robyn Steffen

Hans Krestel works in communications for cultural institutions. He is currently caught up in Berlinale fever, reviewing films as part of the reader jury for the Tagesspiegel newspaper.

Kotti Dang, Kottbusser Damm 73, 12047 Berlin–Neukölln; map
Thu–Tue 11h30–23h

@kotti.dang
@inthemood.berlin

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Restaurants

MAGNIFICENT MOLLUSCS — VOLK SERVES UP SLURPABLE SEAFOOD ON BRUNNENSTRASSE

Brunnenstraße restaurant Volk is the food version of what you might call an “artist’s artist”. The quality of the food is high, the prices are reasonable for the location, and it bears all the hallmarks of a hip restaurant: natural wine? Check. An unusual but cool interior? Check. Owner couple with a personable family story? Check. French cuisine? Seafood? Fresh oysters? Champagne? Tradition? Something with a DJ? Check, check, check, check… Opened as a tiny oyster bar back in 2019, Volk is spacious, beautiful and a little weird, with colored lights, a bar and white tablecloths. It is refreshingly unpretentious and yet very tasteful. As for the menu, it’s constantly changing, though you’ll always find the signatures of oysters and seafood. They’re fresh and big and rich and slimy and salty – just the way they should be.

It’s no surprise that the team supply other restaurants: they import their mussels and lobster directly from France using their own bus. The catch is prepared by chef Margaux Arabian and served by her partner, the entertaining host Oliver Chesler. The American made a name for himself in a previous life as a DJ and musician under the alias Horrorist, but swapped his music career for the dream he shared with his other half, who incidentally is the daughter of Michelin star chef Ghislaine Arabian. The two are the soul of the restaurant: warm, unfussy, down-to-earth and a tad eccentric. Volk is open every evening, and recently started serving brunch from 10h on weekends. You can almost always get a table in the evening – well at least until word gets out and the place gets the hype it deserves.

Text: Hilka Dirks / Photos: Savannah van der Niet

Volk, Brunnenstr.182, 10119 Berlin–Mitte; map
Every evening from 17h, Sat & Sun from 10h.

@volkmitte

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Restaurants

LUNCH BREAK AT THE HAWKER CENTRE: MA-MAKAN BRINGS MALAYSIAN-SINGAPOREAN CUISINE TO BERLIN

Malaysian-Singaporean restaurant Ma-Makan is bringing new flavors to Berlin. Although the German capital is known for its culinary diversity, traditional Malaysian dishes are hard to find. Kaylin Eu, who was born in Australia and is of Singaporean descent, has taken her roots and passion for her family’s cuisine to Berlin. Her dream was to create a sense of home through food, so she founded Ma-Makan, one of Berlin’s first kopi tiams (a type of cafe found in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia). Ma-Makan translates to “Mamma, eat.” Kaylin’s mother always said this to her grandmother before she started cooking, as a tribute to her hard work. Ma-Makan first launched in the form of smaller pop-ups in a wide variety of locations around the city. By the end of 2022, Kaylin was able to realize her dream and established her own restaurant, right on Lausitzer Platz.

The cuisine is inspired by traditional family recipes, infused with Kaylin’s own touch. My personal favorites were the Chwee Kueh, a steamed rice cake, and the Kaya Butter Toast, which is dipped in a mixture of eggs, pepper and soy sauce. Main course options include mushroom congee, lontong sayur lodeh and traditional Malaysian nasi lemak, a rice dish with fried egg and chili sambal. In addition to the food, Ma-Makan stands out for its interior: the modern space pays homage to hawker center restaurants – semi-open fast food restaurants on the streets of Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong that are known for their inexpensive meals. Above all, Kaylin wanted to capture the chaotic spirit and invite diners to immerse themselves in a different culture. She has succeeded in doing just that. Ready for a culinary getaway to South East Asia? We are.

Text: Theresa Garwing / Photos: Luna Schaffron

Ma-Makan, Lausitzerplatz 12, 10997 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map
Tue–Fri 12–16h & Sat 11–17h (the kitchen closes at 16h30)

@mamakanberlin

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Restaurants

KREPLACH, KUGEL, KUBANEH AND LOTS OF GOOD CHEER — BERTA RESTAURANT

An evening at Berta, the new restaurant from Israeli star chef Assaf Granit, is one you won’t soon forget. A stone’s throw from the Martin Gropius Bau, stepping into this extraordinary eatery makes you feel like you’ve stumbled into a boisterous family gathering. The heady atmosphere that hits you upon arrival is complemented by loud Israeli pop music and playful shouts from the open kitchen. The interior skillfully fuses modern chic with home cooking. Elegant marble surfaces and mid-century modern design meet lacy ceilings and antique family portraits. It isn’t just design preference, there is reason for the familiar decoration: this restaurant stands as a loving tribute to Assaf Granit’s Berlin grandmother Berta. So, along with kugel, kreplach and kubaneh, you’ll find traditional family recipes with influences from Germany, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Berta serves modern Jewish fusion cuisine at its best, from a challah unlike any other, to octopus that melts in your mouth, to mascarpone with Persian lemon and chocolate mousse with olive oil, salt and cardamom coffee crumble. For an evening at Berta’s, it’s worth bringing a decent appetite and plenty of good cheer.

Text: Natascha Hamel / Photos: Joerg Lehmann

Berta, Stresemannstr.99, 10963 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map
Mon–Sat 18h30–23h. The bar is open until 02h.

@berta.restaurant

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ALL-DAY BRUNCH IN LAID-BACK, SUNNY SURROUNDINGS — VEGAN AND VEGETARIAN DINING AT BLUMENTAL

FANTASTIC PHO IN A FUN SETTING: KOTTI DANG — RECOMMENDED BY HANS KRESTEL

MAGNIFICENT MOLLUSCS — VOLK SERVES UP SLURPABLE SEAFOOD ON BRUNNENSTRASSE

LUNCH BREAK AT THE HAWKER CENTRE: MA-MAKAN BRINGS MALAYSIAN-SINGAPOREAN CUISINE TO BERLIN

KREPLACH, KUGEL, KUBANEH AND LOTS OF GOOD CHEER — BERTA RESTAURANT