The gastronomic landscape in Berlin has thousands of restaurants to offer, so it’s often not easy to choose! The capital’s excellent cuisine even recently earned it an award as City of the Year 2024 – Food & Travel. We have selected some really unusual restaurants for you, which stand out either due to their concept, their excellent food, their interior design or a mixture of all of these. Enjoy the taste!
Coccodrillo: between glamor and sex appeal
Coccodrillo has literally been on everyone’s lips for years. Without reinventing the wheel, the restaurant offers meat and fish dishes as well as antipasti alongside pasta and pizza. Authentic Italian soul food is prepared with flair and high-quality ingredients, sourced from friendly producers in Italy. Some ingredients, such as the delicious bread from Kreuzberger Brodstätte, come from Germany. The interior impresses with a 60s Italian flair, bright red, vintage posters and a mixture of glamor and sex appeal. Neon tubes whisper messages, leopard statues embody pure passion. A visual experience somewhere between soft porn and space opus.
📍Location: Veteranenstraße 9 | Mitte
RIVO: Mediterranean cuisine at eye level with the Spree
RIVO in Kreuzberg offers a unique combination of Mediterranean cuisine with oriental flair and a breathtaking view of the Spree. The restaurant is located in a historic building and offers a modern ambience both inside and on the terrace. With creative dishes such as burrata with watermelon and an extensive wine list, RIVO is ideal for special occasions. It is easily accessible from the Schlesisches Tor and Warschauer Straße subway stations.
📍Location: May-Ayim-Ufer 9 | Kreuzberg
Dóttir: Icelandic cuisine meets contemporary art
The imposing Château Royal Hotel in Berlin-Mitte not only offers over 100 rooms with contemporary art, but also houses a high-quality restaurant that is a meeting place for both hotel guests and external gourmets. The restaurant is run by Icelandic chef Victoria Eliasdóttir (sister of artist Ólafur Elíasson). In keeping with the boutique hotel that houses it, the interior is characterized by a sophisticated fusion of modern and vintage elements. The menu, on the other hand, is characterized by Icelandic influences and includes vegetarian options alongside fine fish and meat dishes with a focus on seasonal and regional ingredients.
📍 Location: Mittelstraße 41 | Mitte
Frea: the number one in sustainability
There are many vegan restaurants in Berlin, but none of them can top Frea when it comes to sustainability. The first plant-based zero waste restaurant serves first-class dishes that are prepared entirely by hand. The ingredients are not only seasonal but also sourced locally. The emphasis here is on knowing where products come from in order to guarantee the highest quality. All leftovers are composted and the resulting soil is sent to the suppliers. This closes the circle of food production, utilization and recycling.
📍Location: Kleine Hamburger Str. 2 | Mitte
Lokal: German cuisine can also be exciting
This charming eatery in Mitte is much more than just an ordinary restaurant, even if the simple name suggests this. The restaurant lives up to its name with regional products that set a new standard for German cuisine. The menu offers an excellent mix of down-to-earth and innovative dishes, from zander to a vegetarian pasta creation with Jerusalem artichokes and elderberries. A special highlight: during your meal, you can admire the artwork of Berlin-based artists Andreas Tobias and Gary Hoopengardner, who are both co-founders of “Lokal”. A culinary experience combined with local art.
📍Location: Linienstraße 160 | Mitte
Markthalle Neun: the culinary multitool among Berlin’s restaurants
Are you planning to go out with several people and too many tastes clash, leaving you unable to find a suitable restaurant? Then the cozy Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg is just right for you. Here, for once, too many cooks don’t spoil the broth! The interior of the old hall consists mainly of small restaurants and market stalls that offer their respective dishes here. They are connected by small alleyways and several seating areas where you can eat comfortably. Once everyone has found what they like, you can still eat together thanks to the practical concept, which makes the win-win situation perfect!
📍Location: Pücklerstraße 34 | Kreuzberg
To the Bone: meat products straight from Italy
According to its own description, the restaurant To The Bone on Torstraße celebrates Italian meat culture with an appreciation for traditional butchery. The high-quality products come from small farmers in Italy and from long-time friend of the restaurant Dario Cecchini. His cattle and pigs graze in the nature reserve of the Pyrenees at an altitude of 1,800 meters. Inspired by northern Italian tradition and open to innovation, chef Amodio Iezza adds a special touch to every dish with unusual combinations. Sustainability and new standards are always in focus. The ambience is decorated with impressive works by contemporary artists such as Gerhard Richter and Daido Moriyama.
📍Location: Torstraße 96 | Mitte
Wen Cheng: the best noodles in Berlin
Big fat hand pulled noodles are taking over Berlin – at least that’s the slogan of the Chinese unicorn Wen Cheng, which now supplies Berlin with outstanding dishes in three restaurants. As the slogan suggests, the noodles here are still pulled by hand and simply taste unbelievably good! The menu is deliberately lean: you can choose between two main courses in different versions, each based on the big fat hand pulled noodles . There is also a choice of four side dishes, which are also super simple but extremely tasty. At the same time, you don’t have to dig too deep into your pockets for the outstanding quality: You can get the pasta from around €15 each and the side dishes from €4.50. The only drawback is that it is usually very busy here and you will have to queue a little before you can enjoy your food. There are also no reservations, the crowds are too high for that!
📍Location: Schönhauser Allee 65 | Prenzlauer Berg; Schönhauser Allee 10 | Mitte; Simon-Dach-Straße 22 | Friedrichshain
21Gramm: let your soul dangle
In Neukölln, you’ll find a very special restaurant-café in a place where you wouldn’t necessarily expect it. On the grounds of a cemetery, 21 Gramm serves excellent brunch dishes and drinks in the incredibly beautiful setting of a former cemetery chapel. All the classics of late breakfast await you here , from scrambled eggs and pancakes to breakfast potatoes and beans. Incidentally, the name alludes to the theory of an American doctor from the early 20th century that the soul weighs exactly 21 grams. For this alone, it deserves a place among the most unusual restaurants in Berlin.
📍Location: Hermannstraße 179 | Neukölln
893 Ryōtei: the mysterious Japanese restaurant
893 Ryōtei is a true phantom among Berlin’s restaurants, thanks in particular to its clever disguise. The restaurant’s façade looks like that of a run-down station building, but at second glance reveals its true face as one of Berlin’s hippest addresses. Behind the opaque window fronts covered in graffiti, 893 offers traditional Japanese cuisine with a modern twist in a dimly lit ambience. In addition to meat and fish creations, the focus is also on exciting cocktails. However, a visit here should be well planned, as the mysterious charm of the restaurant means it is very popular.
📍Location: Kantstraße 135/136 | Charlottenburg