PlanetEye

If you've followed my last post and toured the pools of Berlin but are still sweltering in the almost tropical heat of the last few days, then it might be time to hit that other German favourite: the ice cream dealer.

Ice cream is called Eis (pronounced ice)  in German, while frozen water is also confusingly called Eis. It's one of those many fun things in the language where you just have to shake your head, accept it, and hope you don't end up with the wrong one at the wrong time. Normally though, context is enough to get it right.

One of the best ice cream dealers in the city is Aldemir, near Schlesisches Tor (U1). It serves ice cream only in summer,  hibernating as a normal cafe in winter only to wow you again when the seasons change. An amazing assortment of flavours is on offer, although what is actually available when you arrive depends on the day and the popularity of the flavours. Oma's Apfelkuchen (Grandma's apple cake) sells out quickly, and with good reason. Also high in demand are the ginger (Ingwer) and chocolate-chilli (you can work out that one for yourself!). The waffles are freshly made there and you pay around 1€ for a single ball.

The shop itself has no inside space, but a few standing tables are placed outside. A place at these, though, is hard to come by and most customers sit on the curb, on fences, or just stand around eating. The line is always long and it can be a bit of a wait but it's open until midnight so what's the rush?

I may risk being cut out of the young and hip scene with this admission, but I occasionally like to sit down in a cafe which isn't young and hip, overflowing with armchairs and artists. Sometimes I enjoy a different ambience, a hint of the twenties and thirties which can be found existing sedately in the Café Odeon near Friedrichstrasse.

Underneath the S-bahn line, heading east along Georgenstrasse in the direction of museum island, are nestled a variety of restaurants, cafes and an antique market. While the other cafes cater mostly to the student crowd of the nearby Humboldt University, the Café Odeon lies cocooned in the antique stalls. The curved ceiling formed by the S-Bahn line running overhead is entirely covered with old advertising and street signs from the early 1900s and classic music of the era is piped through in a quietly restrained manner.

The café is always peaceful. I've never seen more than a dozen people in it at any one time and it is the perfect place to sit back and reflect. To soak up the refined air of an earlier age. You can't help but yearn for a time when men could be called dapper as a compliment and women were wearing lace gloves and enameled brooches.

Lunch is reasonably priced and filling. Potato soup with sausage, quiche and large salads grace the menu, while a cabinet at the bar houses a selection of cakes. If you want to be daring try the Germknödel, a very large and sweet yeast dumpling, which I take whenever I find it. It isn't that common around this city and is well worth the experience.

The Odeon is a slice of an earlier time and one which is rarely recreated in modern Berlin, unlike the fifties, sixties, seventies, and now (rather unfortunately) the eighties. If do you stop by, have a look for me. I'll be the one in the corner wearing a fur stole.

I must admit I’m not the world’s biggest fan of KaDeWe (pronounced Car-Dee-Vee). I know that the Kaufhaus Des Westens has the reputation for being THE big department store here, the one where every visiting American would run to to grab those tax-free bargins before their return flights. I know that in the hey-day of the early department stores, when Macy’s in NY and Galeries Lafayette in Paris were huge and unique and something worth trekking to, then KaDeWe held it’s own. But now? With all the other mega stores around the place does KaDeWe have much outside the usual to offer?

Well there are in fact a few specialties, and not just for those with pockets lined in gold who can afford to browse the designer labels. I’m talking about the food level. Here you can find a couple of American food brands tucked away in a corner near the fish. It’s where I sneak too whenever a Reese’s Pieces crave gets too much for me to fight, or an expat has put me on pumpkin pie duty for their Thanksgiving celebration. 

For the English, it stocks Christmas Puddings and marmalade. And, a tip from me – when you’ve given up on ever finding some really thick cream in this country, go over to the dairy section, scrape your pennies together and grab yourself a little jar of clotted cream. They have it, and sometimes your freshly baked scones deserve the best, especially if a little bit of homesickness has struck.

One final suggestion, and this straight from the lips of a Frenchman I dined with the other night: the oyster bar on the food floor has the best oysters in the city. So if you’re looking for a little action, maybe cruise your date through KaDeWe to get the evening rolling.  

If you’re in town at the moment and want to take part in a bit of political demonstration, the Chinese Embassy next to Jannowitzbrücke may be a start. And if after a couple of hours of standing around in the cold, you’d like a warm, filling meal, then wander a few hundred metres down the road to Mittmanns.

Like the other restaurants and cafés in the area, Mittmanns caters to the office lunchtime with a great midday menu. For 5.50€ you have the choice of a few meals with a drink included, and the atmosphere is fantastically German. 

The corner restaurant is full of dark wood, the walls lined with old advertising signs. Customers range from retirees with small dogs to young artists with studios nearby and the atmosphere is full of old-fashioned charm. A sign on the front proudly declares it as one of the best 400 pubs in Germany. Considering how many pubs there are around the place, I figure that’s not too bad at all.

The lunch menu is written on a blackboard out the front and you need to make your decision there. The almost daily changing offerings mean there is no menu inside for you to peruse in peace. The top two are usually the specialties, and at that price, well worth it. Make sure you have your dictionary with you though as there’s certainly no English version pencilled nearby.

The weekend has come around again and Berlin is alive with the sound of chewing. The German breakfast takes a certain getting used to and when I was first faced with a Sunday brunch at my ex-boyfriend’s house I thought his parents were overdoing it in the hope of marrying off their eldest child. But no, a weekend breakfast in this country means emptying the entire fridge contents onto the table, garnishing lavishly with a variety of breads, croissants and cakes, and grazing through it at a sedate pace accompanied by endless pots of coffee.

Berlin has turned this family tradition into a city-wide phenomenon. Most cafes open up a weekend brunch buffet for around 8€. Starting at 10am and running till 4pm, you can park your backside in a cool café and work your way through eggs, pasta, seafood, salads, yoghurts, cheeses, meats, fruits, breads and cakes. Each café has its own particular smorgasbord and in summer those with outside seating are invariably full. My current favourite is Istoria in Prenzlauer Berg, but I am planning on touring brunch locations throughout the year. I’ll let you know how it goes, and how successful the subsequent diet is.

The only thing to beware is that drinks are not included and it is all too easy to go through multiple coffees and juices. And once the sun hits the highest point? Well then maybe a beer or wine – it’s LUNCH then after all, and perfectly acceptable. The best brunch I ever had started at 10am and when they packed up the buffet at 4pm we slipped into evening mode. It was 3am when we finally left that table… now who wants to join me for the next one?