illustrations: Berk Karaoglu.
We all know Germans have their quirks – previously, we’ve written about their obsession with bureaucracy, their linguistic fondness for the Wurst, and their unique sense of humor, among many other riveting subjects. This time, we’re entering the strange realm of German food inventions: things you can easily find at a German supermarket, but would really rather not. A warning: this article doesn’t really fall into the NSFW category, but you should probably avoid it around lunchtime.
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by Michalina | Food, Stories
Miramonti Hotel
Even if you live a healthy lifestyle between yoga classes and Quinoa Avocado bowls: a big city like Berlin with its hustle and bustle is surely not beneficial for our health. Air pollution, sound pollution, electric pollution are just a few annoying things. Where I suffer actually the most are bars that feel like a deep dive into an ashtray full of cigarettes or the typical 12-hour working shifts sitting in offices destroying your eyes in front of a flickery computer. Of course, Berlin has beautiful nature with plenty of lakes and forests just outside the city. But the landscape is flat and boring like a pancake. So if you want to breathe pure mountain air and get an eyegasm while checking out the curvy Dolomites you have to follow us on our little Berlin escape down to South Tyrol.
We have been a fan of this region for several years now and try to get there as often as we can. This time around we had the chance to try out some specific health and balance activities the tourism office of South Tyrol is offering. Not only the pricing of this program is more than fair. On South Tyrol Balance you have the chance to choose from so many different activities that you will be surprised how many diverse experiences you can have in just one region.
Below we will guide you through our 7 favorite South Tyrol wellness experiences with some pretty awesome pictures we took over there.
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by Claudio | Travel, Wellness
photos by Tang Yi and Jacob Schickler
Some people need to travel far to make different memories all over the world. I sometimes just need to travel inside the inner ring of Berlin to collect the same amount of crazy experiences somebody could get from a trip to another continent. And there is a simple reason for that: the Berlin inhabitants are a bunch of curious people, traveling the world and exploring different cultures and bringing their findings back to our city to share it with the other Berliners.
To make an example: I have never been to China and still I got the chance to discover the variety and sophistication of Chinese cuisine right in the middle of Berlin. This happened more by coincidence than by choice. My friend Jacob Schickler who used to live in China for many years started a pop-up restaurant called That Woo together with Yuhang Wu, originally from China but professionally trained chef as a Chef in Germany.
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by Claudio | Restaurants
photos: Tabea Mathern
Let’s start with an incredible and really shocking fact: about 18 million tons of edible food are thrown away every year in Germany. And with the large number of restaurants and supermarket in Berlin, I guess our beloved city is not doing any better. The impact of the food waste on our economy and environment is huge, affecting people’s and animal’s lives all over the planet.
To understand from where waste comes from, how this affects your life and our lives in general, and to get input for changing this horrible food waste the Guerilla Architects, the Entretempo Kitchen Gallery and the visual artist Tabea Mathern decided to created a unique project together.
Right in the middle of Prenzlauer Berg inside a gallery space near Senefelder Platz they started the project Mehrwert, a fast food diner completely made of recycled materials and only serving responsibly sourced food. But this place is not only an artistic pop-up restaurant. The aim is to create awareness and to share opinions and ideas to make our food consumption a bit less harmful for our world and our future. This happened for instance during several workshops and events during the last weeks.
If you want to check out this place, it’s open during the week from 10h to 16h and sometimes for special dinner events on the weekend (such as this Sunday). The closing party is going to take place on March 18th 2017.
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by Claudio | Art, Prenzlauer Berg, Restaurants
All Photos: Jacob Schickler
Adapting to the Berlin Winter can mean a lot of things. For me personally, Winter is not only about suffering absurd weather conditions but also to take the opportunity to learn new things. After all Summer in Berlin is way too distracting to do so.
But instead of going to Volkshochschule to a Photoshop course or taking a French class, this year I learned how to create some of the best Whiskey cocktails ever. Not bad, huh? One of the finest American Whiskey brands Woodford Reserve invited us to meet and learn from two bartending superstars. At Bar Convent Berlin we met one bartender from Le Titty Twister in Paris and one bartender from Herzog in Munich. They personally showed us how to create two of their favorite Whiskey drinks and we made notes for you to copy 😉
Especially in this dark month of the year I love Whiskey drinks with a tangerine scent. They give me a feeling of comfort, like sitting in front of a stove or a fireplace and listening to the sound of the wind outside making the trees rustle. Perfect for the rest of Autumn I would say. The whole recipes and many pictures after the jump.
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by Claudio | Food
Food culture is nothing you are supposed to take lightly. Especially when you have Italian origins. Food is love, passion, dedication and joy. There is no better way to get closer to other human beings than sharing a meal and a good drink. When I was younger and living in a smaller town (in East Germany) a good meal was something I could only enjoyed at home (because restaurants in East Germany pretty much failed at that). When I moved to Berlin I discovered the diversity of the gastronomy here and I was especially surprised that I could enjoy so many authentic Italian meals so far away from the land of my origin (now I sound like a grandpa).
But let’s face the facts. Berlin is also full of places that are not authentic and not the best. Our friends and food lovers from Berlino Magazine did not stand the fact that there are so many wannabe Italian restaurants only serving the mediocre cliche dishes (Pizza, Pasta, Lasagne, you name it) and so many Berliners did not get to enjoy the real authentic and special recipes only Italians know and like. Italian food culture has such a variety of amazing dishes that deserve to be known and appreciated that they started the 72hrs True Italian Food Festival. Starting this Thursday September 28nd at 19h until Sunday evening October 1st 2017, over 50 Italian restaurants, pizzerias, wineries, bakeries and bars will offer their own specialties to all Berliners for just 7 EUR including a glass of wine.
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by Claudio | Food, Restaurants
Food is a way of coming together, a huge chunk of culture, a defining moment of – you guessed it – taste.
While in some cultures street food has always been a big part of daily life, it is on the up-and-up in Berlin, bringing delicious and quality street food that matches the fast pace of the metropolis. Next to the long-existing bratwurst, currywurst and döner there are numerous opportunities to expand your taste buds. Korean, Japanese, Mexican, you name it: Food is like a language, ever evolving. Time to get behind the magic.
Together with filmmaker Karsten Boysen, the guys of OSK made a lovely video about street food, following their hunger and ideas behind it. Observing and portraying the fast (but good) food on the streets in New York, Beijing and of course Berlin. See the foodie-licious result with a good chunk about the popular Street Food Thursday at Markthalle IX after the jump. Read on…
by Yasmin | Food, Market, Videos
It’s undeniable that Berlin is in a Korean food craze. No street food market is complete without the Korean influenced fusion burgers or fries, nor will be able to go far in Kreuzberg, Neukoelln or Prenzlauer Berg without stumbling over some sizzling Bibimbap. The smell of Korean BBQ in the air is undeniably mouth-watering and there’s nothing more heart-warming than a spicy hot stew on a breezy day – though Koreans especially enjoy hot and spicy food in summer, sweating everything out.
We all know the staples like Kimchi, Bibimbap (maybe even the “dolsot” version served in a sizzling hot ceramic pot), pork belly BBQ, Bulgogi and the seafood pancake. The variety of Korean restaurants in this city shows us that there is more to good Korean food than slapping some Kimchi on your rice veggie bowl and we have compiled our best-of list for you in this Korean restaurant guide so you can be sure to hit the right spots. Read more about our recommendations after the jump.
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by Yoori | Restaurants
I’ve always loved good food, but only since I’ve recently had dinner at Bandol Sur Mer I know what an experience food can be and what it feels like when your taste buds go cold turkey. Read all about the best dinner of my life at, what is said to be Brad Pitt’s favorite Berlin restaurant after the jump…
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by Lia | Mitte, Restaurants
Lately we have dedicated a lot of time and effort writing about restaurants and cafes in our various themed guides about different styles of kitchens or districts of Berlin. And why is that? Because we love food! With all the different creative worlds from fashion, art, music and theater, it’s the one thing that we and our readers can always come back to and agree on: Berlin has some amazing food to offer.
To bring our love for food one step further we have teamed up with the international restaurant reservation service Quandoo to create a blogger challenge that let’s us cherish the food we love the most. For the challenge we are looking for the best stories and most beautiful photos of your favorite ingredient. What’s in it for you? We have one sparkling new KitchenAid Artisan for the lucky winner, the most elegant and popular kitchen device and a must-have for every food lover. Find out more about this delicious competition after the jump.
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by Frank | Photos, Stories
