Curry 36
The other great currywurst institution on Mehringdamm, open till the small hours and beloved by night-owls and cabbies alike. Order it mit Darm (with skin) and a side of fries.
Berlin
Zur letzten Instanz
Said to be Berlin’s oldest restaurant, serving since 1621 in a cosy timber-framed corner of old Mitte. Traditional German plates – schnitzel, Eisbein, meatballs – in a room that has fed everyone from Napoleon to modern chancellors.
Markthalle Neun
A beautifully restored 19th-century market hall and a heart of Berlin’s food scene – producers, bakeries and stalls, plus the famous Street Food Thursday when the world’s cuisines set up shop. Come hungry.
Sathutu
A warm neighbourhood favourite in the Kollwitzkiez doing modern Sri Lankan comfort food – black dhal, Colombo fried chicken and jackfruit – with a few playful Berlin twists. Book for the Thursday feast menu.
Mustafa’s Gemuse Kebap
The most famous kebab in Berlin – a doner piled with grilled vegetables, feta and herbs that draws a permanent queue on Mehringdamm. Worth the wait once; go off-peak if you can.
Henne
A gloriously old-school Kreuzberg tavern that’s served essentially one thing for a century: crisp, milk-fed half-chickens with tangy slaw and potato salad. Book ahead – tiny, wood-panelled and always full.
Konnopke’s Imbiss
A Berlin institution under the elevated U-Bahn tracks, slinging the city’s definitive currywurst since 1930. Grab one with pommes and a beer at a standing table – a rite of passage.
Mauerpark
A scruffy, joyous park on the former death strip, famous for its huge Sunday flea market and the legendary open-air “Bearpit Karaoke” in the amphitheatre. Sunday afternoons here are peak Berlin.
Oberbaum Bridge
The double-decker brick bridge over the Spree linking Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain – once a border crossing, now a symbol of the reunited districts, best at sunset with the U-Bahn rattling across the top.
Tempelhofer Feld
The runways and apron of a decommissioned airport, now a vast, gloriously flat free park where Berliners cycle, skate, kite-surf and barbecue where planes once landed. Wonderfully, weirdly Berlin.