CUISINE ROYALE DUOS FULL

Its Covid-era spinoff, Otto Pantry, offers fermented products, bottled drinks and preserves. Also in the neighborhood is Otto, the three-year-old contemporary German restaurant whose young Berliner chef, Vadim Otto Ursus, has been at the vanguard of the city’s restaurant renaissance (dishes range from 10 to 25 euros). Other new Prenzlauer Berg standouts include Bar Normal, a smart wine bar and restaurant opened this year by the young Vietnamese restaurateur Van Anh Le (dishes from 5 to 25 euros), and Markthalle Pfefferberg, a food market on the ground floor of the Pfefferberg industrial complex that includes an organic butcher, a fresh pasta maker, a Mexican grocery and, most notably, the first decent taco spot in Berlin, Taqueria el Oso (lunch for two from 25 euros). Above all, Frieda is vibey, with its cinematic open kitchen, on-tap natural wines and custom hi-fi sound system pumping vintage house and jazz vinyl (dinner for two with drinks, from 140 euros, or about $144). Robinson’s, Frieda is an all-day restaurant that takes a similarly locavore, nose-to-tail approach to accessible fine dining, with a daily changing menu featuring faultless dishes like line-caught tuna “chateaubriand” in a black pepper reduction with triple-cooked fries, or heirloom tomatoes from a regenerative farm in Brandenburg served with AAA Cantabrian anchovies drizzled in olive oil. Opened in July 2021 by Samina Raza and Ben Zviel, the duo behind the Berlin stalwart Mrs. Much of the recent action is concentrated in Prenzlauer Berg, the former East Berlin workers’ district turned bougey family enclave. Germany’s entry restrictions were also dropped - at least until the fall, when there’s been talk of renewed requirements if case numbers creep upward.

CUISINE ROYALE DUOS FULL

Bars, clubs and restaurants are operating at full capacity, and, with the exception of a mask mandate on public transportation and in medical facilities, virtually all Covid restrictions have been lifted since March 20. Berlin’s 178 museums, seven symphony orchestras and three opera houses are once again up and running.

Berlin in lockdown was not pretty.īut in the summer of 2022, the city is back in full swing.

Even in good times, the city’s funereal grayness, its scant daylight and collective penchant for gallows humor and blunt negativity known as the Berliner Schnauze (literally: Berlin snout), is only barely compensated for in the colder months by its abundant cultural offerings, thriving cafe and restaurant scene, and what is arguably the best nightlife in the world. No city was fun in the darkest days of the pandemic, but there may be nowhere that could compete with Berlin for sheer gloom during that first Covid winter.

Cuisine royale duos