Berlin Bites: International, green and innovative

TEXT: CORNELIA BRELOWSKI

Berlin has always been a city that enjoys culinary culture from all parts of the world, both before and after the wall came down. Here, we celebrate Berlin’s current food trends.

From the traditional, elaborate Sunday brunch through to green fine dining; Berlin has it all. And it seems that there is now a trend of people travelling to the German capital specifically to discover the city’s celebrated culinary diversity. According to visitBerlin’s guest study Quality Monitor, visiting a restaurant ranks second among the most popular activities during a trip to Berlin for international guests.

Berlin, Restaurant Bandol in Mitte. © visitBerlin, Photo: Pierre Adenis

eat! berlin & more: a town of food festivals

Welcoming every chance to throw a party, Berlin offers countless annual culinary events, of which the two most important are the gourmet festival eat! berlin, running from 19 February to 1 March, and Berlin Food Week in October.

A festival for lovers of fine dining, eat! berlin celebrates well over 100 top chefs from Berlin, Germany, and around the world, as well as renowned wine connoisseurs. “We are gourmets, wine drinkers, Berlin lovers, entrepreneurs, united by the vision of establishing a gourmet festival in Berlin that suits this city,” state the organisers. Neither a tourism association nor backed by a large corporation or political lobby, the makers of eat! berlin enjoy the freedom to organise their gourmet festival for Berlin exactly as they envision it. A new popular feature is the eat! berlin market in the Kalle Halle in Neukölln. Here, top chefs from Berlin showcase their interpretation of high-quality street and market food, complimented with top wines at both the VDP wine stand and in the French wine bar – while stage shows provide for entertainment.

BRIKZ. © visitBerlin, Photo: Brikz

Berlin Food Week is the capital’s largest autumn festival, taking place at Bikini Berlin near Bahnhof Zoo and locations across town. The festival sees itself as an open platform for new influences within Berlin’s culinary scene: “We offer a stage for the movers and shakers of the food and gastronomy scene. We tell the fascinating stories behind the products and inspire reflection.” A festival highlight for many foodies is undoubtedly House of Food at Bikini, where for two days, more than 40 local manufacturers, international food brands, start-ups, and small producers present their latest products. However, House of Food is not only intended as a tasting and shopping event. Here, admission is free and enjoyment is key – so visitors are invited to chat with both exhibitors and other foodies to their hearts’ delight while making their rounds.

Currywurst at Konnopke. © visitBerlin, Photo: Philip Koschel

Beginning with truffle & truffle in January, there are also numerous smaller food festivals in Berlin, a lot of which are inspired by the various ethnic communities that together form the capital’s unique demography. From the Ramen and the Food & Culture Festival to the Halal Food Festival Berlin through to Gelato Week and the True Italian Pizza Week, Berlin never stops celebrating its international culinary culture.

Restaurant Sphere by Tim Raue, TV Tower. © visitBerlin, Photo: BERLINER FERNSEHTURM

Forever brunch

While the traditional Berlin brunch mainly drew both residents and visitors on Sunday mornings in the past, it is nowadays often served every day well into the afternoon in many locations throughout the city, for example at Benedict in Prenzlauer Berg, Frühstück 3000 in Kreuzberg and Schöneberg or Jómo in Prenzlauer Berg. This month, the breakfast restaurant The Dawn will open on the roof terrace of Kalle Neukölln. The aforementioned former department store at Karl-Marx-Straße 101 now houses a huge food market between the Rathaus Neukölln and Karl-Marx-Straße subway stations. Established local favourites meanwhile are Café Frieda or Anna Blume in Prenzlauer Berg, as well as the stunning 3 Schwestern in Kreuzberg, situated in a historic hospital building from 1846 which also serves as an art hub. Bonvivant Cocktail Bistro in Schöneberg meanwhile is a brunch and fine-dining location for vegetarian soul food, which has been awarded a Michelin star.

Award-winning green dining

In general, there is a strong focus on ecologically sustainable cuisine in the city. From too good to go to zero waste schemes, many hotels, restaurants and cafés support the current trend for conscious dining. In Berlin Mitte, Bandol Sur Mer offers green dining of the highest standard at its Torstraße location, while unconventional, award-winning Horvárth in Kreuzberg will expand its emancipated vegetarian cuisine soon by opening a new branch in Vienna. According to visitBerlin, Gault Millau found “the most individual menu in Germany” here.

Bonvivant. © visitBerlin, Photo: Dept | Berlin Bites: International, green and innovative

Self-described as Germany’s most political restaurant and brutally local when it comes to the selection of its ingredients, Michelin-star bearing Nobelhart&Schmutzig was named one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2025. Rutz on Chausseestraße meanwhile is the city’s only 3-star restaurant and is considered state of the art in innovative, European cuisine. Staying in the west? BRIKZ near Savignyplatz stands for Berlin gourmet cuisine that interprets tradition in a modern way.