Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
Exciting, gritty, artistic, ever-changing, and multicultural, Kreuzberg has found the spotlight in recent years and its restaurant scene has caught up, too. You won’t find glitz and glamour here, but rather spectacular cuisine in what might first appear to be a shabby café or a comfy local hangout.
This currywurst stand in Kreuzberg has a cult following and just about any time of day or night you'll find yourself amid a crowd of cab drivers, students, and lawyers munching on currywurst mit Darm (with skin) or ohne Darm (without skin). Go local and order your sausage with a big pile of crispy fries served rot-weiss (red and white)—with curry ketchup and mayonnaise.
Thanks to the efforts of local activists, this century-old market hall was saved from becoming a chain supermarket and instead turned into a center for local food vendors, chefs, wine dealers, and brewers. From Monday to Saturday, a large and rotating variety of food and drink is on offer for lunch and all afternoon, as well as for extended dinner hours on "Street Food Thursdays"; from Tuesday to Saturday, you'll find the weekly market with tempting food products for sale, from fruits and vegetables to bread and fish (with an expanded market on Friday and Saturday); and the space also hosts a dazzling array of rotating events, so it's best to check what's on before heading there.
Anchored by an indoor vertical garden filled with vegetables and herbs used in many of its dishes, this casual eatery inside the Gropius Bau museum focuses on ancient Jewish recipes from around the world. Choose from a selection of organic vegetable-forward mezzes including labneh (strained yogurt) with challah bread, cauliflower with herbed tahini, and zucchini latkes, finished off with tasty cakes baked by renowned Berlin pâtissière Cynthia Barcomi.
Within view (and earshot) of the elevated U1 line, Café Morgenland is a relatively unremarkable neighborhood haunt on weekdays but on weekends it devotes an entire room to the extremely popular brunch buffet, which means table space can be scarce. The Turkish-inspired dishes (an ode to the home country of many a Kreuzberg native) are a delicious alternative to the more traditional brunches served elsewhere in Berlin.
This much-hyped burger joint near the Kottbusser Bridge—helmed by two former three-Michelin-star chefs—has a short but spot-on menu: smashburgers (also in veggie and vegan versions) with various toppings and fries. There’s limited seating, so make your way over to the nearby riverside to enjoy your meal.
For the traditional döner kebab, head to Mustafa's for mouthwateringly delicious vegetable kebabs (also available with chicken for those who can't resist a bit of protein, but the vegetarian is what people rave about). The line can sometimes stretch down the block, but it's well worth the wait, and this is a traditional street stand, so no seating.
