Savouring secret Berlin

The words underground and Berlin seem to make perfect bedfellows. And we’re not talking about the subterranean tunnels and bunkers dating from the Cold War that can still be visited on many guided tours of the city. In the 1990s, and today but to a lesser extent, the best parties and events there often take place in secret and nondescript locations. But Berlin would not be Berlin if these parties stayed a secret. Nowadays you can make a complete tour of hidden Berlin, from bars, restaurants, shops and parties, to art galleries and hotels. Entering obscure alleyways or finding the inconspicuous entrance of a restaurant, is part and parcel of the experience.

Enter a narrow and almost impossible to find side street beside the theatre, turn right at the first rubbish bin, continue along a small alleyway and beside a heap of cardboard boxes, you’ll find an iron door with a bell. No nameplate, no sign. If you’ve managed this far, you can dine at Cookies Cream, a restaurant hidden above an equally clandestine nightclub. Reservation is a must and the fact that the menu consists only of vegetarian dishes doesn’t seem to deter the alternative, arty clientele because the restaurant is almost always packed. Downstairs, in a back room of the Komische Oper theatre, the well-known Cookies Club only gets going after midnight.

Once you’ve developed a taste for the secret restaurant concept, then the Cantina in Bar Tausend deserves a visit. Bar Tausend in Mitte is another mission impossible. If luck is on your side, its location might be betrayed by a group of people waiting outside an iron door. Under a railway bridge and beside the Spree, you’ll either find it by chance or intuition.

Excerpt from the November issue of epicure.