Photo by Sophia Sanwald 

If the weather is tropical, (and you gotta trust me on that one, because it truly happens in Berlin sometimes), I would drop the fancy restaurant, the fake diamond earrings, the indoor bar, and treat myself to a combo-experience of drinking and eating in the old, traditional beer garden 'Prater' on Kastanien Allee 7-9.

Since 1837 there have been some kind of beer activities on these grounds, and when you sit down under the big trees and drink a cold Prater Pilz or a Weissbier, you do feel the serious presence of history and tradition.

Photo by MikeBlakeDuncan 

You can choose to sit on the more primitive wooden benches next to a wide variety of local Berliners, and enjoy sausages, olives, corn on the cob and freshly baked Salzbrezel (pretzels), or you can park yourself in the restaurant 'Prater Gaststätte' next-door, where they serve traditional German dishes… and the Cesar salad is really good!

Visit PraterGarten together with Sidsel-Jo on a cold autumn day. Just click here (in Danish). 

One of the good things about not being a night-clubber is that you wake up early the next day, ready to go out and eat big chunks of yummy Berlin.

After a typical Berlin-brunch in one of the city’s many nice cafés (I think I wrote enough about food, and since there is a nice breakfast place on every other corner of the city, I will spare you further food recommendations), I highly recommend you find one of Berlin’s nice and cheap saunas, just to gear down and digest a little before shopping or sightseeing.

My favourite sauna is Olivin on Schönhauser Allee 177 (Berlin-Mitte), a calm and very often pleasantly empty wellness lounge, where you can alternate between the sauna, the ice-cold shower, the outdoor bamboo garden or the nice lounge where you can read magazines, quench your thirst or even indulge yourself with a nice and cheap massage (23 euro for 30 minutes).

The only thing to be aware of is that the Germans consider nudity as natural as a handshake, and despite the fact that I am a hippie child born in free-spirited Scandinavia, I recently got rather shocked when I found myself stark naked and alone in the sauna with eight naked Adams, where six of them were shaved down there where the apes hide their nuts (they stared, so looking back was my only weapon…that’s why I know they were bald). But if you are not afraid of German freikörperkultur (nudism) a trip to Olivin is a shot in the arm. And by the way: Thursdays are women only!

Join Sidsel-Jo in Olivin. Just click here (in Danish). 

Monsieur Vuong

Monsieur Voung when he was young. Photo by Sophia Sanwald

I have two favourite places for lunch. The Indochinese café Monsieur Vuong on Alte Schönhauer Straße, a modern Vietnamese, fusion kitchen, owned by Monsieur Vuong himself, an old, mafioso-looking Vietnamese guy, who has clearly seen the world and its wars, and who is often inspecting the restaurant at night, looking cool in his slim-cut, pin-striped suit.

Photo by Sophia Sanwald

The food is delicious and well spiced and so cheap it’s almost a joke. Guests can choose between two different dishes of the day and a limited variety of entrées, but why bother having a long a la Carte when the few dishes on offer can’t be topped? Served with either fresh herbal tea or a Mona Lisa, my favourite; a soymilk, banana-apple smoothie.

Photo by Sophia Sanwald

Monsieur Vuong is also open at night, but since it’s more a quick in-and out diner, it’s not the place you go with friends to chat long hours over a brandy. But for a quick meal and a break from the surrounding shopping area, it’s perfect.

Monsieur Vuong Indochina Café; Alte Schönhauser str. 46; Mitte.

Café Lebensmittel in Mitte

Photo by Sophia Sanwald

My other favourite is around the corner from Monsieur Vuong, on Rochstraße 2. The place is called “Café Lebensmittel in Mitte”, but despite its peculiar name, (which means something like “Café Groceries in Mitte”), this cosy, rustic fine food shop serves delicious and traditional southern German specialities like Käsespätzle (a kind of pasta-gnocchi with cheese) and veal stew which tastes as if it has simmered on grandma’s stove for a month or two.

Photo by Sophia Sanwald

Connected to the café is a small organic grocery store, where you can buy essentials like milk and vegetables. Wonderful atmosphere and divine dishes for everyone who are not obsessed with a no-carbohydrate-lifestyle. The place is full of luscious carbos!

Café Lebensmittel in Mitte; Rochstraße 2; 10178 Berlin

Join Sidsel-Jo for Käsespätzle at Café Lebensmittel. Just click here (in Danish).