Wkiez

There are summer places, and there are winter places. And Café am Kamin is obviously a winter place. It’s the best Café with a fireplace (’kamin’ in German) in the neighborhood by deafult (it’s the only one), and a cute place by its own right. Interesting trivia fact about it: though it has an impeccable fireplace, it’s actually pretty cold there. Besides the two sits adjacent to the fire place that is. The wonders of physics, I tell you.

Luckily, winning a sit next to the fire place is not so hard; You simply need to arrive there before noon. And then you can keep your soul – and more importantly, feets – warm and happy while sipping one the excellent soaps of the place. Last winter they specialized in peanuts-soup that was my favorite. This year it was sadly replaced by a trendy hokaido (kind of Japanese sweet potato) soup. But its still all good, and very comforting in cold winter days.

It’s an excellent place for wireless seekers. They got a fast connection, more than enough power outlets, and they (usually) don’t care if you sit there for hours with your computer. The place is pretty empty before noon. Then it fills up for two hours with soup-sippers who come for a quick healthy lunch, and stay more or less half-full till its closing hours. But I’m there for early morning sessions. Then it might be the best coffee in the area to work uninterruptedly.

[Mmm... Brownies]

Business Card:
Name: Café am Kamin
Address: falckenstein str. 18.
Opening Hours: 9:00-19:00. One of the neighborhood’s more early opened places.
Wireless: Yes(!!!). An excellent spot for that.
Buttom Line: The Brownies-line is very chocolaty. and tasty.

What? What’s that? You claim that Kantina von Hugo, which is located safely on paul-lincke ufer, is not exactly *in* Wrangel Kiez? So why is it included in the wonderful part of the blog ‘the Wrangel Kiez Diaries’ you ask? well – boo hoo. It’s not so far away from Wrangel strasse – especially with bicycle which is a necessity in Berlin – so it got to be included in my very-wide definition of Wrangel Kiez. Not happy with that? snitch on me to the Wrangel Kiez commitee. Oh, wait, there isn’t one! well then – tough.

:]

[I was too lazy to get of my chair. So here's the view from my table. It represents quite well the spirit of the place]

That long, and quite unfriendly introduction if I might add, meant to say that Kantina von Hugo is a bit far away from our neighborhood. But it’s such a lovely cafe/restaurant that it worths the detour if you ask me. I got there in my never ending search for comfortable coffees with wireless to work in, and was quite  doodly-do happy with how it satisfied that need (I’m addicted to wireless. Guilty as charged).

But they don’t have only wireless! oh no. Actually, most visitors would tell your about their delicious offers of house-made pasta. There are also other dishes there, that wouldn’t shame any restaurant in town, but the pasta certainly seems to be the reason that most people drop by. The nice coffee and food (and free wireless! have I mentioned that already?) is surrounded by big comfortable sofas or armchairs, and the atmosphere is being completed with jazz music, being played by a turntable. Old style indeed. Old style is good.

[I discovered there what's a donauwellen cake is.  A three layered cake with cherries and chocolate on top. De-licious!]

They open up at 10:00, which is relatively early for that sleepy part of town, and close at 1:00 (which is actually quite ok. Places here just don’t have long opening hours. How do the hell do places here survive again?). I think that I might try the following routine once: coffee (and wireless!) at 10:00 at Kantina von Hugo – following by shoppings in the famous Turkish market on the other side of the canal and concluded by lunch in some tourkish place. If that’s not a Kreuzberg experience, then I dunno what is.

Business Card
Name: Kantina von Hugo.
Address: Ohlauer Straße 44-46
Opening Hours: 10:00-1:00. Lunch menu from 12:30-16:30.
Tip: Free wireless!!1 woo-hoo!!1.

I haven’t been driven out from many pubs in Berlin. I mean – I would like to be. But usually I finish my beer before they finish the pub (meaning, their working night). However, it did happen to me at least once. In the hard rock\metal Bull Bar in Wrangel strasse. It was around 4:00 in the morning, or perhaps a few minutes later – and we were after two shots of Vodka and countless number of beers. They insinuated, politely by initiating to wash the floor, that it would be preferable if we would leave. So we took out last beers and finished them in some other place. It ended up being one of those evenings that you never forget, and ever since there’s a warm spot in my heart for the Bull Bar.

Bull Bar is certainly not one of those updated bohemian spots in our small neighborhood. You wouldn’t find there the last street-wear collection, but rather forty year’s old with band t-shirts that should have been thrown away forty years ago. Ok – I’m exaggerating. There are also twenty years old with weary t-shirts that should have been thrown out forty years ago. They look like tough people, and if they’re old enough they got a raspy voice. But in generally they’re awfully friendly and would be happy to have a drink with you. Especially if you pay for it.

And now another time with honesty: the crowd of Bull Bar’s is not that homogeneous. You do see there the occasional youngsters who just look for a cheap beer – or big groups of tourists that dunno where else to go. That combination, of hard rockers, older and younger people, tourists, locals and foreigners – all wrapped by furbelow fusty rock design flavored by exclusively good old rock music (or punk. or metal. But it’s all on the same tough-people line – like in a supernatural episode), make the place fun for me. Perhaps not for a party-weekend night, but certainly for a few beers with 1-2 friends.

And don’t leave your leather jackets at home!

Business Card:
Name: Bull Bar
Address: Wrangelstrasse 90 Berlin 10997
Opening Hours: 15:00-3:00. But when they kicked us out it was around 16:00 on a Saturday eve.
Remark: Not to confuse with a similar gay bar that holds the same name.

There’s kind of a magical feeling in the area surrounding Markthalle (Market hall) in Eisenbahn street. With a lovely collection of small intimate bars and restaurants that are always full with locals. And then there’s the Markthalle itself. A reminiscence of an older, cheaper time. In which Kreuzberg’s stores were just functional bodies, instead of the fashionable entity they form today. There are two stands inside the market hall. They serve germans sausages and beer, and you can always find there those older Germans standing all day. Getting a bit drunk. Getting filled with traditional oily food. I love it. Oh – how I love it!

Wait, what was my point? Oh yeah. I wanted to tell about Hubertus lounge. One of those charming coffee/pubs in the Markthalle kiez (I just made up that term!). So let’s do that.

We already agreed (like, i agreed with myself) that all the places in Kreuzberg are  second hand shops in disguise. But Hubertus lounge takes that look to extremity. The couches are not ‘just couches’ – they are unique rarities specially collected – and are very soft if I might add. The decoration is a combination of a 70’s dancing hall with the touch of american 40’s lounge. Sombody wandered heavily through flee markets and found the most unusall stuff. They also hanged a disco ball in the back room – the darker one – which results in a charming look.

The music goes along the 40’s-50’s quite line. Therefore, a caution is in place: a melancholic mood would follow a long stay in that place. The crowd is awfully strange and trendy (in real Berlin, trendy equals strange), and sometimes a tad too theatrical for me. They smoke a lot as well, and it could have been annoying would the place was a bit fuller. But usally it’s mostly empty, and the smokers are scattered in all of it’s eight corners (two rooms, four corners each) which makes it kind of ignorable.

I always wonder how such a place – which is so heavily equipped and well-designed – can survive with such sparse clientele? But they do. Cuz it’s Berlin, and business pull those things off here sometimes. And I’m satisfied with it – as the place is charming, and I just love hanging out there.

Business Card:
Name: Hubertus Lounge.
Address: Eisenbahnstr .6, 10997 Berlin
Opening Hours: Monday-Saturyday, 12:00-Idunnowhen. But don’t you believe that it opens at 12:00. It’s more like 12:30-13:00. Be aware.
Tip: No food, no cakes. But some nice drinks – and most of all: the best atmosphere in the street.

Nine of ten people that visit Atelier Überall (AÜ from now on. Writing the full name repeatedly is plainly too much of a bother) wouldn’t know it’s name. They even won’t know ‘what the hell is this place’. I got all sorts of answers asking people – “it’s a modern WG” (oh, how very German of them!), “a sharing commune, like a Kibbutz” – or even “it’s a sex commune in which one guy sleeps with all the girls!”. My god – who come up with those rumors?

The truth is that AÜ is an artist-place to rent for everyone and every (artistic) cause in the world. Preferably legal causes. Putting that in their language: ‘”multi-purpose” Atelier’. The heart of the place is it’s enter hall. It sits on street level, while entrance is really from the street – and designed in a very.. artistic way. Sometimes, on my way home, I see someone sits there, usually in complete darkness, doing something mysterious with his laptop. A very romantic image of the forlorn artist.

..and sometimes they throw parties. About once a month (alternatively, the way that one of the tenants in the building gave it to me: ‘luckily only once a month’). Then a full pantheon of Berlin’s bizarre characters assemble there for a night of strange music, strange movies and strange conversations with people who were at some point in their life, age 4 most probably, not strange. But today they are.

It’s not so easy to find those parties. Sometimes their being published on the place’s window two hours in advance. Sometimes they don’t publicize the events at all – and on very rare occasions, like the one that you see in the nice picture up there – they make a big and shiny advertisement for a Halloween party. I honestly know nothing more besides what’s already written/drawn, and besides the fact that it was drawn by this talented dude Elyzium (I saw him making it in real time! History in motion!). I highly suspect that I’ll attend at least (and at most) one of those evenings.

And you?

I hereby anounce the Berlin’ hot chocolate wars! It goes like this: you say a name of a place that makes the best hot chocolate in Berlin. Then I say ‘Les Enfants Gate’. Next, we each drink at the others place – and after an honest gentleman heated discussion, we declare the winner. Which will be me. Of course.

Because, Say Les Enfants Gate, you say hot chocolate. Not that disgusting kakao-poweder drink that I grew to depise so much in most coffee places here. But a real hot chocolate. from – read my lips – *Cho-co-late*!.  Yes, I’m aware that chocolate is made of kakao. But I’m sorry – it’s just not the same. The REAL (there’s no way to emphasize it enough) hot chocolate in Les Enfants Gate comes in three version: kids version (37% chocolate), normal version (72-dreamy-percents) and a crazy version (99%. It’s a shot). If you’re a hippie that doesn’t like chocolate, you can also have coffee there. Or some special health drink that they made especially for you by your health demands (it’s actually tasty). All those special drinks costs around 3.5 Eur. Which is not cheap – but quality never is.

They also got lots of delicate little cakes and pastries. People seem to love them – but I haven’t tried that yet.

[Our hero of the hour]

In sunny days it’s possible to sit outside this french coffee place – on the street. They made it extremely cute. Like a small fenced hommy yard in the middle of Kreuzberg. Inside, the place is very… functional. Which means that I got nothing to say about it. It’s ok I guess. They also got wireless, like every coffee place should have – and two owners/waiters who are the cutest that you can get. Some of my best friends don’t make me feel so welcome as those two!

Combine that all with lots of french atmosphere, and you’ll got a great place to go to.

Visit Card:
Name: Les Enfants Gate (in French it’s something like ‘the spoiled kids’. If my google translate isn’t wrong).
Address: Falckensteinstraße 33, 10997 berlin
Prices: 3-5 Eurs for drinks.
Tip: Closed on Mondays.

At some point I spent so much time at Transit, that the staff assumed that I’m one of them.

[Common! It's hard to take a good picture in a dark place with a lousy camera! Who volunteers to buy me a better one?]

Transit mostly functions for me as a coffee place with good food.  But… it’s Berlin, so they also got occasional concerts and events here. There are no simple places this city. I pass there on occasions during my working day – which actually means that I sit for for 3-4 hours with my beloved laptop and pretend to work/study while skyping with friends.  It smells like international spirit. Probably because the staff is almost exclusively non-german, and there are two hostels across the street who supply a never-ending provision of, well, backpackers. I always had strongly believe that backpackers are human as well.

Those backpackers, and other myriad Berliners like your own truly (who are, after all, the majority of guests in the cafe), spend their time in a place that has a classic kreuzberg look: flee-markety. Like they just choose some oldish-look, non-ikea style (thank god) sofas and throw them into the room. Berlin, ya’know. Their drink menu is quite the standard coffee menu – and there are also no great surprises at the cakes department (thought the apple strudel is de-li-cious!). But the real food – main courses, salads and soups – are of the highest quality that a coffee place can offer. Their selection changes every week and is written on the board – and from what I tested: chickpeas-Spinach soup, Casserole, chili con-carne and a carrot soup – everything was great. Really great. Like, better than most Indian restaurants in town great. Made my tummy happy.

What else? if you’re like me and you like to work from cafes, then transit might fit you quite well – even though not perfectly: the tables, besides a selected few, are not so comfortable for office-like work. And there are definitely not that many outlets. But most of the time during the day it’s not completely full – and it’s rather easy to take over of one of those laptop-friendly sits, which makes it absolutely a pleasure to hang there for a few hours.

Rank: 7.5/10 Neiman stars.

Business pseudo-card
Name: Transit (review)
Address: Schlesische Straße 35a, Kreuzberg (U: Schlesisches Tor)
Prices: 3-6 EUR for the dishes.
Tip: Sunday is a very busy day there. Too busy for my buds.