There are a lot of good reasons to go to Südblock (or “The Camel and Moose” as one of us calls it due to the sign hanging above it), in all hours of the day. We’re definitely planning to check them all out, but this time it was for brunch. Sunday morning, slightly raining, and the inside space was crowded, lively and joyful. Same-sex families, families of three generations plus leather jackets and dogs, large groups of friends, couples – an interesting collection of characters, with a quality soundtrack in the background, mixed with children chatter and dog barks. Happy.

The Südblock brunch is possibly, and probably, the biggest and longest in town. It’s so rich and diverse that no plate will be big enough. And our stomaches are definitely too small. There’s sweet and salty, meats and cheeses, warm and cold salads, quiches and pastries and quite a few options for vegans. We had (and loved) the cauliflower salad, antipasti, potato pancakes, hummus, beats, Spetzle and the cream puffs for dessert. We would have loved to binge on those small and perfect cream puffs endlessly, if we weren’t already so full and powerless to get up. So we stayed there for quite a while, to recover. And it was really nice. ‘Cause it’s really nice to sit in Südblock.

The bottom line: Exciting brunch flavor-wise, and nice brunch taste-wise

The plate-test: Cleaned it, and went back for seconds

Soundtrack: Wonderful, rock ballads, American country

Price: 7-10 EURO is the recommended price range. You pay as you see fit

Crowd: Happy and gay

Service: Friendly and informal

Kids: Yep

Pets: Yep

Yesterday’s cloths: Yep

Südblock

http://www.suedblock.org/wp/

Admiralstraße 1-2, Berlin

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Today it’s hard to recall, but there’s a good chance Kopps is where we had our first brunch together. Then we had another (elsewhere). And another. And you get the gist – here we are. Kopps is a vegan restaurant. The kind that helps convince you that vegan food isn’t necessarily a sad imitation of what carnivores eat, but could be original, esthetic and very yummy.

On weekends they serve a Brunch Buffet at Kopps: Cornflakes with soja milk, fruits and vegetables, watermelon and fruit salad, tomato salad, beans, cold pasta salad, the best egg-salad-substitute we’ve came across, couscous, hummus, wonderful fried potatoes, spreads, chocolate cake and chubby little pancakes for dessert. And the list goes on. And it’s all vegan, so your tummy will be full while your conscience is clear. Unfortunately, in our last visit the food was a bit too oily. Especially the beloved potatoes.

Vegan is great. Oil? not so much.

Price: 11 Euro

Location: splendid. On the corner of Linienstraße and Ackerstraße

Space: pleasant, big buffet, minimalist table, tasteful design and low sitting area for larger groups. On nice days it’s worth sitting outside with an overview of the street corner and Koppenplatz. It’s beautiful.

Service: efficient and to the point

The Plate Test: a few oil puddles were left as décor

Crowd: grown-up and respectable-looking. Like they came especially to have brunch at Kopps

Kids: for the sophisticated and well-behaved. None were spotted while we were there

Dogs: outside is fine. Never seen one inside

Soundtrack: no music

The Bottom Line: we’ll be back. We’ll hope there’s less oil, and be back.

Kopp’s Bar & Restaurant

http://www.kopps-berlin.de

Linienstraße 94, Berlin