At first, Parker bowles felt a bit empty, but that was partly because we came early (and by „early“ we mean Sunday at 11:00), and mainly because the place is so huge. It’s well designed, comprised of two big spaces separated by a few steps, with a big open-plan kitchen visible from both. Two massive layers of metal bars double as a wine bottle wall and the focal point of the room, and large brown wooden tables give a bit of an American western flair to it all.

Parker bowles’ new Weekend-Frühstück menu is all about an American-Mexican mix. We went veggie as usual with pancakes, Huevos Rotos and Huevos Rancheros. The pancake dish included two impressively-sized banana pancakes with maple syrup on the side, and both Huevos dishes were served in big bowles as the establishment’s name suggests. Topped with one of the kindest servers we encountered so far in Berlin (who even knew how to say in Hebrew: „I’m a little duckling“. Long story..) – it was a heart-warming experience on a cold day.

Design: American-western, spacious, wooden and gorgeous-looking

Plate test: squeeky-clean. All 3 dishes were yummy and satisfying

Soundtrack: existed, but nothing stuck. Pleasant but not memorable

Kids: why not? Plenty of room to run around

Pets: possible

Service: great, friendly and very fast

Coffee: black, dark and tasty

Prices: 6 – 8 euro, coffee not included

Parker Bowles

http://parker-bowles.com/en/

Prinzenstr. 85d, Berlin

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We have a confession to make: we often choose our brunch spots based on their names (case in point: Suicide Sue). Since we love our aunts, a place called „Aunt Benny“ naturally appealed to us. And we’re happy to report that „Benny“ (who’s not an actual person as far as we know..) is now just as beloved as our blood­related aunts.

Aunt Benny is a good place for brunch. It’s a compact and cosy space with small green wooden tables and one big wooden table for groups, families or friendly strangers. The menu is written on a dark wall panel that hangs above the display counter. It’s self service, so don’t be shy and just stand in line and order your food.

We went for the weekend brunches, one veggie and one vegan, which were both a delight. With no less than 7 (!!) types of cheese, 4 sorts of bread including an olive one, onion jam, dried tomatoes, artichoke, olives and loads more – we were all ready to explode. All this, for a very reasonable 8 Euros per brunch.

The button line: You made us smile, Aunt Benny. We’ll come to visit again soon

The plate test: we left behind squeaky­clean plates

Crowd: young, social and Friedrichshain­style hipsters. Full at all times

Soundtrack: too noisy to hear

Kids: Yes. Yes

Pets: Yes

Service: Up to you. Self service

Price: 8 Euro for the weekend brunch

Aunt Benny

http://auntbenny.com/

Oderstrasse 7 / Enter: Jessnerstrasse, Berlin

 

Cafe Butter’s weekend brunch buffet is a hidden gem. When first entering the place, it looks like so many other Prenzlauer Berg establishments: two open spaces on separate levels, neither too big nor too small, lighting that’s a bit on the darker side, and packed full. Nothing mind-blowing.

And then we saw the third level: a small space, in which the food is hidden in plain sight, luring our noses up the stairs with a yummy scent. Up close, the little buffet turned out to be a big surprise: rich, easy on the eyes and tasty as hell.

There’s a distinct order in which one should fill up their plate, starting off with the selection of cheese, salami and salads (greens, beetroot, lentils, potatoes, Caprese). Once the digestive juices are flowing, awaiting are scrambled eggs, sausages and awesome stir fried potatoes. The sweet department has some cereals to choose from, waffles and pancakes, and the German-must-have: apple mousse. Surprisingly though, given the place’s name, sweets were the weakest link of the buffet. Disclaimer: there was no unanimous consensus for the above sentence.

The bottom line: overall great brunch. Can do better in the sweets department

The plate test: we cleaned our plates, went back for more, cleaned them again and.. (you get the hang of it)

Crowd: not a spare chair in sight. P-Berg types, families with babies, groups of friends

Soundtrack: slightly noisy chatter. There might have also been music, but the unnoticeable kind

Kids: yes

Pets: brunch-day might be a bit too crowded for medium+ sized dogs

Service: fast

Price: 7.90€ for the brunch

Café Butter

http://www.cafe-butter.de/

Pappelallee 73, Berlin

Stepping into Gipfeltreffen feels like stepping into a stranger’s house, and immediately wanting to become his friend. The place is warm and cosy, with old furniture, sofas in different shapes and colors, wooden tables and many little artsy artefacts laying around or hanging on the walls. Someone at Gipfeltreffen has a great eye for detail.

 We tested the cheese breakfast, a sandwich and the Canadian pancakes. The pancakes where the fluffy (and best) kind and made everybody smile, the sandwich girl was content with her modest choice and we all chipped in to help clean out the Käse Frühstück plate.

The bottom line: nothing too special, but an overall delightful experience

The plate test: all cleaned out. We wouldn’t have refused another round of the fluffy Pfannkuchen

Soundtrack: chill-out, soft jazz, Bob Marly, Yael Naim

Sitting arrangement: outside tables are added during the summer. Always full, natürlich

Crowed: local, friendly, many families

Kids: yes, and lots of them

Pets: yes, and lots of them

Service: slow-ish and nice. But who’s in a hurry, anyway?

Prices: 3.50€ for the sandwich, 6.50€ cheese breakfast, 6.60€ for the pancakes

Gipfeltreffen

http://gipfeltreffen-kreuzberg.de/

Gorlitzerstr. 68, Berlin

One would want to get to Schuchmanns as early as possible on a sunny summer Sunday. Sadly, we got there past 11:30 on a cold Sunday morning, only to find the place packed, the beautiful outside-on-the-maybachufer deck closed for the winter, and no available table to rest our freezing behinds. We made a reservation for the following Sunday and went for a nearby option not worth mentioning.

Seven days later we were there “Punkt” on time and were escorted by a kind waitress to our table. The place was packed again, and for good reason. Even before the food reached our table we liked the setting. It’s warm and cosy, with red brick walls, beautiful lamps that make for a pleasant light, and an overall great atmosphere.

From the breakfast menu we chose the pancake breakfast, the veggie-cheese one and the vegan offering. The pancakes were fat and fluffy, the vegan breakfast was full of nice original spreads and the cheesy was, well, full of cheese. Both breakfasts came with lots of vegetables and fruits and a variety of breads, and though we cleared our plates we didn’t want to leave.

The bottom line: nice, warm and tasty. We’ll be back

Crowd: young, groups of friends or couples

Kids: no kids spotted

Pets: none detected, and the place might be a bit too crowded

Soundtrack: none. Just mellow chatter

Service: flawless

Schuchmanns

http://schuchmanns.com/

Paul-Lincke-Ufer 22, Berlin

Reservation are recommended

Schwarze Pumpe is one of those places, that look exactly like what one would imagine a very cool place in Berlin to look like. It’s dark, cosy and full of old wooden chairs, tables that don’t match, exposed brick walls, things hanging from the ceiling, and old bar stools made of heavy metal pipes. The interior design is composed of the kind of things you see on the street and fancy taking home, but never actually do. They all add up to a very nice, very Berlin-like atmosphere.

However, that’s where the magic ends. We came for a Sunday brunch. It was a buffet. Probably the cheapest in town: only 5 euro (hats off for that). Cheese, vegetables, eggs, sausages, hash browns – all the usual suspects. Nothing very special, nothing to write home about. It’s the service that cracked us, the service! We live in Berlin for a few years now, so we’ve grown accustomed not to expect much in that area, but despite all that – the service in Schwarze Pumpe was off the charts. And by that we mean: lost, and never to be found.

There was one waiters doing everything, or in fact, not doing anything. Since brunch was a buffet we needed only two things from her: coffee and the bill. It took us a very long time to get her attention and even longer to get what we asked for: coffee, and the bill. So if you have no money and lots of time, the Schwarze Pumpe brunch might be the thing for you.

Bottom line: Life’s too short to wait for the coffee, and bill

The plate test: Okish

SoundTrack: we didn’t notice

Kids: none

Pets: possible

Service: no service. None

Price: cheap. 5 Euro for buffet brunch

Crowd: local, from the kiez

Schwarze Pumpe

http://www.schwarzepumpe-berlin.de/

Choriner Str. 76, Berlin

Suicide Sue is an exciting place. Well, first of all, because of the name. That was enough to get us to come. Then the location: a quiet and pleasant street near Helholmtzplatz in Prenzlauer Berg. We showed up on a fair-weather Sunday and sat down around a shaded table outside. Inside there’s a welcoming and cosy space, with a wooden bar in the center and a counter where you order, choose desserts and can track the progress of order.

The breakfast choices run between Sweet (croissant and home-made marmalade), Savory (eggs, sausages and all the rest), pancakes, fruit salad, a vegetarian breakfast and the house special (a meal for two, which we chose in its veggie version). “Sue” prides itself on home-made spreads that are adventurous and superb: avocado and chilli, ricotta and dry tomatoes, beet, horseradish and apples, brie and dates, camembert and berries and list goes on.

Everything is served on wooden planks and in white vials. Simple and beautiful. And not to mention delicious. Since our first visit there we came back for seconds and will be back again.

The bottom line: original and marvelous.

Crowd: young, local, some families

Children: kid-friendly indeed

Pets: welcoming. Water bowl and dog bed await the 4-legged visitors

Soundtrack: French inside, quiet urban chatter on the outside

Suicide Sue

http://www.suicidesue.com

Dunckerstr. 2A, Berlin

 

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

Given how badly we wanted to visit Bilderbuch Cafe, we were practically setting ourselves up for disappointment. Two of us heard that their brunch is one of the best in the city, and the third joined the enthusiasm. Only we live in Mitte, and Cafe Bilderbuch is in Schöneberg, so we decided to have a reservation before leaving the house. No room. Once. Twice. Even on the third try. On our fourth attempt we managed to book for two weeks in advance. We love brunch, but this seemed to much, and we were ready for the letdown. There was none.

Cafe Bilderbuch is worth the trouble. Reserving in advance turned out to be totally useless, as the place is big and roomy, with lots of free space. Our suspicions faded at the door. Bilderbuch is a pleasant place to step into. So pleasant, there is a danger you’ll stop at the first space. Don’t. A bigger one awaits further in, next to a wonderful green patio. The place a designed to look and feel like the living room we would want to have: full of books, with unique and cosy furniture, a piano on a wooden stage and huge windows.

Seeing they serve a brunch for three was too good to be true. For 26 EURO we got a huge platter filled with every vegetarian good you can imagine: butter, cheeses, spreads, pineapple, kiwi, watermelon, grapes, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and a basket of breads on the side.

The plate test: it was still half full when we left. Not because it wasn’t delicious, but because there is SO much food.

 Crowd: families, three generations, lots of kids. The children’s meal comes with a Kinder egg, but you’ll only get it if your less than 1.40m tall.

 Soundtrack: classical, low key, comes and goes.

 Pets: not that we’ve seen, but suitable.

 Bottom line: a great place to bring your folks, and impress them with Berlin’s class.

 Cafe Bilderbuch

 www.cafe-bilderbuch.de

 Akazienstraße 28, Berlin

Everything is white at Schneeweiss. The walls, the leather sofas, the tables, the waitresses blouses, the table cloths and the dishes. It’s comprised of two spacious sitting areas inside, plus outside tables on the street corner for the occasional sunny day. Quite music playing in the background. Everything exudes white, peaceful sterility.

It’s all about the presentation, so they say, and Schneeweiss is the perfect example. Everything is styled to perfection, everything looks like a million dollars: On the bar there’s a machine that dispenses several kinds of jam into small ice cones; Salads and antipasti come in personal glass jars; The meat section is diverse and tempting, even for veggies such as ourselves.

Lucky for us, and you, the food is very much up to standard with the design. The buffet has everything: meats, cheese, breads, spinach roll, potato gratin, egg salad, chicken salad and much more. “The best brunch yet”, said one of us. “The most beautiful place”, added another. The most expensive brunch yet, showed the check in the end. 13.5 Euros, without drinks.

Price: 13.5 for the brunch. 5 Euros for a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. 5!

Music: quiet. In the background

Kids: none that we saw

Aesthetic experience: you bet

The plate test: we left them sparkling white

Schneeweiss

http://www.schneeweiss-berlin.de/

Simplonstraße 16, Berlin