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

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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

 

What would you do if you owned a bar that stood empty during the morning, while you recover from last night’s hangover? In the case of Lagari, the answer is: rent it out to people who are serving what some might claim is the hottest American Brunch in town. So hot, that you can now get it on weekdays as well (10:00-16:00).

 The California Breakfast Slam is the local answer for American expats with a craving for brunch that tastes like home. And by “home” we mean “California-Style” – with a delicate and blessed Mexican influence. Amongst the brunches you can find fluffy pancakes, black beans and eggs on a tortilla, eggs Benedict (or Florentine, if you’re a veggie) and more.

The location itself is mundane and irrelevant. On a nice sunny day everyone is sitting outside, on the traffic island. It seems like ages ago now, but when we visited there it was a hot day. Too hot for Berlin, and believe it or not – there were not enough parasols to shade all the tables. You couldn’t fit a Brötchen between the brunch-eners: youngsters, expats and locals. But nothing was gonna stand in our way of enjoying the enormous portions. We fell head-over-heals for the pancakes, bitched about the heat for a while, and sat there for quite a while before we were able to stand up. It was filling.

The city is crawling with expats (as we know from being ones ourselves), so reservations for groups of more than 4 people are highly recommended during the weekends.

 The bottom line: For hungry California lovers, who are not shy of some black beans.

 The plate test: couldn’t finish. We were out numbered.

 Price: 8-10, not including drinks.

 Soundtrack: of the street. Pleasant multi-lingual chatter.

 Kids: why not? Sitting in the street.

 Pets: why not? Sitting in the street.

 Crowd: locals and visitors who know why they’re coming

California Breakfast Slam (at Lagari)

 Pflügerstrasse 19, Neukolln-Kreuzberg

 Email for reservations: cabslam@gmail.com

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

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

Ho America!

Everything in Nalu diner screams America: Two big spaces with white walls, covered in pictures and posters of american icons, such as Steely Dan; Booths with red leather-like upholstery; Tables with pictures of all the U.S. Presidents; And in the background, american ‘70 and ‘80 music, such as Steely Dan. A soundtrack that gets you dreaming about the big road-trip you’re gonna take, scorching the wide open highways of America in a convertible.

Our breakfast also screamed America. No brunch on the menu per se, but a few breakfast deals that would qualify. Two of us went for the veggie and the third one took the direct approach – straight for the pancakes. The veggie breakfast had a choice of eggs, 2 pancakes and hash browns. After all, it’s not like America to worry hungry stomaches with anything green or fresh. The eggs were standard, the pancakes fatty and round and the hash browns slightly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The black coffee, re-filled by the waiter just like you’d expect, was surprisingly good compared to its American counterpart. More than anything, there was much of everything.

Just do yourselves a favor and don’t use the junk wannabe-maple sauce on the table. Ask the waiter for REAL maple sauce. They have it, but charge extra for it.

The plate test: neither was empty. Torn pancakes and egg leftovers

Music: wonderful (Steely Dan was joined by Van Morrison, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel and the Boss)

Crowd: young and unified. The presence of only one child was noted

Price: reasonable. Mostly around 8-9 Euro

Breakfasts: array of combos which include eggs, pancakes, hash browns and bacon

The bottom line: Okish +, for Americana lovers

NALU DINER

http://nalu-diner.com

Dunckerstraße 80a, Berlin