There were many reasons to join Marlon on his recent business trip to Berlin. First of all, it was a long trip and I wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of being a single mom for four days. Second: hello, it’s Berlin. Who can say no to Berlin?
Aside from being one of my favorite European cities—in case you haven’t noticed!—what clinched the deal was the feeling that I have friends in Berlin. From past experience tagging along on work trips before, exploring by oneself is fun, even liberating, but it can get lonely. Having local friends makes a world of difference. Company is great, and I get to discover places that I might not have found or chosen on my own.
This is how I found myself doing what seems to be a very Berlin thing: breakfast. With frühstück menus displayed prominently at many cafes, it seems locals are mad about breakfast. It’s a good thing I had some pretty cool Berliners to introduce me to this very Berlinische pleasure.
My first breakfast was with the lovely Lena from Mina Moka. She took me to her brunch pick for my Let’s Do Brunch series: 3 Schwestern in Kreuzberg.
Lena wrote her guest post on 3 Schwestern in the winter, so with summer in full swing, it almost seemed like a totally different place.
We sat outside in the courtyard, basking in the warm summer sunshine, brunching on picks from the day’s menu and chatting about bloggers, travel, babies, Berlin… a little bit of everything.
I just realized that this was Tala’s first brunch! Stick with me, kid, and you’ll never go hungry.
Located in a converted hospital in green, tree-lined Mariannenplatz, 3 Schwestern is a great starting point for a stroll around Kreuzberg: Oranienstrasse, the Prinzessinnengarten, Moritzplatz, and the Berlinische Galerie (up next on my blogging agenda) are all nearby, as is the craft superstore/time warp Planet Modulor.
The next day’s breakfast was with the perpetually stylish siblings Toni and Thea, founders of sisterMAG and a fast-growing digital publishing empire. Their pick: Zeit für Brot in Mitte—because this is Germany, where breakfast is indeed “time for bread!”
I have an addiction to cinnamon rolls that dates back to childhood, so imagine my delight when I discovered this tray of big, fluffy, freshly baked cinnamon rolls, or zimt-schnecke, displayed on the counter. Proper cinnamon rolls are rare in Amsterdam, so I owe the Neubauers major gratitude for suggesting this place. I could have had breakfast here every day of the week!
Zeit für Brot’s location is also perfect for wandering around the upscale and stylish neighborhood of Mitte, not to mention a trip to the Muji store on Hackescher Markt.
Having a baby forced me into becoming more of a morning person—I’d normally prefer an afternoon coffee meetup, but somehow that’s so not Berlin. How about you? Are you big on breakfast?
I love breakfast it is my favorite meal of the day. Such wonderful places you visited and with pretty cool company as well. SisterMag are so beautiful, and their outfits totally rock!!
I’m starting to get behind the idea of breakfast meetups. But sad that we are losing our authentic breakfast-loving Berliner (Peggy)!
how wonderful to see this post – it was a lovely brunch with you and sweet sweet Tala. “Stick with me, kid, and you’ll never go hungry.” How funny, you should have seen my smile when I read that! The place Thea and Toni picked looks realy nice, too – and the cinnamon rolls, mmmh… Just a sidenote: I can’t get enough of these girls’ dresses. Toni and Thea, if you’re reading this: Please let me know when you decide to clear out your closets!
I agree, a sisterMAG garage sale would be a great place to shop!
Breakfast/brunch is the best. Unfortunately here in Italy it’s almost impossible to find. Those cinnamon rolls look so so so good. I physically need one right this second. And yes, Toni and Thea have the best dresses. Maybe a sisterMAG clothing line should be in the works?
Why aren’t Italians into breakfast? Do they roll out of bed late straight into lunch, or just like to grab an espresso and run?
OMG, you got rid of that AWFUL D…..
What a great post! Love when we can meet up with bloggers. Isn’t that cool.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to meet Lena, as I never arrived in Berlin:-( but the T&T sisters are always
favourites.
Love the places they took you too and happy that Tala will grow up amongst foodies.
Now I just have to figure out how to un-bold all my comments!
We’d really like Tala to be grow up to be the skinny Asian friend that everyone hates, but we love food too much
Amazing. A lot of these places weren’t even in my radar.
I should show my sister your comment of Mitte being “an upscale and stylish neighborhood” because just 10 years ago when they moved there (it’s their second home) … Mitte was considered as rundown and seedy. How things have changed since then. My sister said it was very dirty before. This year, I found it to be much cleaner than Marseille.
That’s amazing. I window-shopped in Mitte but couldn’t afford anything until I got to Hackescher Markt! My impression was that it was upscale but much younger than, say, Kurfurstendamm, another upscale area.
Hey Deepa,
It was soo nice to see and meet you and Tala – and even more I love your post about the breakfast places. It is always so interesting to hear how the places we see everyday appear to visitors. I’m glad you liked the Zeit für Brot and Lena’s 3 Schwestern is definitely a recommendation of mine as well.
See you soon,
Toni