One of the greatest locations in town. This place still has the old West-Berlin karma. Hurry, because this karma is disappearing with the growth of the Regierungsviertel.

But ist also has a great gourmet kitchen and even greater service.

It was widely rumoured that Chirac and Putin were entertained here by the then German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder several years ago, so that gives an idea of the sort of place this is. It’s also convenient for me as I can cycle there quite easily from where I stay in Berlin.

The restaurant is inside an old detached house not far from the Reichstag and is spread over 2 floors. Downstairs is more convivial and the upstairs is perhaps a touch more private, with an additional separate dining room. The atmosphere is pleasantly rustic (and a little dilapidated) as it is an old building transformed into a restaurant in the late 1990’s, using a mix of antique and contemporary fittings, but mostly those from earlier eras. It’s hard for me to decide whether I liked the decor as it reminds me of a German friend’s mother’s house but some might also find it quaint or charming or something like that.

If one can, always order the set menu of the evening. Ordering a la carte seems to cause some sort of pertubation in the whole fabric of the place and things can become very (very) slow, as I found to my cost. The food is always done well but I feel it lacks the flair of some other restaurants in the same price bracket. However, saying that, it is a place that most Germans would love, as it is good German home-cooking presented as gourmet cuisine blended with a mix of Alsatian and Parisian influences. (I have not noticed any Russian influence.) The best dish I had there was wachtel, or quail, done superbly well with wild mushrooms.

This restaurant also has an interesting history, which one can read about in the menu. It is a rustic place, with a nice ambience and is typical of the sort of (good) order that came out of the chaos of the reunification of Berlin. If one had a few days to spend in Berlin, it would definitely be worth spending an evening here to taste German food as it should (or could) have been.