Yes, I know I keep blogging about food, but - who cares?!! I do. I care about food and here is another tasty source! Prinz, Tip and Zitty are unified in laudations, but also the Food & Wine magazine found this little place amongst 40 cities around the world.

Leo Bettini is specialised on dumplings and pasta in all different variations (and colours!). This beautiful dumpling picture is picked from their website www.leobettini.de.

Leo Bettini, Mulackstrasse 33, 10119 Berlin, Tel. (030) 60 50 74 49, mail@leobettini.de. Opening Hours Mo - Thurs 9:30 - 18:00, Fr 9:30 - 20:00, Sa 12:00 - 20:00.

He did it again! There is this pile of garbage and you walk by one day. And you walk by the other day and there it is: the mysterious “6″ or “6de” or “1kg.de” or “4rtist.com”, painted right on the waste - on an old mattress, a pile of bulk rubbish, building material along road works or even a tire of the big Volksbühne truck trailer parked in Linienstrasse. Have a look at the artist’s website www.6de.de and find a lot more lovely and funny street art paintings. Whenever you walk around in Mitte / Prenzlauer Berg, keep your eyes open and you definitely will find a piece of work!

Of course Greece is not known for pearls, so forget about the headline. But this is a very tiny place (a little bigger than a pearl, though) with very good greek food - to go and to have there. The restaurant in the back part of the location looks just like you were on a greek island with the fisherboats bobbing up and down along the waterside. Well, there is no water, but there are the little chairs and all the stuff on the walls and in the shelves that spread this relaxing taverna atmosphere.

I went there with Holger Volland (one of the other authors of this blog) and he took the picture, that’s why I am ON the picture paying my lunch - and Holger’s, too, because it was his birthday!

Kaliva, Wielandstrasse 37, 10629 Berlin (Charlottenburg), Tel. 3100 4550.

Open Mon - Fr (I believe!).

There is more than one reason to go to Pony Bar. First - it is in the middle of Mitte, so you will be important and extremely cool, as soon as you go there. Then - it is next to Monsieur Vuong, the famous Asian restaurant (more important people). Then - there is this convenient piece of furniture at the outside which is shaped like stairs. Great to sit on and look at everybody walking by (even in winter - dress appropriately). Then - there is friendly staff, listening to their music and talking to each other and occasionally looking up (your chance to place an order). Then - there are pony photos up on the wall and pony stickers inside the toilet rooms (see picture). And - the final reason to go there: it is a non smoking place and they put a message at their window: “Think of our neighbours” (they really are nice people at Pony Bar!!), “please smoke silently”.

Alte Schönhauser Allee, Mitte, U-Bahn Weinmeister Strasse.

You might not know that Berlin is one of the sunniest places in Germany. In every case it is one of the driest regions, too, so rain is something we do not know very well (not as London does, f. ex.). And it gets even better: as Prof. Dr. Dr. Peter Höppe, Professor in Physics, tells us about the future in the Tagesspiegel, Berlin will soon have a climate similar to the south of Italy. The Glocalist even writes about a possible tropic paradise in Berlin. Berlin had the warmest summer in Germany in 2008 with an average temperature of 19,2 ° Celsius (this includes the night temperatures!). Ok, it is autumn now and we all face the winter - but you would not want to know what winter is like here, so we do not write about it.

“The best pizza in Friedrichshain - that’s what our clients say”. There is not much to add. Pizza to go or pizza to have right there - you have the choice. They even started “Flying Pizza Concerts” every Thursday night, get a first impression on myspace if you need this with your pizza or not.

The area of Sonntagstrasse is a good place for a relaxed afternoon or evening with a lot of cheap places to eat & drink plus a little park where the local Friedrichshainer take a break to hang out, talk - or eat a pizza.

Caminetto, Sonntagstrasse 6, Friedrichshain, near S-Bahn Ostkreuz.

It seems to me that I am always blogging about food locations. No, I am not 90 kilos heavy, but yes, I like eating, so there’s another one. At lunchtime on Wednesdays in Friedrichshain you see nearly all of our staff wandering to the Spreebar where they have their Schnitzel Day. A schnitzel with french fries and salad for 5,70 EUR is fair enough, and if the weather is not like today (rain, rain, rain) you can even sit outside at the Spree and watch the boats go by. The atmosphere is fast and canteen like, and don’t expect too much quality concerning the food, but the staff is friendly and served Korbinian a second schnitzel today after he had complained (for no particular reason!). Spreebar is located at Stralauer Allee 2c, next to the Universal building (which includes another canteen right on the Spree).

Schnitzel - before and after!

Just newly opened up end of July this year, the oliv café is often packed (although not at the time I took this photo). It is a beautiful New York style place with some food such as muesli, cake and sandwiches and a really good coffee with a perfect ‘crema’. It has no “oliv” sign up at the outside yet, but never mind, you find it at Münzstrasse (corner Almstadtstrasse), not far from the adidas flagship store and Alte and Neue Schönhauser Strasse, the place to shop in Mitte. oliv is open on Sundays also. Aus Liebe!

Ok ok… for those who want to get to know the range, here is one of the luxury coiffeurs in Berlin Mitte. Beate Kahlcke Friseure & Spa welcomes you in a Zen atmosphere and the only things, that touch your hair, are her hairstylists and pure Aveda products. Of course this is not the 10 EUR cut&go league so check your wallet carefully before making an appointment. My personal experience with Beate dates back to Easter 2004 (I remember the date!), when Beate cut my dreads off, that I had cared for with a lot of dedication for 8 long years. Only a year later, when I came back to her, she admitted, that she had done that for the first time in her life and that I was somehow lucky it worked out fine. Well, since then I regularly return to her and I am always very happy (and very poor) after it.

Beate Kahlcke Friseure & Spa, Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 11 in Berlin Mitte
(it is located next to the Hotel Lux 11 if you want to combine the two)
Tel. +49 - 30 - 280 91 91, take U-Bahn to Alexanderplatz or Weinmeisterstrasse, www.beatekahlcke.de

At Karl-Marx-Allee (near Alexanderplatz), which is a sightseeing spot itself that you should not miss, there is a famous movie theatre dating from 1963. It has remained almost untouched since then, so the GDR spirit of the premiere theatre for DEFA films is still alive. The fantastic bar area is located in the first floor behind an enormous glass front. From there, you can see the Allee and Café Moskau across the street, which is another spectacular event location (but under construction at the moment!). The Kino International is a Berlinale venue and very often hosts important film premieres with red carpet, a lot of stars and press people. According to the beautiful former movie tradition the huge film posters announcing the top movie at the facade are still hand drawn.

Karl-Marx-Allee 33, 10178 Berlin, U-Bahn Schillingstrasse
Tel. +49 - 30 - 24 75 60 11, Program at Website.