Dschungel – 9/10

There’s a certain look the bars in Berlin all seem to have. You know the one: candles and low lighting, dark wood walls,  distressed but comfortable furniture, and an assortment of quirky flea-market ornaments dotted around. If you don’t, I suggest checking out Luzia, Fitcher’s Vogel, Mano, Das Hotel…I could go on.

I don’t mean to be critical – I love all those places (except Das Hotel, which is overpriced and has zero atmosphere). But every so often it’s nice to try something different, so please let me enthuse over Dschungel for a few paragraphs.

This is a bar that takes its theme seriously. That’s something I associate more with tourist hotspots and more commercialised areas (I once went to a bar in Shoreditch where everything had bees on it), but somehow here they manage to go all out on the jungle aesthetic without giving the impression that they’re only doing it for the gram. It’s got the cosy, lively but relaxed atmosphere I look for in a bar, cheap drinks, plus there are plants absolutely everywhere and you can watch a cute tropical frog swimming around in its tank while you wait for your drinks. What’s not to like?

The jungle theme isn’t chosen at random; Dschungel is named after one of the iconic clubs in West Berlin, from way back when the wall was still up and West Berlin was a place that anyone would want to go out. In fact, David Bowie used to quite like it, along with Iggy Pop and Nick Cave. So it’s a nice reminder of some Berlin pop culture history; plus, of course, plants are great. I’m sure I’ve read that being around them is beneficial for mental health, or maybe air quality, or both? But I definitely think that a beer at Dschungel is good for the soul.

I always go for the €3.50 Passauer beer – not a brand I’ve seen anywhere else, but it’s quite nice, a standard Helles with a bright, refreshing flavour. Friends have also tried the cocktails and G&Ts, which are around six or seven euro, and apparently very nice.

The atmosphere is always great – it gets very crowded on weekends, but there’s more space than you realise, with two back rooms hidden behind the main room (although one of them is bafflingly and rather sadly short on plants). It’s a place to sit and chat rather than to listen to music, and there’s always a friendly, lively atmosphere; seeing people out celebrating their birthdays or chatting to the bartender over a book gives it such a nice vibe.

It also benefits from being in one of Berlin’s top bar areas, near Hermannplatz, with other great places like Silverfuture, Trude Ruth und Goldammer and Geist im Glas nearby (plus Sahara Imbiss and Falafel Jakoub if you get hungry). It’s the perfect way to start a bar crawl, which is what we did last time we went. But it’s also a lovely place to just settle in for the evening. Highly recommended!

 

Rating: 9/10

A e s t h e t i c: 10/10

Atmosphere: 9/10

Drinks: 7/10

Value for money: 7/10

 

Dschungel

Friedelstrasse 12, Neukölln