Beirut Express – 9/10

With Big Bascha, my favourite place for a work lunch, closed for Ramadan, I’ve had to try some of the other Lebanese places nearby: luckily Beirut Express, just across the road, is also excellent and worth a visit for their delicious manaqish alone. It has a similar set-up to Big Bascha: order at the counter, …

Al Pasha – 8/10

I have very happy memories of the outrageous amounts of food I ate on a trip to Beirut in February, and luckily Berlin makes it quite easy to get a Lebanese food fix; Neukölln is the obvious place, but agreeably for me there are also plenty of options near my office in Moabit (Big Bascha …

Vagabund Taproom – 9/10

When I think of craft beer in Berlin, I normally think of pretentious places in Mitte where you pay a lot for the beer and then a bit more for the faux-Scandi aesthetic (the honourable exception is Hops and Barley in Friedrichshain, which is superb and exceptionally good value). However, take the U6 up to …

Falafel Jakoub – 8/10

Hermannplatz isn’t an area that’s short of falafel; come out of any U-bahn exit and you're immediately surrounded by options for a quick, cheap on-the-go meal. However, it’s undoubtedly worth making the effort to venture slightly further away from the station, because Falafel Jakoub is a seven-minute walk away, five if you’re hungry, and their …

Tutti Island – 6/10

You might have noticed how much I love Sudanese food already. Sahara Imbiss has a special place in my heart, but there are a lot of great places in Berlin for fried things slathered in peanut sauce, and I’m always happy to try a new one. So when @foodfinder_berlin posted a review of a Sudanese …

Nezha Bistro – 8/10

I like Wedding as an area, but somehow almost never go there. The only reason I discovered Nezha, a Lebanese falafel shop by Pankstrasse, is because a friend of a friend read my review of Azzam and said I’d like Nezha even more. Azzam is still the undisputed winner when it comes to tasty hummus …

Turkish Market @ Maybachufer – 9/10

The Turkish market that pops up every Tuesday and Friday afternoon along Maybachufer is at least as iconic as Thai Park, but since I work full time I’m not normally able to go. I was lucky enough to have a Friday off a couple of weeks ago, so I finally got my chance to spend …

Asia Deli – 8/10

Asia Deli sounds like one of those places at train stations that serve gloopy, gelatinous noodles and flaccid spring rolls from some vague hybrid Asian cuisine. In fact, it’s an unassuming but excellent Chinese restaurant tucked away near Seestrasse U-bahn. If @food_in_berlin hadn’t recommended it, I’d almost certainly have walked right past it (had I …

Güllü Lahmacun – 7/10

Turkish food in Berlin is dominated by the iconic döner kebab, with halloumi and falafel as your standard non-meat alternatives, but actually there’s a much more interesting range of veggie food on offer, if you go to the right places. Much of it revolves around combining spinach, feta and pastry in delicious and inventive ways …

Vanille & Marille – 9/10

Vanille & Marille is a small chain with branches across south Berlin, most famous for playing to Berliners' self-mythologising tendencies with their charcoal-infused black waffle cones and pitch-black lemon buttermilk ice cream. It’s even become a meme. Friends have been telling me to try it for ages, so when I found myself in the area …