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Neukölln - the coolest neighbourhood in Berlin

February 9th 2020

By The Guardian

Even a decade or so ago, Neukölln, in south-east Berlin, was something of a backwater – a no-man’s-land beyond the trendy centre. Then the district’s cheap rents and gritty vibe were discovered by the international creatives and students, who moved in among the Turks, Kurds and Arabs to create today’s multikulti ambiance. Shack-like kebab shops and smart restaurants, shisha cafes and shabby-chic dive bars, underground art galleries and commercial casinos sit side by side, and there is always something new to discover.

Head to the main drag, Sonnennallee, for tasty, cheap Palestinian and Lebanese food; stroll south-west to villagey Rixdorf, passing stone churches, cobbled streets and lovely Comenius botanical garden; for late-night drinks, try hip Weserstrasse; and for indulgent brunches and vintage browsing it’s hard to beat the area that overlaps with Kreuzberg (Kreuzkölln). The coolest area is probably dynamic, fast-changing Schillerkiez, next to Tempelhof park, site of the former city airport and Berlin airlift, which is now a vast recreation area where it’s possible to land-surf, cycle and rollerblade down the former runway.

 

See and do

Given the creative influx and affordable rents, it’s no surprise to find a wealth of galleries and cultural spaces in the neighbourhood. These tend to be small and experimental like Loophole (Boddinstrasse 60), a club and music venue in a former brothel that also does site-specific works. The larger Kindl Centre for Contemporary Art (€5, under-18s free, Am Sudhaus 3) is in a former brewery and has installations and live performances.

The district is well known for its vintage shopping and for stores that double as cafes. Sing Blackbird (Sanderstrasse 11) has shoes, jewellery and secondhand clothes, as well as juices, vegan pancakes and bagels. Rag and Bone Man (Briesestrasse 9) focuses on home decor and flowers, tipping into therapeutic services such as counselling. Shio (Weichselstrasse 59) works with local designers and stocks pretty and ethically minded papercraft, jewellery, clothes and home design objects. For food, the Turkish market by the Landwehr canal on Maybachufer has a great range of fresh produce and textiles every Tuesday and Friday.

 

For something cheap, cheerful and filling, hole-in-the-wall Berlin Burger International (Pannierstrasse 5) has specialities such as the Godmother, with mozzarella and serrano ham, plus killer sweet potato wedges. Vietnamese joint Hamy (Hasenheide 10) also offers delicious daily lunch specials for just €5, while vegans will enjoy Two Planets (Hermannstrasse 230), whose offerings include a famous sourdough bread with avocado, delicious cakes and great salads. Swisher options include Lavanderia Vecchia (Flughafenstrasse 46), which serves rustic trattoria food in a former launderette, and chic new dessert restaurant Coda (Friedelstrasse 47), which has won a Michelin star for its innovative menu of savoury, as well as sweet, concoctions. The full set menu costs €138 a head but come after dinner and sit at the bar for a cocktail and à la carte option.

For post-dinner drinks, there are a dozen great bars on Weserstrasse alone, from the grungy, arty Ä (no 40), with its flea market furnishings and foamy draft beers, to swankier cocktail bar TiER (no 42) just up the street. In summer, head to Klunkerkranich (Karl-Marx-Strasse 66), hidden away on the rooftop of a shopping mall, with a laid-back DIY aesthetic, decent DJs and views over the city. If you want to take things up a notch, Sameheads and Griessmühle will take you through to the next day, sometimes even longer.