63.
Exemplary food experience, especially at an outdoor table in human-compatible weather conditions with the Motzstraße catwalk in full bloom.
This will complete your Berlin experience, even if you just wander round the food halls. And certainly not without camp appeal.
In its own category, and better quality than neighbouring More. Try for the window table (or sit outdoors).
A Berlin favourite/must. Chicken + bread + both salads + beer (all exemplary). Authentic and unpretentious atmosphere. Feels local but also like a Berlin institution.
A great place for a stylish-but-not-stuffy special occasion (or just a nice place to go for mid-morning breakfast or mid-afternoon cakes. Or lunch. And try to get a booth/banquette.
The balls. Tricky to get a table sometimes, but always worth it. Just really good food and the right level of buzzy-friendly.
Take the advice and ask for it to be baked for a half-minute longer, and, most importantly, with lots of extra oil. Best in London, and so close to Old Compton St.
This is not the Valerie of yore. The coffee might be just good enough, but the cakes are lobotomised versions of what they were before the business got sold and reinvented as a cross-country chain.
Definitely pushes the right gay buttons, but where it really matters (the food), it falters badly (and it's overpriced).