Torstraße: From pizza slices to three Michelin stars
Two kilometres, six addresses and a street that shows Berlin’s food culture in astonishing range. Between Oranienburger Tor and Prenzlauer Allee lie a three-star restaurant, New York pizza, Thai home cooking and ice cream you had better save room for.
Torstraße is one of those Berlin streets where you rarely linger by choice. Cars, trams, bikes and pedestrians share a space in which everyone apparently follows a different schedule.
From a culinary point of view, it is still worth slowing down.
Along barely two kilometres you will find restaurants that could hardly be more different. At Rutz, Marco Müller serves one of the most ambitious menus in Germany. A few minutes away, huge New York pizza slices are handed over the counter. In between lie Thai home cooking, gluten-free sourdough bread and ice cream with caramelised honeycomb pieces.
The street has only had its current name since 1994. Before that it was called Wilhelm-Pieck-Straße, after the first president of the GDR. Earlier still, Berlin’s customs wall ran through this area. The former city gates eventually gave the street its name back.
Three stars and a slice of New York
The culinary walk begins at the western end, just past Oranienburger Tor. At Chausseestraße 8 is Rutz. It has held three Michelin stars since 2020, plus a Green Michelin Star for sustainability. Head chef Marco Müller thus ranks among the very top of German gastronomy.
Under the title “Natur & Aromen”, he develops menus that engage intensively with regional produce, fermentation and unusual flavour combinations. Origin, season and processing play an important role. An evening at Rutz is accordingly a bigger affair: you book, take your time and let the menu guide you.
Mitte · Fine DiningRutzOn the map
A few minutes’ walk further east, eating works much faster. At Slice Society at Torstraße 173, huge New York pizza slices sit behind the counter. Founders Alexander Welskopp and Marcus Hagemann came from Berlin’s startup world. Their company was founded in 2023, the pizzeria opened in 2024.
The thin, crisp pizzas measure around 45 centimetres across. The slices are so big you can fold them to eat – a tried-and-tested method in New York for eating pizza on the go.
The Pepperoni with Hot Honey is especially good. The spicy American salami brings fat and heat, the honey sets sweetness and another note of chilli against it. Slice Society now even sells the hot honey in bottles.
Mitte · ItalianSlice SocietyOn the map
Family recipes and gluten-free sourdough
In the same building is Rram, a Thai restaurant whose cooking draws on family recipes and personal memories. Chef Tanadon Santanaviboon takes up dishes from everyday Thai home cooking. These include som tam lao, a papaya salad with bold acidity, chilli and fermented ingredients, and kra pao dtai with holy basil and fried egg.
Here, heat, acidity, sweetness and salty umami meet. Fish sauce, lime, chilli and fresh herbs play the leading roles. Many dishes are meant for sharing; trying several together is worth it.
Mitte · ThaiRramOn the map
At Rosenthaler Platz, AERA follows with an entirely different craft. The bakery specialises in gluten-free bread and works with alternative flours, natural sourdough and long fermentation times.
Gluten-free baking is demanding because it lacks the gluten protein that gives conventional doughs elasticity and structure. AERA has turned this into a concept of its own. The “Kurfürst” loaf is one of its best-known products; there are also cookies and other baked goods.
Mitte · BakeryAERA MitteOn the map
An ice cream and one more pizza
At Torstraße 141 is the Eispatisserie Hokey Pokey. The name comes from a New Zealand speciality: vanilla ice cream with crunchy pieces of caramelised honeycomb toffee.
This combination is one of the classics here too. The creamy ice cream base and the crunchy caramel pieces complement each other perfectly. If you prefer nutty flavours, there is pistachio ice cream with roasted Sicilian pistachios, among others. The contrast between creamy and crunchy makes many of the flavours interesting.
Mitte · Ice CreamHokey Pokey MitteOn the map
To finish, Standard Serious Pizza at Torstraße 102 is a good choice. Alongside marinara and margherita, the menu also features generously topped white pizzas.
The Mortazza dell’Estate combines parmesan cream, mortadella, stracciatella and pistachios. Salty sausage, mild fresh cheese and nutty flavours make for a rich but well-balanced combination. If you like it hotter, order the L’Ape che Punge with Calabrian salami and chilli honey. The changing pizza of the day is worth a look too.
Mitte · ItalianStandard Serious Pizza MitteOn the map
Six addresses, six ways to eat
On Torstraße you can see, over a short distance, how broad Berlin’s food scene is. At Rutz, elaborate menus are built from regional produce. Slice Society brings New York pizza culture to Mitte. Rram cooks dishes with family roots, while AERA shows how much technical knowledge can go into gluten-free bread. Hokey Pokey and Standard round off the street with ice cream and pizza where the details are right.
Of course, you need more than a single walk for all six addresses. Although the idea of grabbing a pepperoni slice after a three-star menu would have a certain Berlin charm.
Eating in Berlin-Mitte: restaurants, cafés and wine barsGuides · August 26, 2026Eating in Berlin-Mitte: restaurants, cafés and wine bars
