Hungry in Kreuzberg: tacos, crispy chicken and tasting menus

Kreuzberg eats across every price range. At one end there is a starred restaurant that uses no lemon because lemons don’t grow in Brandenburg; at the other, a tavern that has been roasting the same chicken since 1908. In between: an English pub, a Thai restaurant with fish in caramel and a taquería with blue-corn tortillas.

Nobelhart & Schmutzig – brutally local on Friedrichstraße

Kreuzberg · Fine DiningNobelhart & SchmutzigOn the map

When Billy Wagner opened Nobelhart & Schmutzig in February 2015, he wanted to give the region’s producers a face. It became known under the motto “brutal lokal”: what doesn’t grow in and around Berlin isn’t served. No chocolate, no lemon; instead vegetables and dairy, each dish with three or four ingredients at most. Micha Schäfer runs the kitchen, and much of the work is preserving, curing and pickling.

Guests eat at a long counter around the open kitchen; there are no tables for two. The restaurant has a Michelin star and the green star for sustainability. Seats are scarce; open Tuesday to Saturday.

St. Bart – Sunday roast in the Graefekiez

Kreuzberg · BarSt. BartOn the map

Lee Thompson is from Australia and opened St. Bart on Graefestraße with his wife in August 2017, a tribute to London and Fergus Henderson’s St. John. It became one of the city’s few true gastropubs, with white-tiled walls, candlelight and pints on tap. There are oysters, langoustines and the brick chicken, plus dishes from the board like bone marrow on toast. Sunday means roast, which is what St. Bart is known for in the neighbourhood, and tables go fast then.

Bistro Gri Gri – terrace on the Landwehrkanal

Kreuzberg · FrenchBistro Gri GriOn the map

The daughter of the previous owner has reopened the decades-old Café Gri Gri on Paul-Lincke-Ufer as a bistro. Frithjof Gernentz, formerly of Dóttir and Pauli Saal, is at the stove, and the kitchen works with fine-dining techniques. On warm days you sit outside under the chestnut trees, looking out over the canal.

Kanal61 – plates to share on Erkelenzdamm

Kreuzberg · EuropeanKanal61On the map

David Eckman and Jacques Voß worked together at Café Frieda. Since August 2024 they have run Kanal61 on Erkelenzdamm, with an open kitchen, lots of plants and records. The menu changes almost daily, and many dishes recall their trips to Japan: pickled sardines with einkorn shoyu, ricotta with mandarin koshu, dairy-cow tartare with katsuobushi soy. The pickled sardines are the dish to ask for. Open Thursday to Sunday evenings, and at lunch on weekends.

Boii Boii – fish in caramel on Lausitzer Straße

Kreuzberg · ThaiBoii BoiiOn the map

Boii Boii means “often” in Thai. Nita, Peter and Niki started in early 2024 with Thai Noods, a pad thai pop-up. After a whole tour of pop-ups they found a permanent home on Lausitzer Straße. The menu mixes classics like som tam and moo krob with new ideas: oysters with nam jim, short rib with a basil-garlic glaze, lemongrass margaritas. The Infatuation added Boii Boii to its list of Berlin’s 25 best restaurants in June 2026. The best is the pla tod, a whole fried fish in fish-sauce caramel, with the coconut cheesecake with lime foam to finish.

Tacos el Rey – blue corn on Graefestraße

Kreuzberg · MexicanTacos el ReyOn the map

Tacos el Rey comes from the team behind Taquería El Oso. The tortillas are pressed on site from blue corn using the nixtamal method, and every taco is sold individually, as in Mexico. There is ribeye “El Rey”, quesabirria, carnitas de pato with duck and nopales con queso, plus margaritas, micheladas and palomas. The ribeye “El Rey” and the quesabirria are the tacos you come for. Through a window in the back room you can watch the tortillas being pressed.

Alt Berliner Wirtshaus Henne – fried chicken and a Kennedy letter

Kreuzberg · GermanAlt Berliner Wirtshaus HenneOn the map

Henne opened in 1908 and after the war sat right on the sector border. Later the Wall stood five metres from the door, and a polite refusal from John F. Kennedy to the family’s invitation still hangs above the bar. The half chicken comes with potato salad or coleslaw and a draught beer, and it is only fried once you order. In summer you sit outside under the lime trees.