893 Ryotei

The Duc Ngo's Japanese restaurant behind a graffiti façade on Kantstraße: sashimi, nigiri and Nikkei dishes, best enjoyed at the counter.

From the outside, 893 Ryōtei looks like an abandoned shop: the façade covered in graffiti, the windows tinted. Behind it is one of the best-known Japanese restaurants in the city. It belongs to The Duc Ngo, who came to Berlin from Hanoi as a child, learned from Japanese chefs at the city's first sushi bar and has been opening one restaurant after another on Kantstraße since 1999.

The best seats are at the counter, where the chefs cut and plate the fish. The menu runs from sashimi and nigiri, such as bluefin tuna, chūtoro and flamed salmon belly, to Nikkei dishes with a Peruvian lean: yellowtail tiradito, ceviche with ají amarillo, tostadas with tuna belly and caviar. Then there are the house classics like black cod with miso, tuna tataki and Daniel's Tartare of beef tenderloin with char caviar. Groups of four or more can order a sharing menu. Book early.