Café Einstein Stammhaus CLOSED AS OF DECEMBER 2022 FOR 18-MONTH RENOVATIONS

A Berlin institution started in 1978 by Ursula "Uschi" Bachauer, this Viennese-style café/brasserie occupies a reassuringly olde-worlde, plummy and panelled space in an 1878 villa just minutes from Schöneberg's gay ghetto. Bachauer died in 2008, but the tradition of soups and schnitzels and strudels stylishly served in an elegant but unstuffy atmosphere continues. Decor combines creams and maroons to ultra-warm effect. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all options, as is simply a cup of coffee (or excellent hot chocolate) and chat. Try for one of the comfy and intimate banquettes (ein 'schönplatz'); best to book ahead. There's an award-winning cocktail bar upstairs, and a garden out back for summer dining and lounging (though bees might compete for your food). And Quentin Tarantino filmed a scene of INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS here in the handsome and smaller front room (the Library) the mirrors are leftover from the production. An independently owned Café Einstein at Unter den Linden 42 — prompted by Bachauer's co-owners in 1994 — has a similar thing going on and is reliably good, but lacks the charm of the original. Berlin's Café Einstein coffee shop outlets are something else altogether. Located on the Tiergarten/Schöneberg border. U-Bahn: Nollendorfplatz, then a four-minute walk north. NB: Einstein closes late September 2022 for 18 months' worth of refurbishment.