Here’s a very subjective assessment to get you started. Within walking distance, I’d first get to know the following merchants…
- Frau Honig is a charming coffee house-cafe with friendly owners and a nice neighborhood vibe. Only wish they were open longer hours.
- I enjoy indulging in great hamburgers and fries here at Rembrandt Burger. There are other cafe’s along the street here — Ostpost and a little Kino-cafe that shows classic movies, but I haven’t tried them.
- Food is great at Xigon (lot’s a really good Vietnamese food in Berlin, actually) and a nice place to have a drink.
- Pomodorino is great takeout and quick-bite pizza. Well, maybe not “great” food but decent and I love the vibe. Fancier restaurant next door is very good but I only ate there once.
- Denn’s Bio is the best place for groceries, though the Edeka just beyond it is not so bad either for bulk items and staples. Denn’s fresh bread is really pretty good.
- I’m addicted to dropping into Gegenüber for pizza and a second glass of wine, and based on comments from others I suspect I’m not alone. Servers there are super friendly.
- Viet Bowl is great food, though the service is no-nonsense and fast paced. The takeout window is a bargain: I keep thinking they under-charged me for what I got.
- If you have a weakness for chocolate, there’s a little chocolate producer nearby on EbertyStr. If the pieces are a little precious for you, they also make good gifts.
I have always loved getting a transit Monatskarte (make sure you time-stamp it before you use it!) and surfing around on the trams, U-Bahns and S-Bahns, but Covid took a little of the fun out of that. But if you like bicycling, having a bike brings some very interesting neighborhoods into your 5-10 min timezone. The huge ZweiRad Center (9) has more than what you’d ever need for bicycling, but Anne found a better value and a great bike at the little bike shop at (10). DON’T waste your time at the little used bike shop on Strassman near Gegenüber- their bikes are trashy and over-priced.