Berlin Pub Crawl: Proust!

Article written by Bianca Bafitis, photo by Neal, video hosted by Emma Svensson and edited by Bianca Bafitis.

Note: The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of RetoxMagazine.com

Berlin Pub Crawl: Proust!

While lurking on the streets of Berlin with Emma Svensson, we had a genius thought to go on our own pub crawl of Friedrichshain, a neighborhood in Berlin. Combing through tour books and getting advice from locals, we settled on five promising bars.

The first bar though was a complete fail. Besides the fact that street numbers are a bit confusing to an outsider, our bar was now in fact a shop. The turnover business thing is apparently quite common.

But no worries, we zeroed in on Bar Szimpla, a cozy place with friendly bartenders. We had ourselves a nice little drink that I think translated to "Rabid Dog" and came with Tabasco sauce. Yum. But the mood was a bit sleepy, and so we made a quick escape to the next bar.

We turn the corner and make it to Habermeyer. This place is cool. It just is. There are hipsters necking beers and mean old ladies staring you down. An intimidating crowd. As expected, the bartender is a bit of an asshole but it feels necessary here so when he blows me off, I almost smile. It's pretty crowded though and all the red lighting is reminding us of 70s porn set, so we get moving.

Not too far away, we stumble upon Süss War Gestern. If this bar were a person, it would be a beautiful, sexy nerd with great music taste. The place is thriving but with a laid-back crowd that doesn't try too hard (most of the time). The couches are a little too inviting and more than once did I spot a deserted friend, passed out with drink still in hand. They have foosball tables and old-school Nintendo everywhere. Who needs to speak German when this vintage electronics are breaking down language barriers?

We're in good spirits when we leave, definitely a bit more hammered and finally make it to Künstliche BEATmung. You walk into A Clockwork Orange, with the art deco white plastic seats and the orange overhead lighting. We head to the bar where we get introduced (and proceed to fall in love) with Roberto the bartender. We ask for 2 simple cocktails and he carves out a melon which he places in a martini glass with a straw, filled with a banana sugar blend of booze and he’s artfully arranged oranges around it so it looks like a fucking bird. The man knows his stuff. He also has an extraordinary amount of fruit behind the bar.

Our next drinks are no less impressive. These are more mint than sugar but have candles on them. Our drinks had candles. Needless to say, Emma and I never make it to the fifth bar nor do we want to. We're kept at the bar by Roberto and his drink magic, plus the tunes are good and there are actual Berlin locals here.

Our Friedrichshain pub crawl is a success and the area has plenty more good spots. While the tourist count is a bit high, the concentrated block of bars is so plentiful that even the most picky drinkers will find their niche. Proust!