Crossing Bornholmerstrasse on Friday night on my way to meet friends, I found myself walking behind a young woman wearing a short, close-fitting plastic jacket, leggings and ankle boots. It was -3 degrees. I was muffled in a full-length coat resembling a sleeping bag, two tops, a giant cardigan, a thick skirt, thick black tights with socks over the top, wool gloves lined with fleece, a chunky scarf, a knitted hat and knee-length boots. I was still cold. What was this lady's secret? Her outfit left no space for a little Winterspeck, or "winter lard" – that soft, comforting layer of flesh best developed when the cold weather kicks in. Did she have anti-freeze in her veins? Or was she just very, very cold?

The quickest way to get both warm and speck'd if you're not impervious to frost like this lady, is to raid the local Imbiß. You go out, freeze, order some hot food and devour it as you stamp some life into your feet. A standard doener will do, but gentrified Prenzlauer Berg has a better class of lard.

Currywurst und Schampus in the Saturday Kollwitzplatz market have elevated Berlin's humble signature dish, a pork sausage with tomato ketchup and curry powder, into something ludicrously sophisticated. The pommes are served with truffle mayonnaise, and my pick, the "Spezial Currywurst" with creamy mayonnaise and raw red onion, is almost too rich to snarf. The ritziest wurst on offer is their 5€ Currywurst Gold, spiced with 22k gold leaf. Which is just silly. I don't dare eat it in case the next anti-yuppie demo in the Kiez lobs Molotov cocktails through my bedroom window.

For a more down-to-earth dessert there's a van that parks next to the supermarket at the corner of Winstrasse and Marienburg where the quarkkeulchen – balls of deep-fried curd-cheese dough – are perfect: crisp, not oily, and dusted with enough icing sugar to contrast with the sharp taste of the quark.
After that little lot, you're well on your way to a Speckmantel that'll last you the winter, if you don't try and sleep it off and end up hibernating till May.

Go further: Fancy snacking? John Rambow does and has a soft spot for Grand Street is New York. Find out why.

For dinner, I always go to two different places, depending on the wealth of my date.

Enoiteca il Calice 

If a rich guy is taking me out, which means I will be wearing a nice dress, my very convincing fake diamond earrings and my high heels, we go to the Italian restaurant Il Calice on Walter-Benjamin-Platz 4 in Charlottenburg, former West Berlin.

This place is pure class, and the Italian waiters working here have the ability to make you feel like the most beautiful woman since Anita Ekberg stepped out of the Fontana di Trevi; and they serve a Vitello Tonnato (chilled veal in tuna sauce) that melts on your tongue.

Neugrüns Köche

If I, on the other hand, were taking a guy out, we would definitely go to Neugrüns Köche on Schönhauser Alle 135 a, in Prenzlauerberg, former East Berlin.

Well hidden behind a humble façade, this relatively new restaurant offers two prefix menus each day, regional and Southern German. Both menus come with wine recommendations and all at very reasonable prices, around 32 euro for three courses and 35 for four.

Silly ice in Prenzlauerberg

Photo by Sophia Sanwald

For dessert, make a stop at the ice cream parlour 'Kleine Eiszeit' (little ice-age) on Stargarderstraße 7, also in Prenzlauerber

They have the best handmade yoghurt ice-cream in Berlin, and also serve the peculiar but delicious 'Spaghetti ice', which consists of 3 scoops of vanilla ice squashed through a kind of metal sieve to make it look like spaghetti, served with tomato sauce and parmesan (in real life strawberry sauce and desiccated coconut). Very silly ice cream and thereby one of my favourites!

Photo by Sophia Sanwald 

If the weather is tropical, (and you gotta trust me on that one, because it truly happens in Berlin sometimes), I would drop the fancy restaurant, the fake diamond earrings, the indoor bar, and treat myself to a combo-experience of drinking and eating in the old, traditional beer garden 'Prater' on Kastanien Allee 7-9.

Since 1837 there have been some kind of beer activities on these grounds, and when you sit down under the big trees and drink a cold Prater Pilz or a Weissbier, you do feel the serious presence of history and tradition.

Photo by MikeBlakeDuncan 

You can choose to sit on the more primitive wooden benches next to a wide variety of local Berliners, and enjoy sausages, olives, corn on the cob and freshly baked Salzbrezel (pretzels), or you can park yourself in the restaurant 'Prater Gaststätte' next-door, where they serve traditional German dishes… and the Cesar salad is really good!

Visit PraterGarten together with Sidsel-Jo on a cold autumn day. Just click here (in Danish). 

Monsieur Vuong

Monsieur Voung when he was young. Photo by Sophia Sanwald

I have two favourite places for lunch. The Indochinese café Monsieur Vuong on Alte Schönhauer Straße, a modern Vietnamese, fusion kitchen, owned by Monsieur Vuong himself, an old, mafioso-looking Vietnamese guy, who has clearly seen the world and its wars, and who is often inspecting the restaurant at night, looking cool in his slim-cut, pin-striped suit.

Photo by Sophia Sanwald

The food is delicious and well spiced and so cheap it’s almost a joke. Guests can choose between two different dishes of the day and a limited variety of entrées, but why bother having a long a la Carte when the few dishes on offer can’t be topped? Served with either fresh herbal tea or a Mona Lisa, my favourite; a soymilk, banana-apple smoothie.

Photo by Sophia Sanwald

Monsieur Vuong is also open at night, but since it’s more a quick in-and out diner, it’s not the place you go with friends to chat long hours over a brandy. But for a quick meal and a break from the surrounding shopping area, it’s perfect.

Monsieur Vuong Indochina Café; Alte Schönhauser str. 46; Mitte.

Café Lebensmittel in Mitte

Photo by Sophia Sanwald

My other favourite is around the corner from Monsieur Vuong, on Rochstraße 2. The place is called “Café Lebensmittel in Mitte”, but despite its peculiar name, (which means something like “Café Groceries in Mitte”), this cosy, rustic fine food shop serves delicious and traditional southern German specialities like Käsespätzle (a kind of pasta-gnocchi with cheese) and veal stew which tastes as if it has simmered on grandma’s stove for a month or two.

Photo by Sophia Sanwald

Connected to the café is a small organic grocery store, where you can buy essentials like milk and vegetables. Wonderful atmosphere and divine dishes for everyone who are not obsessed with a no-carbohydrate-lifestyle. The place is full of luscious carbos!

Café Lebensmittel in Mitte; Rochstraße 2; 10178 Berlin

Join Sidsel-Jo for Käsespätzle at Café Lebensmittel. Just click here (in Danish).

Photo by Bloggyboulga 

Breakfast has its own special place in every Berliner’s heart. Most cafés serve at least five different kinds of “Frühstück”, and you can order breakfast until late in the afternoon – at most places until the evening menu sets in.

You can eat very well and at a low cost in Berlin.

Café Wintergarten im Litteraturhaus.

A perfect spot if you need a break from shopping on Kurfürstendamm. Or if you just want to relax from the hectic part of Berlin in a pretty little sanctuary.

Enter the gate, and the gravel will crunch under your feet as you walk through a small rose alley. You will hear the sound of running water from a fountain in the well kept little garden.
If the weather doesn’t allow for sitting outside, don’t miss the visit. Inside is a lovely winter garden.
The lunch menu has a wide selection of nice salads and hot meals. There is an ingenious choice of confectionery, and the ginger lemonade is particularly recommendable. If it’s not on the menu, ask for it.

Café Wintergarten is also a perfect place for breakfast. According to the Berlin tradition, they have no less than six different breakfast menus.

Café Wintergarten im Litteraturhaus, Fasanenstrasse 23, Charlottenburg,

Grill Royale

One of the Berliners’ most sought after restaurants.
The atmosphere is both fashionable and relaxed. You select your food from big refrigerators with glass doors placed within the restaurant. You can choose between beef, fish, fresh sea food, and overlook the cooking, which takes place on an open grill.

Grill Royale has a fabulous bar with great drinks, including “the wicked ones” with Absinthe as one of its ingredients.

The restaurant is on the shore of the river Spree, with a view over the river and the boats going by in the evening darkness.

Grill Royale, Friedrichstrasse 105 B

Kreuzberg

“Morgenland”, Oranienstrasse at the corner of Skalitzerstrasse and Teuffelstrasse. At the far end of Oranienplatz you will find this lovely breakfast spot. It looks plain from the outside, but they have a great brunch buffet, which is of course served until late in the afternoon.

Amerikanische General Consulat

Recognize the café by the big golden logo above the door. Behind the big windows of this café, decorated as a living room, you can enjoy coffee and organic food.

Amerikanische General Consulat, Oranienstrasse 34

Prenzlauer Berg

Cafe 103

A breakfast here, which is more like a brunch, costs around 13 Euros for two people.
Six fixed breakfast menus, and it is hard to choose one over the others. You recognize the place by its bright colored wooden furniture outside.

Cafe 103, Kastanienallee 49 (at the corner of Zionskirchstrasse) Prenzlauer Berg on the border of Mitte.