Little has changed at Zum Schusterjungen since its doors first opened in 1989, the grub is still traditional East German, the interior still echoes a bygone era, and the place is still almost always full. If you're going make sure you check in early, there are only a handful of tables, and they're in rather high demand.

If you can eat the entire meal then you get it for free; a 750g burger with chips and sides, onions etc. Otherwise you've got to pay the full €19. Feeling up to the task? Supposedly there was once a man who managed to devour the whole thing, he even asked for seconds, but then when he was done he disappeared before anyone could get his name - into the foggy streets.

This little cafe provides some of the best Soviet-style lazing and grazing in the post-Soviet world, which despite what the old Russian propoganda posters might suggest is served largely without the oft pungent aroma of Communist nostalgia. Wifi access is free daily, 10am to 10pm, and they also serve a legendary Brunch every Sunday from 10am until 4pm. Turn up an hour before the end and you get to scrounge through the leftovers for a discount price.

Duck down into the cellar entrance of one of Berlin's best German restaurants, cosy and calm , a nice retreat from the busy tourist-filled street of Oranienburger Strasse in the summer outside. Only metres away is the grand Neu Synagogue, which had it not been for the British carpet bombing the area in 1943 would have survived the Second World War miraculously intact.

Vietnamese food has always been a subject of contention in Berlin, there have always been a lot of Vietnamese living in East Berlin - they were originally invited as guest workers by the East German government. Most of the Chinese, Japanese and other Asia restaurants have Vietnamese owners, but the number of Vietnamese kitchens had always been low.