Eisbein is the Berlin pork-knuckle classic: a cured-and-boiled hind leg served with sauerkraut, pease pudding and boiled potatoes. The dish defines the city's heavy-winter tavern grammar.
Eisbein has been on Berlin tavern menus since the 17th century, when the city's pork-curing economy on the Spreewald edge supplied salt-cured hind legs to working-class kneipen. The boiled (not roasted) preparation is the Berlin specific, distinct from the southern German Schweinshaxe (roasted). The dish was the Prussian soldier's evening meal in barracks across the 18th and 19th centuries. In the GDR, Eisbein was the Sunday family dish at HO-Gaststaetten. Today it survives at traditional taverns like Zur Letzten Instanz (since 1621), Max und Moritz and Henne. Pease pudding (Erbsenpueree) and Sauerkraut are the non-negotiable sides.
3 editor picks for Eisbein in Berlin, ranked by editorial score. All Berlin signature dishes · Eisbein across every city.
Henne ★ 4.4
kreuzberg · Leuschnerdamm 25, 10999 Berlin
Henne Alt-Berliner Wirtshaus on Berlin's Leuschnerdamm has cooked one dish since 1907: a milk-fed roast half-chicken with kraut salad and bread, served in the original tavern.
Max und Moritz ★ 4.3
kreuzberg · Oranienstrasse 162, 10969 Berlin
Max und Moritz on Berlin's Oranienstrasse has cooked Prussian tavern classics since 1902 in the original ceramic-tiled dining room; the Klopse and rouladen anchor the menu.
Lutter und Wegner ★ 4.2
mitte · Charlottenstrasse 56, 10117 Berlin
Lutter und Wegner on Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt has cooked the city's traditional Wiener Schnitzel since 1811; the wood-panelled room runs the long lunch and Sunday classics.