Boxhagener Platz market on Saturdays, Burgermeister and currywurst counters under the S-Bahn arches, and the Vietnamese counters along Frankfurter Allee.
Vöner in Friedrichshain carves vegan doner from a spit of house-made seitan; one of Berlin's first plant-based doner kitchens, with vegan currywurst.
Signature: Vöner (seitan doner), Vegan currywurst
Order: The vöner with the full salad load; the special fries are the side to get.
Tip: Counter-order, no reservations. Open daily from midday.
Silo Coffee in Berlin Friedrichshain pulls a tight Australian-style menu of flat whites and brunch plates, the Five Elephant beans run the filter side.
Signature drink: Flat white
Tip: Weekend brunch is the busy window; arrive before 11:00 for a table on the front terrace.
Fine Bagels on Berlin's Warschauer Strasse hand-rolls bagels in the kettle-boil-then-bake New York style; the lox bagel with smoked salmon, capers and red.
Tip: Closed Monday and Tuesday. The lox bagel sells out by 13:00 on weekends; arrive before 11:00.
Worth the queue: Lox bagel
Vöner on Boxhagener Strasse serves the vegan doner that started Berlin's plant-based kebab wave, carved from seitan with generous salads and sauces.
Try: Vöner seitan doner and vegan currywurst
Silo Coffee in Friedrichshain serves Berlin's best-known seasonal brunch from a small room with a serious house espresso and a menu that leans heavily.
Order: Smashed avocado with feta on sourdough, or the pulled-pork hash with a poached egg.
Berghain occupies a former Vattenfall power plant in Friedrichshain and remains the canonical Berlin techno club, with Sven Marquardt's door and Klubnacht.
Tip: No phones inside, no logo'd clothes, no big groups. Klubnacht queue moves all weekend; small groups in black after 04:00 fare better than 23:00 lines.
About Blank runs next to Ostkreuz S-Bahn as a collectively-run club and garden, programming queer-leaning techno, breaks and electro across an indoor floor.
Tip: The garden runs through the warm months and is the reason to arrive at sundown. Awareness team active; no phones on the floors.
Cassiopeia sits in a former industrial hall on the RAW grounds in Friedrichshain and runs a broader booking than its techno-heavy neighbours, with hip-hop.
Tip: The summer beer garden is the easiest way in on a hot night. Weekday nights are local and cheap; Saturday gets touristed.
Astra Kulturhaus on the RAW site in Friedrichshain has run mid-size concerts since 2009, with a programme that covers indie, rock, electro and experimental.
Tip: S-Bahn to Warschauer Strasse is five minutes away; tickets via Eventim for named tours. Coat check is fast.
Lab.oratory runs in the basement underneath Berghain as Berlin's reference men-only fetish club, hosting code-night parties through the week and the biannual.
Tip: Strict dress codes per event (skin, rubber, sport); separate entrance from Berghain. No phones, no mixed-gender entry.