Park, Potsdamer Platz and the Bundestag quarter, with FACIL on the fifth floor of the Mandala and Lokal restaurant on Linienstrasse for the political crowd.
Joseph Roth Diele on Berlin's Potsdamer Strasse cooks daily-changing German plates in a wood-panelled room named for the 1930s Vienna author.
Signature: Koenigsberger Klopse, Beef goulash
Order: The Koenigsberger Klopse with capers; the beef goulash with bread dumplings on Friday.
Tip: No reservations, walk-up only. Closed weekends; arrive before 19:30 weekdays to skip the queue.
Michael Kempf's FACIL on the fifth-floor glass courtyard of Berlin's Mandala Hotel cooks a two-star French-Mediterranean tasting; the summer terrace runs.
Signature: Brittany langoustine, Pyrenees lamb
Order: The four-course business lunch at €90; the langoustine and the lamb stay on the carte year-round.
Tip: Lunch is the easier entry; the €90 four-course business set runs Tuesday to Friday from 12:00.
Victoria Bar on Berlin's Potsdamer Strasse in Tiergarten has been the city's reference classic-cocktails bar since 2001; the long brass-and-leather room runs.
Signature drink: Green Victoria (champagne cocktail)
Food: Small plates
Tip: Walk-ups for the bar from 18:30; the back banquettes need a phone call. Closed-door cocktail school runs Monday afternoons.
The Curtain Club at the Ritz-Carlton on Potsdamer Platz runs an elegant cocktail room behind heavy drapes off the hotel lobby, the carte built around.
Signature drink: 1920s-era classics with live music
Food: Bar snacks
Tip: Hotel bar, smart-casual at minimum. Daily 18:00-01:00; the live-music nights pack the room early.