Italian restaurants in Germany
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Zwölf Apostel
A pleasant pit stop between museums, this place beneath the railway arches has over-the-top religious decor and tasty thin-crust pizzas named after the 12 apostles. All cost a mere €6.90 from 11.30am to 4pm Monday to Friday.
reviewed
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Vino e Libri
Two of civilization's greatest treasures - wine and books - form the name, decor and soul of this ristorante run with charm and panache by a Sardinian family. The pizza is excellent but chef Bruno truly shines when it comes to experimental flavour combinations. Strawberry salmon, and tagliatelle with wild boar in a chocolate-based sauce are truly excellent.
Wife Debora, meanwhile, keeps the service running as smoothly as a well-oiled machine.
reviewed
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Bar Centrale
Send your tastebuds into a tailspin at this upmarket yet down-to-earth restaurant serving creative Italian (not a pizza in sight!). You could easily build a meal from the antipasti alone: grilled baby calamari or scallops with lobster sauce are fitting overtures for such poetic mains as foie gras–stuffed partridge breast with madeira sauce and radicchio risotto. Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit, so he tells us, is a regular here.
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D
Trattoria Paparazzi
When Doris Burneleit opened her first restaurant in 1987, deep inside East Berlin, she’d never set foot in Italy, nor had she had any formal training as a chef. Yet she proved to be such a magician in the kitchen that even the Italian ambassador became a fan. She still pampers the cognoscenti in artistic country-style digs. The malfatti (cheese and spinach dumplings) are a speciality.
reviewed
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Gorgonzola Club
This cosy joint kicks Italian comfort food into high gear and is a fab choice for anyone who doesn’t believe in shelling out a fortune for a plate of pasta. The antipasto mix is tummy-filling but the blackboard specials feature more inspired dishes (eg ravioli with rocket-gorgonzola filling in sage butter). If there’s a wait, grab an aperitif at Würgeengel next door.
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San Nicci
Borchardt’s Italian cousin occupies a primo spot in the Admiralspalast and passes the litmus test with Berlin’s fat-wallet city slickers. The menu’s divided into classico and moderno with meats and fish playing largely Oscar-worthy leads and pasta and salads in supporting roles. Service is first-rate.
reviewed
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La Vela
Cruise and container ships glide by just outside the window of this buzzing, semiformal Italian restaurant. With such unusually close-up views, it keeps most other things simple: the redbrick interior is uncluttered and the menu is sparse, with about a dozen choices for mains. The only complicated thing is the enormous wine list.
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Vapiano
Matteo Thun’s jazzy decor is a great foil for this self-service joint’s tasty Italian fare. Mix-and-match pasta dishes, creative salads and crusty pizzas are prepared à la minute before your eyes. Nice touch: a condiment basket with fresh basil. Your order is recorded on a chip card and paid for upon leaving.
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Trattoria á Muntagnola
Everybody feels like family at this convivial joint where dishes burst with the feisty flavours of southern Italy's sun-baked Basilicata region. Many fine ingredients are imported straight from 'the Boot' and turned into pizzas, pastas and rustic mains like garlic-braised rabbit. Nice touch: the olive-oil trolley.
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Sagrantino
The ambience here is so classically Italian, you’d half expect to see a sprawling vineyard out the window. That would be a vineyard in Umbria, for that’s the region showcased at this fantastic little spot that usually gets mobbed at lunchtime for its good-value pasta-salad combos (€5.90).
reviewed
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Dolce Pizza
Queues can be discouragingly long, but if you hang in there you’ll be rewarded with little slices of heaven: thin and crispy-crust pizza with fresh and imaginative toppings. For dessert try the attached ice-cream parlour. There’s also a branch in Kreuzberg (Hagelberger Strasse 16).
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I Due Forni
In this hectic, graffiti-decorated hall run by a crew of Italian punks, the pizza is king, not you. Service can be slow and rude, but tattooed scenesters and boho families are not deterred: the pies are just that good. Make reservations if you hope to get fed after 8pm. Nice terrace.
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Petite Europe
This neighbourhood trattoria has defied the odds and stayed popular even after four decades in business. And it’s as jumping a joint now as it was way back, thanks to consistently excellent wood-fired pizza and heaping portions of homemade pasta and other European delicacies.
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Nage & Sauge
This hip little Italo-cafe is packed every night with young, creative souls who snuggle up to the candlelit tables for the 'Ente Elvis' pasta, saltimbocca or a sublime cocktail. It's tucked away in a side street in Lehel, so quiet you'll wonder if it's still within the city limits.
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Miseria & Nobiltà
When Eduardo Scarpetti penned the comedy Poverty and Nobility in 1888, he didn't know that it would inspire the name of this popular family-run trattoria. You'll definitely feel more king than pauper here when digging into the deftly prepared southern Italian compositions.
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La Focacceria
Serious hunger pangs deserve big fat slices of generously topped focaccia bread, a nice, if somewhat heavier, change from the ubiquitous pizza. Drag your posse to this unpretentious joint and order the big plate of 14 pieces for €18 for pre-party sustenance.
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Spaghetteria
Get carbed up at this former 17th-century chapel where you can splatter six types of pasta with 23 types of sauce, and get out the door for the cost of a cocktail in Munich. The entrance fresco has a pasta-sucking character from Commedia dell' Arte.
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Cubiculum
This beer hall and restaurant, in a medieval cellar, serves light meals such as casserole but the unique speciality here is Pizzasalat - you guessed it, a pizza topped with a pile of salad. Occasionally has live music on Friday or Saturday.
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Da Cono
Not just the decor is from another age here, the food is too - it's unpretentious, Italian and full of ingredients. Even the simple penne Arabiatta gets complex when you think about it. Like the rest of Da Cono, the service has character.
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Delano
The black wood furniture, fat columns and ringed black-and-white lampshades lend this Italian brasserie sophistication. Each menacingly large pizza (€8 to €13) comes in an elongated oval shape and is meant to be eaten between two.
reviewed
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Hippocampus
One of Munich's top restaurants is this snazzy, upmarket Italian temple right near the Prinzregententheater, serving a pretentious range of Italian specials. It has a stylish, dark-wood interior, romantic ambience and wannabe clientele.
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Lust Auf Italien
Plonk yourself down at one of the communal wooden benches at this unpretentious, family-friendly restaurant. The pasta and fish dishes are homey rather than gourmet, but the seafood tastes like it's just leapt from the sea.
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Medici
The interior may resemble a suspension bridge, but this classy Italian spot gets 10 out of 10 from locals. Mains come in small or large, but serious foodies go for the three- to five-course set menus (€46 to €62).
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Nido
This popular place is a trendy spot with lots of brushed aluminium and big picture windows. It serves a small menu of simple Italian-influenced dishes and a large dose of unpretentious cool.
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Pfeffer & Salz
This Italian eatery stands out for its authenticity. All noodles are homemade daily, the antipasti selection is mouth-watering and the pizza comes crispy-hot from the wood-fired oven.
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