24h in Berlin Delicacies Discovered

I’ve had the pleasure of spending 24h in Berlin twice in the space of 2 months and I have to say, I’d love to go back when I had a bit more time to investigate things. I was staying at the Radisson Blu the first time, with its giant fish tank in the middle, soaring up several stories. The second time I was at the Hilton, with its swanky lobby and amazing breakfast. And of course proximity to chocolate!

Right around both these hotels are several chocolate shops that are well worth visiting. There are a variety of places to visit but of course I’m all about the chocolate – and the wine 😉 If you find yourself with only a morning or an afternoon in Berlin, these are my choices for a quick delicious fix. Of course if you have more than 24h why not stretch the pleasure and choose one for each days’ afternoon treat?

Within about a five minute walk of both hotels is Bunte Schokowelt or Ritter Sport World. I could have spent ages here in the café alone with their Ritter Sport inspired pastries and cakes. On entering take the escalator to the next floor and visit the area where they teach kids how chocolate is made and the history of Ritter Sport. At the top of the escalator are the bags of mini Ritter Sport selections at a huge discount. On this floor and the floor below are cafés with delicious chocolate cakes and the perfect place to dwell for an hour or so drinking coffee and eating delicious chocolate cake before buying some amazing chocolate to take with you. Yes it isn’t the highest quality but it is fun!

Then about 2min down the road is Fassbender & Rausch one of Berlin’s most famous chocolate shops. With everything from marzipan in little shapes to chocolates from various origins, this is probably one of the most serious chocolate shops I was able to find in the short amount of time I had. I love how they have really made an effort to make origin chocolate accessible here, with tasting notes for the chocolate as you might have with wine. You can go for tiny 5g tasters, small bars or full sized bars of the origin chocolate and of course upstairs is an amazing café. Sit at a table by the window and watch the world go by with a slice of chocolate torte and a coffee. What a lovely break – or a flying visit!

Around the corner and one block along from Fassbender & Rausch is one of a chain of shops called Leysieffer. This is a small shop and café and is perfectly positioned to catch a lot of tourists and locals. While their origin chocolate is limited, they do have a series of vintage year chocolate bars. Of course being spoilt for choice I defaulted to origin chocolate but the tea chocolate as well as some of the other flavours were tempting. The café is set back so not as good for people-watching but excellent for relaxing in after a long day of shopping, sight-seeing or whatever 😉

Now the Hilton was right in the middle of this trio of awesomeness but closer to the Radisson was the Bandy Brooks chocolate shop. This is a shop with filled chocolates and they mostly do ganache as well as ice cream in the summer (delicious). They are more for the person looking to find something different or to sit in the shop, eat an ice cream and enjoy the people watching. I think the novelty lies more in the variety and flavours than in the quality of the chocolate here. If you are visiting Berlin it is a nice place for an ice cream, maybe a coffee and a chocolate but I’d probably opt for something from Fassbender & Rausch.

There is more to Berlin chocolate than just these four and there is a small but present bean to bar scene, but for the tourist in Berlin for a short time as I was, these are my picks 😉