I love Berlin because it seems to be one of the last cities on earth where cool people get to do cool funky things. Everyone knows that if you want to attract edgy young people, or simply people who are not stuck up, you can’t charge 500 EUR per night for the privilege of sleeping in a bed designed by a washed out French couturier. And if you want to open a hotel in a city that is home to artists from around the world (and their friends), you need to create exactly the kind of space where they would feel at home – a spacey sort of space. This is exactly what the Michelberger Hotel is.

Just check out the Michelberger Hotel website and tell me if you have ever in your life seen any other hotel website like it. Imagine a web designer presenting a website design like the Michelberger’s to the marketing department of the Marriott or the Sheraton hotel chain. You would see ambulances outside rushing hotel marketing executives to the nearest emergency room after their collective heart attack.

The Michelberger’s rooms range from cosy (for a couple) to Band (4-5 single beds, perfect for a rock band) to Michelberger WG (flatshare, shown below, for a bigger group – what fun you can have).

Personally, I am in love with The Clever One (pictured below) with a private library and bathtub by the window.

The hotel is the brainchild of 32 year-old Tom Michelberger and it is designed by Werner Aisslinger. Rates are around 65 EUR per night. There are 119 rooms. The location: in the up and coming Friedrichshain district by the Oberbaum bridge which spans the Spree River.

Michelberger Hotel
Warschauer Straße 39/40
10243 Berlin
Germany
+49 302977859-0
www.michelbergerhotel.com

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Don’t forget to check out our favorite restaurants, cafes and boutiques in Berlin. And if the Michelberger is too much for you, we have other Berlin hotels on our list.

There is so much good Asian food in Melbourne, but if you are craving a bowl of savoury Vietnamese pho, go to Pho Dzung in the Richmond District, which is home to a large Vietnamese community. When we went to Pho Dzung on a Sunday for lunch, we found it packed with Vietnamese families bent over steaming bowls of pho (Vietnamese noodle soup served with fresh mint leaves and bean sprouts on the side). I’ve tried a lot of pho in my life and I can say that this restaurant belongs in my top three pho places.

The restaurant is unpretentious and the prices are low. Make sure you finish off your meal with this favorite Vietnamese dessert: sweet beans and tapioca with crushed ice in coconut milk.

Pho Dzung
208 Victoria St.
Richmond
Melbourne, Australia
+61 3 9427 0292

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Check out my favorite restaurants and hotels in Melbourne and in Sydney.

If you’re looking for a change from the usual Thai/Vietnamese/Chinese cuisine, why not Malaysian? We found this small Malaysian restaurant called Little Malaysia tucked away on a side street in Melbourne’s central business district. It’s not fancy, but the food is very good. My favorites are the beef rendang (pictured below) and the tiny dried anchovies with sambal (it reminds me of a similar dish called dilis in the Philippines except we do not eat it with spicy sauces). The satay (grilled meat on a skewer) is excellent; the curries are rich and savoury.

Little Malaysia
26 Liverpool St.
Melbourne, Australia
+61 3 9662 1678

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Check out my favorite restaurants and hotels in Melbourne and in Sydney.

Bopha Devi is a Cambodian restaurant in the Docklands area of Melbourne, a lively district of restaurants and bars at the waterside. It’s a great place to hang out on a warm summer evening.

Bopha Devi has two things going for it: the amazing food and the modern eclectic decor. It seems popular with groups, especially after work, so the sound level can be positively deafening. But don’t let that stop you. The food is extremely good. They serve small bites that you can share with your dining companions – garlic and chive rice cakes, beef skewers in lemongrass marinade, prawn pucks and the like. But you must not miss the soup. I love the spicy-sour flavours of the tamarind soup with celery, turmeric and lime leaves. My favorite main dish is the “amok”, a steamed fish curry wtih coconut cream and lemongrass. To end the meal, make sure you get the black rice crumble topped with grated coconut caramelized with palm sugar. Wonderful!

Bopha Devi
27 Rakaia Way
Docklands
Melbourne, Australia
+61 3 9600 1887
www.bophadevi.com

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Check out my favorite restaurants and hotels in Melbourne and in Sydney.

Azuma Kushiyaki is a cozy Japanese restaurant in the Sydney central business district. It serves “kushiyaki”: meat, seafood and vegetables grilled on skewers. It is the sister restaurant of the more upscale Azuma on Chifley Square.

Azuma Kushiyaki serves not only grilled dishes; they have an extensive menu that includes sushi, sashimi, otsumami (small dishes that accompany sake, beer and shochu), udon or ramen noodles in soup, rice dishes such as onigiri (rice balls with fillings of salmon, pickled plum, salted kelp and more).

My favorite dishes were indeed the kushiyaki, especially the paradise prawn, wild scallops, baby beef tenderloin with soy and butter, and shiitake mushroom stuffed with minced prawn. The agedashi tofu in a Japanese mushroom sauce was exquisite. The service is very Japanese: efficient but not hurried, discreet and proper.

Azuma Kushiyaki
Ground Floor
Regent Place Shopping Centre
501 George Street
Sydney, Australia
+61 2 9267 7775
www.azuma.com.au/kushiyaki

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Check out our favorite restaurants, cafes and hotels in Sydney.

Izakaya Den is one of Melbourne’s coolest places to hang out. It’s almost impossible to find because the sign on Russell Street at Little Collins Street is not obvious and you have to go down two flights of stairs. When you arrive, you are shocked to see a packed, vibrant industrial-chic restaurant with high ceilings and stylish decor.

An “izakaya” is a restaurant serving small dishes paired with sake, beer, plum wine and shochu (distilled liquors). At Izakaya Den, we tried the following dishes:

• grilled spicy chilli peppers, bonito and soy
• marinated octopus
• spicy tuna tataki
• kingfish sashimi
• sesame stir fried Japanese mushrooms
• daikon salad
• chilled tomato

All dishes were very delicious and some, like the chilled tomato, were surprising. The selection of sake (over 50) and beer (yes, they have Ebisu!) is impressive and they are reasonably priced.

This is my favorite place to eat in Melbourne.

Izakaya Den
114 Russell St
Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
+61 (03) 9654 2977
www.izakayaden.com.au

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See also my favorite restaurants and hotels in Sydney, Australia.