For more than two decades, the amusement park Spreepark, located along Berlin’s River Spree, was left abandoned. Its retro rides were engulfed by grass and vines, and its owner was eventually jailed for drug smuggling. In 2014, Spreepark was bought by the city of Berlin and handed over to the state-owned park management company Grün Berlin with the remit that they enliven it with culture and food. Now, the first project within the revitalized complex is open and ready for visitors: The Eierhäuschen, a recently renovated 19th-century building just outside the amusement park, contains Ei 12437, a cafe run by the restaurateur Jessica-Joyce Sidon and the chef Alexandra Strödel that began service in February, as well as the multidisciplinary Spreepark Art Space. (Its inaugural exhibition is a group show of artists — Marcus Maeder, Sabine Scho, Sissel Tolaas and Annett Zinsmeister — who were asked to research the park and present their findings.) For lunch, the beer garden serves elevated German pub dishes such as a hearty potato salad, pretzels and pickled herring and onion sandwiches. In the evenings it gets a bit more formal, with a small but sophisticated menu served in a dining room featuring parquet floors and carmine walls. The latest seasonal dishes include an Onsen tamago-style egg served with potato foam, and cabbage stuffed with Jerusalem artichoke and hazelnuts. ei-12437.berlin.
