Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Luckily my sister and mom are also huge fans of breakfast and especially the waffle and pancake variety. Cafe Berlin looks out onto Plaza de Colon, just where the streets start to narrow and the famous colors of Old San Juan begin to grace the buildings. On our first morning in Puerto Rico we headed to Cafe Berlin for their Sunday brunch.
The interior of Cafe Berlin is flirty but polished with lots of gorgeous window light. We were seated at a table with a view onto the plaza by one of many soft spoken, crisply dressed waiters. Don't let their calming tones fool you into thinking their serving robots though, all of the waiters and waitresses we had the pleasure of being helped by spoke perfect English and were confident enough with their menu to give detailed descriptions AND point out their vegan options without pause.
Several things on the menu which look vegetarian are actually vegan - like the Vegetarian Breakfast pictured above which is a scrambled tofu with bell peppers, carrots and onions served with breakfast potatoes, greens and a star fruit. A reviewers on Happy Cow found this dish to be too oily but I personally found it to be perfect, with the right amount of taste and savor from the oil. The breakfast potatoes were tender and also oil infused. Should I be ashamed to admit this was my first taste of starfruit? The island held many firsts for me that I greedily embraced!
Before I had even ordered my brunch I was already scoping out the vegan carrot cake on the menu. Soft orange flecked cake with a cinnamon sugar glaze and fat walnut halves - delicious.
I enjoyed my breakfast with a big glass of fresh green apple juice and was tempted by the other choices of orange, carrot and lime (do people drink straight lime juice in Puerto Rico?).
Be warned vegans - if you order a plain pancake (which is vegan) it will be the size of a dinner plate and twice as thick. I made the (happy) mistake of ordering the tofu scramble and a side pancake and left Cafe Berlin with a pancake baby. This pancake is the Banana - Raisin Walnut Pancake - which without the whipped cream and caramel sauce is vegan.
Location:
407 Cll San Francisco
San Juan, 00901, Puerto Rico
(787) 722-5205
Hours:
Mon - Fri: 11am - 10pm
Saturday - Sunday: 10am - 10pm
Brunch on Sunday: 10am -3pm
Thanks Cafe Berlin! Expect another Cafe Berlin post - dinner addition!
2 comments:
I am there right now and was told the pancakes are NOT vegan!
Oh no! I went several times on my trip in San Juan and more than one server told me the pancakes were vegan (without the chocolate and whipped cream of course!). I hope they haven't changed the recipe since I was there in October because the pancakes were incredible.
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