Hudson's, a new café on Boppstrasse, straddling the border between Kreuzberg and Neukölln, already has done one thing to win my heart and that is to offer bottles of tap water and glasses on every single table. If I could have a nickle for every time a waiter in Berlin has grudgingly brought me a glass of tap water after I begged for it, I'd be rich.
Jim and Katie, the owners of the café, were until recently wholesale bakers, delivering their homemade and very delicious cakes, such as the deep, dark Chocolate-Porter cake (using Lausitzer Porter instead of Guinness) or the Hummingbird, stuffed with carrots and coconut and pineapple, to a few select cafés in Kreuzberg and Neukölln. Now they've got a place of their own and it's a very fine place indeed. With a few tables, a fine selection of teas, baking equipment for sale, and a small menu including sandwiches and simple soups along with all their baked goods, Hudson's is a cozy place to stop in for a bite.
They make a mean lentil soup, each spoonful studded with a big chunk of chewy, smoky lean bacon. It's the kind of lentil soup I wish I had in my home arsenal, pitch-perfect.
Their sandwiches are simple little things, English in pedigree and more snack than grand lunch.
And their cake slices are normal-human-sized, which I deeply appreciate, and not too sweet. Yet still appealing to little kids, as you might be able to tell from that vise-like grip.
Hudson's
Boppstrasse 1
10967 Berlin