One of Bowie’s preferred haunts was the Exil (‘Exile’) restaurant, located on Paul-Lincke-Ufer 44a in Berlin-Kreuzberg. It closed its doors in 1996. Today, Restaurant Horváth calls this spot its home.
It was an irreplaceable, unmissable experience and probably the happiest time in my life up until that point. Coco, Jim and I had so many great times. But I just can’t express the feeling of freedom I felt there. […] At night we’d hang with the intellectuals and beats at the Exil restaurant in Kreuzberg. In the back they had this smoky room with a billiard table and it was sort of like another living room except the company was always changing.
– David Bowie, Uncut, 1999
We used to hang out at the Exil and in other places that I can’t remember. Mostly restaurants where we went to eat, sometimes bars.
– David Bowie, Tagesspiegel, 2002