{"id":30,"date":"2026-09-27T23:16:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T23:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging-welcome-121a408.netsolhost.com\/?page_id=30"},"modified":"2026-09-27T23:29:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T23:29:55","slug":"maothai-berlin-after-the-wall","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/?page_id=30","title":{"rendered":"BERLIN AFTER THE WALL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"skip\" href=\"#content\">Skip to content<\/a><\/p>\n<header class=\"hero \" style=\"--cover:url('assets\/3c2ac1888aa448.jpg')\">\n<div class=\"top\">\n<div class=\"heading\">\n<h1>BERLIN AFTER THE WALL<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"identity\">\n<p class=\"brand-story\">The Story of a Group of Thai Restaurants in Berlin and Palma<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"brand\" href=\"index.html\">THAI FOOD MAGIC<br \/>MAOTHAI<\/a><\/p>\n<nav class=\"language-switch\" aria-label=\"Language\"><a href=\"berlin-after-the-wall-de.html\" hreflang=\"de\" lang=\"de\">DE<\/a><a href=\"berlin-after-the-wall.html\" hreflang=\"en\" lang=\"en\" aria-current=\"true\">ENG<\/a><a href=\"berlin-after-the-wall-es.html\" hreflang=\"es\" lang=\"es\">ES<\/a><a href=\"berlin-after-the-wall-th.html\" hreflang=\"th\" lang=\"th\">THAI<\/a><a href=\"berlin-after-the-wall-ja.html\" hreflang=\"ja\" lang=\"ja\">JAP<\/a><\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"intro\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"hero-bottom\">\n<nav aria-label=\"Main navigation\"><a href=\"story.html\" aria-current=\"page\">STORY<\/a><a href=\"restaurants.html\">THE RESTAURANTS<\/a><a href=\"thai-food.html\">THAI FOOD<\/a><a href=\"people.html\">PEOPLE<\/a><a href=\"press.html\">PRESS COVERAGE<\/a><a href=\"establishing.html\">ESTABLISHING THAI AS INTERNATIONAL CUISINE<\/a><a href=\"videos.html\">VIDEOS<\/a><a href=\"print-shop.html\">PRINT SHOP<\/a><a href=\"contact.html\">NEWS &amp; CONTACT<\/a><\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<p><main id=\"content\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"breadcrumb\"><a href=\"index.html\">PROLOG<\/a><span>\/<\/span><a href=\"story.html\">BERLIN AFTER THE WALL<\/a><span>\/<\/span><span>BERLIN AFTER THE WALL<\/span><\/div>\n<article class=\"prose\">\n<h2>The Birth of Maothai (1992\u20131993)<\/h2>\n<p>When the MAOTHAI flagship restaurant opened in 1993 at W\u00f6rther Stra\u00dfe 30 in Prenzlauer Berg, this neighbourhood was still far removed from the gentrification it would later undergo. Behind the grey facades bearing the scars of war, workers, students and intellectuals lived quite ordinary lives.<\/p>\n<p>The restaurant was meant to bring a piece of the wide world to a part of Berlin that had been cut off from it for decades.<\/p>\n<p>The creation of Maothai became a symbol of the times. Just to get the restaurant open, W\u00f6rther Stra\u00dfe had to be dug up five times to lay new gas, water and electricity lines. Maothai had the first American Express card reader in East Berlin and quickly became known to international visitors as well.<\/p>\n<p>It was more than a restaurant. It was a sign that the former East was opening itself to the world.<\/p>\n<h2>Prenzlauer Berg Before the Boom<\/h2>\n<p>The Prenzlauer Berg of the early nineties, marked by crumbling facades and the haze of coal stoves \u2014 a blend of upheaval and decay \u2014 still retained something of the old East German lightness of being. But amid the ruins of the old East, there was now space for new ideas, and good international restaurants were still a rarity.<\/p>\n<h2>Building Against Resistance<\/h2>\n<p>Much had to be improvised. Authorities operated chaotically, jurisdictions shifted constantly, infrastructure was lacking. But it was precisely this mixture of uncertainty and freedom that made the time so unique.<\/p>\n<h2>The First Guests<\/h2>\n<p>Visitors came from all over the world almost immediately. For many international guests, it was fascinating to suddenly discover a restaurant with sophisticated Thai cuisine right in the middle of what had been East Berlin.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"curated-stammhaus\">\n<section class=\"gallery-chapter\">\n<h2>Building a restaurant<\/h2>\n<div class=\"curated-grid\" data-count=\"3\">\n<figure><a href=\"assets\/3c2ac1888aa448.jpg\" data-gallery-image aria-label=\"W\u00f6rther Stra\u00dfe 30 before the conversion\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"assets\/3c2ac1888aa448.jpg\" alt=\"W\u00f6rther Stra\u00dfe 30 before the conversion\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><figcaption>W\u00f6rther Stra\u00dfe 30 before the conversion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><a href=\"assets\/6b92671a8d5da6.jpg\" data-gallery-image aria-label=\"New window openings for the restaurant\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"assets\/6b92671a8d5da6.jpg\" alt=\"New window openings for the restaurant\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><figcaption>New window openings for the restaurant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><a href=\"assets\/4da7be10b41101.jpg\" data-gallery-image aria-label=\"Laying new gas, water and electricity lines\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"assets\/4da7be10b41101.jpg\" alt=\"Laying new gas, water and electricity lines\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><figcaption>Laying new gas, water and electricity lines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"gallery-chapter\">\n<h2>People, neighbourhood and opening<\/h2>\n<div class=\"curated-grid\" data-count=\"3\">\n<figure><a href=\"assets\/942f1f80265095.jpg\" data-gallery-image aria-label=\"Conversion under the direction of Alwin Olbrich\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"assets\/942f1f80265095.jpg\" alt=\"Conversion under the direction of Alwin Olbrich\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><figcaption>Conversion under the direction of Alwin Olbrich<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><a href=\"assets\/a9a0e7a5a3354e.jpg\" data-gallery-image aria-label=\"The restaurant in its Berlin neighbourhood\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"assets\/a9a0e7a5a3354e.jpg\" alt=\"The restaurant in its Berlin neighbourhood\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><figcaption>The restaurant in its Berlin neighbourhood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><a href=\"assets\/b9c6a76ff68b7a.jpg\" data-gallery-image aria-label=\"The completed frontage \u00b7 1993\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"assets\/b9c6a76ff68b7a.jpg\" alt=\"The completed frontage \u00b7 1993\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><figcaption>The completed frontage \u00b7 1993<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p><dialog class=\"image-viewer\" aria-label=\"Image viewer\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"viewer-close\">Close \u00d7<\/button><\/p>\n<figure><img alt=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"viewer-controls\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"viewer-prev\" aria-label=\"Previous image\">\u2190<\/button><span class=\"viewer-count\" aria-live=\"polite\"><\/span><button type=\"button\" class=\"viewer-next\" aria-label=\"Next image\">\u2192<\/button><\/div>\n<p><a class=\"viewer-original\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Open original image \u2197<\/a><\/dialog><\/p>\n<details class=\"section-menu\">\n<summary>More in this chapter<\/summary>\n<div class=\"chapter-index\"><a href=\"e-pluribus-unum.html\"><span>2.2<\/span><strong>E pluribus unum<\/strong><\/a><a href=\"mayday-maothai.html\"><span>2.3<\/span><strong>Mayday Maothai 1994<\/strong><\/a><a href=\"mayday-kamala.html\"><span>2.4<\/span><strong>Mayday Kamala 1994<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/details>\n<div class=\"sequence\"><a href=\"story.html\">\u2190 BERLIN AFTER THE WALL<\/a><a href=\"e-pluribus-unum.html\">E pluribus unum \u2192<\/a><\/div>\n<p><\/main><\/p>\n<footer><a href=\"index.html\">THAI FOOD MAGIC \u00b7 MAOTHAI<\/a><span>Berlin &amp; Palma \u00b7 A personal archive<\/span><a href=\"#\">Back to top \u2191<\/a><\/footer>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Skip to content BERLIN AFTER THE WALL The Story of a Group of Thai Restaurants in Berlin and Palma THAI FOOD MAGICMAOTHAI DEENGESTHAIJAP STORYTHE RESTAURANTSTHAI FOODPEOPLEPRESS COVERAGEESTABLISHING THAI AS INTERNATIONAL CUISINEVIDEOSPRINT SHOPNEWS &amp; CONTACT PROLOG\/BERLIN AFTER THE WALL\/BERLIN AFTER THE WALL The Birth of Maothai (1992\u20131993) When the MAOTHAI flagship restaurant opened in 1993 at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281,"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30\/revisions\/281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maothai.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}