“A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.”
For those looking to lock down a sure path to permanent residency, Fisch sucht Fahrrad (“Fish looking for bicycle”) is billed as Germany’s biggest singles’ party, and full of born-and-bred Berliners.
Hosted at Kulturbrauerei’s Frannz Club, the event offers a trio of dance floors dotted with disco lights and accompanied by bars and cosy couches – and a curtained-off room in the back where ‘date doctors’ supervise a lightning-fast series of rotating speed dates for romantic hopefuls.
Named for the aphorism that “a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle”, there appear to be plenty of Fische in the sea here – though the gender ratio is heavier on gentlemen than ladies. Attendees are assigned a number upon arrival, and throughout the dancing (pleasantly light on the techno) and the drinking (pad your wallet, cocktails aren’t cheap), participants who spot a prospective love match can send an anonymous note to the number of their fancy, which is fun if you don’t mind the peripheral awareness that you may be being ogled by potential suitors.
What begins as a few brave boogie-ers quickly turns into a packed house, with people still filtering in at midnight. A warning to the fashionably late, though: Registration for the five speed dating rounds, which run every half hour, fills up fast. The five-minute timed conversations cater to Berliners of all ages, but are strangely heteronormative for the Hauptstadt: While the event is LGBTQ-friendly, the dating is not.
Still, there’s something for everyone here – even if it’s just an opportunity to practise your Deutsch. And even if you strike out, you won’t leave empty-handed – fortune cookies with your romantic fate are available on the way out.
- Frannz Club Schönhauser Allee 36, details.