Search for Delicious 5: Berlin

Bodacious beer and meat in tube form were my two alimentary expectations for Berlin.  I was not disappointed in this regard.  Little did I know, however, that I would also have the best Turkish food I’ve ever had, as well. 

I flew in late on December 19.  I stayed at Plus Hostel, right by the Eastside Gallery, an open-air art gallery featuring street art on the Berlin Wall.  My dinner that night was an excellent schwarma kebap right down the street from the hostel.  The morning of December 20^th, I got my breakfast from one of the stalls at the Alexanderplatz Weinachtsmarkt, one of Germany’s Christmas markets that attract Germans and tourists alike to eat, drink, and browse a variety of traditional and not so traditional goods, from Santa Clauses to alpaca-wool socks.

I washed the bratwurst down with glühwein, or mulled wine, which would end up being a close ally for my trip through a very cold Central Europe over Christmas and New Years.  

About twenty minutes late, I tried a particularly Berliner staple, currywurst, which is more or less cut up bratwurst with a curry infused ketchup, sometimes served with fries.  Definitely more of a late night food, but I jumped at the opportunity to get it in the Christmas market.   

Besides the sausage, the majority of my meals consisted in kebap, or other variations such as durum, all centered on slowly cooked spiced meat.  The perfect marriage is that of kebap/variations and German beer, which was always plentifully available in a variety of styles.  I fell hard for the hefeweizen and helles styles, but it was hard to go wrong.  Even the pilsners and lagers had a complexity to them that tends to be lacking in the US, where I won’t touch them with a twenty-foot pole.  Here’s a shot of me with both parties, the metaphorical priest of the holiest of unions.

And while I was very happy in the above shot, I was even happier the next day when I found myself at Gel Gör Inegöl Köfteci, right down the street from the Schöleinstrasse U-Bahn line close to the Kreuzberg neighborhood.  I had some great lentil soup, smooth with hints of mint and spice. 

The sandwich was on a very fresh and crispy Turkish version of a baguette.  Köfte are often rendered into English as meatballs, but that’s a little misleading.  They’re more like mini spiced meat patties.  Regardless, this place does them extremely well.  The sandwich is topped with a variety of fresh greens like arugula and even mint, both yogurt sauce and spicy sauce, tomato, and more spices.  I also added on a couple of slices of halumi, a Greek/Turkish style of cheese that’s kind of like a mix between feta and mozzarella.  Combined with a solid Hefeweizen, I was in heaven.  Although this was several months ago, I still haven’t had a better sandwich in all of the others places that I’ve visited. A true gem.

That night for dinner, however, we had a much more Western meal, a tradition returned to its native land:  the hamburger.  Burgermeister is a bit of a local legend in Berlin, and one of their restaurants is located in a space not much larger than a train car, underneath a bridge right by the River Spree. 

We had to wait about 15 minutes in line, outside, in the rain, but we were rewarded with an extremely fresh and well-prepared burger, along with fries and another good local beer.  Definitely not a pretentious place, some might even call it a little grungy, but you can’t deny that they make a damn good burger. 

And you can never forget about the beer...