Berlin's Best Street Food

Best kebab in Berlin? Best kebab in Berlin? Imren might well be fit for the title at the location in Kreuzberg at Boppstrasse 10, with a busy dining room and a few benches outside. Go for the Döner mit brot with all the sauces, thinly shaved, greasy kebab meat served in a crispy house baked bread with fresh salad. Add a pizza-like lahmacun to share, a bowl of hot lentil soup and a glass of ayran – that salty yoghurt beverage, and some black tea. The other kebab option is the dürüm flat bread roll, which makes a slightly meatier and juicier kebab, minus the crispy bread. There’s plenty of other options, like the adana kebab with grilled skewered minced meat and some sweet Turkish cakes.

KEBAP GOALS at Kwa Kebap with Attitude. ”And then the rotating skewers of agony were blinded by the light from Gipsstraße”. Based on my lunch last week, I’d say Kwa Kebap with Attitude is at 75%, looking forward to them reaching 100% true Turkish meat bliss in the next years.

Among all the falafel and hummus shops in Berlin, Kanaan might have the biggest following. On a residential street in Prenzlauer Berg, this slightly shabby restaurant serves an Israeli-Palestinian menu. Hummus is the thing here, so for an easy pick skip the falafel and start with the mixed starter plate with filled vine leaves, beet root salad and baba samir. Add Israeli hummus with chopped egg, potato, egg plant, mango sauce and pickles, grab a pita bread and go!

Please try the Köfte Teller and the Spicy Sauce with Parsley Rucola Salad.There were two restaurants in the world which you should try. The old Noma and Izmir Köfte. As the Old Noma is closed, there is only one left to try.

The one and only döner kebap place for me.There is a huge Turkish community in Berlin, especially in the Kreuzberg area, where I grew up. This döner kebap place is the one for me! Sorry, but will need excessive queueing.Photo credit: @with_vans

Hand pulled biang biang noodles with loads of spice.Handpulled biang biang noodles that are actually spicy and haven’t been reduced to the German palate. My go to order is the lamb and cumin with “Asia level spicy” (their words not mine), which is a firey concotion of aromas and intensity. This place is super casual, and the line can be long at all times of the day. There is a second larger location down the road, but the smaller original location is more consistent. They dont offer much else except noodle (pretty tasty bao buns or cucumber salad for entree) but its all about the noodles here anyway.

For those who know.Hands down, this is Berlin‘s top Currywurst place. For more than 30 years, it‘s been feeding locals and workers at the Northern underground station Gesundbrunnen with an outstanding Currywurst. The sausages come from proprietor Reina Lehmann’s own butchery who also invented an outstanding (secret) sauce: fruity, fresh, full of tomato aroma and not too heavy. Fries are always super crispy. Order the „extra scharf mit Zwiebeln“ (spicy onions) option and add some extra spice to make it a Currywurst experience you‘ll want to repeat over and over again.

The Berlin Balkan Grill.You come to Sarajevo for three things: The succulent beef cevapcici (eaten with Ajvar and Kaymak), the insane bureks (paperthin layers of Filo pastry, filled with meat, cheese or potatoes) and last, but not least, the friendly smiles of the owners and their tremendous hospitality.

Fun and delicious Vietnamese restaurantYou may call it Vietnamese food for dummies, but District Mot is a great place to have an excellent pho soup, spring rolls or grilled Bun Cha pork with cold noodles. The interior is street foody with colorful Vietnamese plastic stools and old furniture. Sure, there are plenty of more authentic Vietnamese restaurants in Berlin, but none as fun as District Mot.