Schnitzel, currywurst, ramen, Peruvian street food, macarons and more await travellers
Steve MacNaull
Of course, in Berlin travellers can nosh on ultra-traditional pork schnitzel. But, there’s also tradition-with-a-twist currywurst, Peruvian street food, Japanese ramen and French pastries.
The German capital is big, busy, multicultural, open-minded and ravenously hungry. Thus a firsthand experience like an Elements of Food tour is necessary to get a taste of what’s on offer.
Our group meets guide and chef Itay Novik in Alexanderplatz, Berlin’s largest and buzziest square. Over the next four hours we’ll travel around on a culinary caper by foot, tram, subway and bus, criss-crossing between former East Berlin and former West Berlin like the post-Cold War foodies we are.
Novik makes it as much a history lesson and pop culture romp as a food tour.
Coffee and schnitzel
First stop is Symple Coffee Roasters for cappuccinos and pastries because one must start the day caffeinated and sated.
Next stop – Speisegaststatte Zum Schusterjungen – say that quickly three times with a mouthful of schnitzel. This traditional German eatery has been a restaurant since 1900.
However, during communist East Germany (1949–90), it was state-owned and simply known as HO, which stands for Handel’s Organisation, the communist trade authority. It had no name and no marketing because doing so would be too capitalist.
The menu and drinks list (if you want to call them that) were simple – essentially only pork schnitzel with potatoes and beer. And, because supply shortages were often in East Berlin, the schnitzel, potatoes and-or beer might not be available some days.
Since the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and Germany reunified, the restaurant returned to private ownership and is well-stocked when we arrive. However, our orders are deliciously classic – pork schnitzel with a mushroom sauce, fried potatoes and Schulteiss beer.
Currywurst
We can’t go by Konnopke’s currywurst kiosk under a train bridge without stopping. Currywurst is a multi-cultural culinary mash-up that’s become quintessentially German.
The ‘wurst’ in the word is sausage that would regularly be served with mustard.
But, with a mustard shortage after the Second World War, chef Huerta Heuwer improvised with leftover Allied forces supplies of American ketchup and British curry powder.
Yes, we all know curry is Indian, but the Brits love it so much they’ve adopted curry as their own.
Anyway, the resulting currywurst is sausage in a curried tomato sauce, served with potatoes or French fries (see, there we go, introducing another nationality).
International food hall
We then arrive by tram at Pfefferberg Market, a former brewery complex and nightclub that’s now a food hall.
“This is a very urban, repurposed, great place for daydrinking (and night drinking) and international eating,” said Nam Nguyen, the owner of Kuma Ramen.
Nguyen is actually a food technologist (he has a university degree in food technology to prove it) who prides himself on hand-making craft ramen with intention.
The tsukemen ramen he serves us – thick, cold noodles you dip yourself in hot soup – nailed the intention.
Next door is La Victoria Peruvian Street Food where we grab skewers of beef heart meat.
Once we get past the fact this is heart meat, it’s yummy.
Dessert and sparkling
The final stop is Du Bonheur, the French pastry shop with the name that literally means ‘happiness’.
Owner and pastry chef Anna Plagens is German, but she trained and worked in Paris and loves the way she combines French techniques with German ingredients.
It’s the perfect place to finish sweet by nibbling macarons and cakes between sips of German Secco Trocken sparkling wine.
Do more
While Berlin is an exciting eating city, it’s also awesome for sightseeing.
So, take in the German capital’s greatest hits by going on a Trabi Safari (a tour in one of those quirky, little, communist-era East German Trabant cars), hopping on a tour bus or walking.
Clients will come across a still-standing, one-kilometre-long section of the Berlin Wall that’s now the East Side Gallery.
The most famous mural on the gallery is ‘My God, Help Me to Survive this Deadly Love,’ the symbolism-laden piece of art better known as those old Soviet and East German dudes kissing on the mouth.
There are also the Brandenburg Gate, 368-metre-tall Fernsehturm TV Tower, Checkpoint Charlie, domed Reichstag government building, Berlin Cathedral, National Gallery, Red City Hall and Gendarmanmarkt square to see.
NEW Non-stop flights
Air Canada recently launched new, three-times-a-week, seasonal flights between Montreal and Berlin (July 3), running through to Oct. 11.
Air Canada is flying its latest plane on the route – the new, 182-seat Airbus A321 XLR (extra-long range), which is touted as bringing a wide-body jet feel to a narrow-body aircraft.
The A321 XLR has a single aisle with three economy seats either side (which in aviation speak means narrow-body). It also sports 14 lie-flat Signature business class seats – a first on a narrow-body jet in Canada
For more information, check out AirCanada.com and VisitBerlin.de/en.
